  Proper Production Planning and Control (PPC) is capital to have an edge over
competitors, reduce costs and respect delivery dates. With regard to PPC,
Machine Learning (ML) provides new opportunities to make intelligent decisions
based on data. Therefore, this communication provides an initial systematic
review of publications on ML applied in PPC. The research objective of this
study is twofold: firstly, it aims to identify techniques and tools allowing to
apply ML in PPC, and secondly, it reviews the characteristics of Industry 4.0
(I4.0) in recent research papers. Concerning the second objective, seven
characteristics of I4.0 are used in the analysis framework, from which two of
them are proposed by the authors. Additionally, the addressed domains of
ML-aided PPC in scientific literature are identified. Finally, results are
analyzed and gaps that may motivate further research are highlighted.
