AbstractThis paper discusses a knowledge-based approach to production planning, the process of establishing production rates, work force levels and on-hand inventories for product families as a possible alternative to traditional operational research methods. It describes one company's experienced-based approach to production planning and how this was incorporated into a knowledge-based system. The production planning state-space, use of common planning constraints and heuristic procedures, and a prototype of a knowledge-based system that develops production plans for one product family are also described.