The objective of this paper is to identify the integrated production planning and analyse its relationships to other production decisions. In this respect, a methodological approach has been developed for analyzing the factors involved in production management decision making. Emphasis is given to the role of modeling as part of this systematic approach. We indicate the extent to which problems in production planning can be solved by modeling techniques. Our approach uses both simulation and optimization methodologies in a complementary manner rather than performing integrated production analysis with a large-scale model of either the simulation or optimization type. Recommendations are given for better formulation and applications of mathematical models solving given production problems.