PLANNING & SCHEDULING
A plan that cannot see the floor is a forecast
Most production plans are made in a system that has no idea what the plant is currently capable of. The schedule assumes machines are available, rates are nominal and nothing is behind — and by mid-shift none of those things is true. The plan is then revised verbally, on the floor, by people making sensible decisions that never make it back into the system. By the end of the week the official schedule and what actually happened have diverged so far that neither explains the other, and the next plan is built on the same assumptions.
Planning connected to reality
Schedules per machine and period
Production targets maintained at the level they are actually executed, so the plan is expressed in the same terms as the measurement of it.
Progress against the plan, live
Achievement visible continuously rather than at period end, so a shortfall can be addressed during the period rather than explained after it.
Product and specification changes
The schedule carries what each machine should be running and to what specification, so the right limits and targets apply automatically when production changes.
Downstream scheduling
Packing and finishing schedules aligned with what production has actually produced, not with what it was supposed to produce.
Realistic capacity
Plans built on measured rates and real availability from the system's own history, rather than on nameplate figures nobody has revisited.
Plan versus actual, kept
The history of both is retained, so planning assumptions can be checked against what the plant actually did and improved over time.
How it works
The schedule is maintained in one place
Targets are entered in the system or synchronised from your ERP, so there is a single authoritative plan rather than several versions.
Execution is measured against it continuously
Actual output collected from the machines is compared with the plan as production runs, at the same level of detail.
Deviations surface early
Shortfalls become visible while the period is still running, to the people who can do something about them.
Technical detail
Schedules are held per machine and period alongside the product and specification in force, which lets the system apply the correct targets and quality limits automatically as production changes. Plan and actual are stored together so historical accuracy of planning assumptions can be reviewed. Where an ERP owns the master schedule, targets can be synchronised rather than re-entered.
PLAN AGAINST WHAT YOUR PLANT ACTUALLY DOES
Tell us how your schedule is built today and how often it survives contact with the shift.