Overview

Production orders are scheduled to find out the optimal sequence of production orders/stages and the maximum capacity of work centers.

Production stages of the order must be sequenced for actual production.

The following aspects are taken into consideration upon scheduling:

• Production order priority
• Available work center capacity
• Available materials

Real-time status information from shop floor and procurement systems is used to keep the schedule up-to-date.

The following rules and assumptions are applied when creating a production schedule:

• Priority is specified only at the level of the entire production order, not for order line items.
• The system uses the order priority to identify a sequence for completing production orders.
• The system calculates an optimal production schedule at the level of the entire order, not for order line items.
• To reduce the risk of missing the deadline, the system follows a conservative strategy when placing production stages on the schedule: the longer the duration is or the more resources are required, the sooner the production stage will be placed.
• The production schedule can be calculated for all stages and for separate order stages.

When the supply date or the availability of work centers changes, automatic notifications are generated.

The production schedule reflects all the production stages arranged by the required production time. The schedule is calculated in intervals depending on the availability of work center types involved.

Schedule production orders flowchart

Paths

How to review production orders that require scheduling

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Production order queue management under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Set the Use production scheduling filter to view orders that require the creation or update of the production schedule.

3. Set the Overdue filter to view orders for which the deadlines have already been missed.

How to analyze production order scope and progress

Production schedule report

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Production order queue management under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Select orders that have been started, click Reports, and select Production schedule.

3. In the Order production schedule workplace:

• Choose a Display mode:
  • By business units. See how all the production stages of the production order are distributed among the company's business units.

• • By work center types. See how all the production stages of the production order are distributed among the work center types.

• • By release lots. Analyze the production schedule by the production lot.
• Double-click the bar to drill down to the Gantt chart. Analyze the sequence (the Predecessor and Successor stages) and the schedule (the start date, end date, and duration) of stages.

Order structure

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Production order queue management under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Select orders that have been started and click Order structure.

3. In the Structure of production order workplace:

• Expand the tree and review the structure of stages.
• In the Sequence column, review the sequence of steps.
• In the Quantity columns, analyze production performance by the Plan, Actual, Canceled, and Shortage quantities of the product.
• Review the Date by schedule and Execution date and analyze the actual delay or early execution.

Gantt chart report

1. In the Structure of production order workplace, choose and open a stage.

2. Click Reports and select Adjacent stages.

3. In the Adjacent production stages report, see the Predecessor and Successor stages and analyze the sequence.

Adjustment report

1. In the Structure of production order workplace, choose a stage and click Stage resource chart.

2. Review the factors and resource limitations that influence the stage schedule.

3. Go to the Predecessors stages group and check if the predecessor stages are completed.

4. Look at the schedule to find the production schedule (start and completion dates) of these stages:

• Schedule is marked in black.
• Other days are marked in white.

5. Find a time gap that could be reserved potentially.

6. Drill down to a certain stage if necessary.

7. Go to the Shop floor capacity group.

8. Review all shop floors (business units) involved in the stage and their working schedule:

• Available days are marked in white.
• Overloaded days are marked in red.
• Unavailable days (typically, holidays) are marked with stripes.
• Stage production schedule is marked in green.

9. Pay attention to the red color: it means that rescheduling or additional capacity reserves are required.

10. Detect a business unit with insufficient capacity and decide how to increase its capacity.

11. Go to the Work center types capacity group.

12. Review all work center types involved in the stage and the actual stage capacity:

• Fully available days are marked in white.
• Overloaded days are marked in red.
• Partially available days are marked in gray.
• Unavailable days are marked with stripes.
• Stage production schedule is marked in green.

13. Pay attention to the red color: it means that rescheduling or additional capacity reserves are required.

14. Pay attention to the figures in the cells:

• The first line shows total capacity.
• The second line shows capacity available to promise.
• The third line shows capacity scheduled by the stage.
• Brackets show a capacity reserve.

15. Identify a work center type with insufficient capacity and decide how to increase its capacity.

16. Go to the Material stock group.

17. Review all items of material resources required for the stage and their actual availability.

18. Review the schedule to see the availability timeline:

• Available days are marked in white.
• Unavailable days are marked in black.

19. Identify an item with insufficient capacity and find options for rapid supply.

Paths

Stages with issues

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Stage dispatching under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Set the  On critical path filter to view production stages for which scheduling is the most important to meet order deadlines.

3. Set the  Delay the order filter to view production stages that allow you to move to the current stage earlier if you resolve issues with resource availability, namely equipment capacity or material stock.

Paths

Schedule of production by orders report

1. Go to Manufacturing, click Manufacturing reports, and then open the Schedule of production by orders report under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Review the production schedule for all orders.

3. Analyze the start and end dates, products, quantity, business units, and work center types.

How to choose a scheduling option and run it

Create a schedule with standard performance

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Production order queue management under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Select the previously created production orders, click Actions, and select Schedule selected order.

3. In the opened window, click Plan.

4. In the Scheduling settings menu, leave all the check boxes cleared and click Run scheduling.

5. The system will calculate the production schedule in background mode.

Create a schedule with maximum performance

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Production order queue management under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Select the previously created production orders, click Actions, and select Schedule of production by orders.

3. In the opened window, click Plan.

4. In the Scheduling settings menu:

• Select the Use reserved work center capacity check box.
• Leave the other check boxes cleared.
• Click Run scheduling.

5. The system will calculate the production schedule in background mode.

Create a schedule ignoring other orders

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Production order queue management under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Select orders that have been started or the previously created production orders, click Actions, and select Schedule of production by orders.

3. In the opened window, click Plan.

4. In the Scheduling settings menu, select the Ignore other orders check box and click Run scheduling.

5. Save the production schedule.

Adjust the schedule for an order

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Production order queue management under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Select orders that have been started, click Actions, and select Schedule of production by orders.

3. In the Production schedule creating menu:

• Select the Entire rescheduling check box:
  • If the check box is cleared, the system calculates the production schedule only for production stages that have not previously been planned or whose schedule is outdated.
  • If the check box is selected, the system calculates the production schedule for all production stages of the production order that have not been started.
• Leave the other check boxes cleared.
• Click Run scheduling.

4. The system will calculate the production schedule in background mode.

Adjust the schedule for a specific stage

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Stage dispatching under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Set the Scheduling is required filter to view production stages that have not previously been planned or whose schedule is outdated.

3. Select stages, click Actions, and select Schedule selected stages.

4. In the Production schedule creating menu, leave all the check boxes cleared and click Schedule.

5. The system will calculate the production schedule in background mode only for the selected production stages without full rescheduling of all the production stages of the production order.

Paths

Create a schedule manually

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Production stages under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Click the Main tab.

3. As a Scheduling option, select Manually.

4. Click the Go to placement in schedule hyperlink.

5. In the Stage placement in the production schedule menu:

• Specify a period.
• Add a new row to the table, choose a Work center type, and enter hours in the Reserve row to place the stage to the work center type schedule.

Paths

Set regular schedule update

Set a schedule to update the production schedule regularly with the preset options.

1. Go to Master data and settings and click Support and service under Settings.

2. Go to the Scheduled jobs section and click Scheduled and background jobs.

3. Click the Scheduled jobs tab.

4. Find and open the Create production schedule job.

5. Select the Enabled check box and click the Schedule link.

6. Specify the schedule settings.

7. Click Save and close to start the job.

Production schedule calculation errors

The system automatically runs a number of checks when calculating the production schedule.

The system notifies users about errors through pop-up messages (at the bottom of the window) or in the Production schedule creating menu on the Errors tab.

In the table below, you can find the most common errors and required actions.

How to analyze applicable what-if scenarios

Estimate the theoretical feasibility of on-time production

1. Go to Manufacturing and click Production order queue management under Production scheduling and controlling.

2. Select a production order, click Actions, and select Schedule selected order.

3. In the Production schedule creating menu, click the Summary information tab.

4. Analyze the dates in each line:

• Requested. Start and end dates of the order specified when placing the order.
• Scheduled. Start and end dates of the order that are actually possible considering the identified priority and the current availability of materials and equipment.

5. Analyze the chart with the relative position of lead times for the two options, where the green bar indicates the Requested option and the blue bar indicates the Scheduled option.

6. Click Plan.

7. Select What-if parameters:

• Use reserved work center capacity.
• All materials are in stock. All materials are considered to be available in full as of the request date.
• Unlimited equipment capacity. Equipment capacity is considered to be unlimited.
• 24/7 operation. Each piece of equipment is considered to be available for the entire calendar period. The overall availability of equipment is limited only with the number of equipment items.
• Ignore other orders. It is considered that there are no other orders in the enterprise with a priority higher than of the current order.

8. Click Run scheduling.

9. The system will automatically:

• Update data for the Requested line.
• Recalculate data for the Scheduled line.
• Calculate and fill the By model line with the order start and end dates considering the selected what-if scenarios.
• Plot a graph with the relative position of time periods for order fulfillment with all three options, including the yellow bar for the By model option.
• Generate system notifications about the calculation of the production schedule.
• Generate system recommendations for the user.
• Generate a list of errors (if any).

10. Review the dates in the By model line and assess the theoretical feasibility of on-time production.

11. Compare these dates with the dates in the Scheduled and Requested lines.

System notifications and recommendations

1. Review the basic system notifications and recommendations for optimizing the production schedule.

2. In the Production schedule creating menu, click the Stages tab.

3. Analyze the start and end dates of the stages according to the calculated schedule.

4. Find stages marked as Stage delays the order.

5. Start optimizing the production schedule from these stages.

6. Open the Adjustment and Gantt chart reports. See above for instructions on how to use these reports.

How to identify and address capacity issues

1. In the Production schedule creating menu, click the Summary information tab.

2. Review the Machine load chart. The system will automatically:

• Take the actual production schedule.
• Compare it with the data obtained from the what-if scenarios.
• Display the top five work center types that have the highest relative (%) load of their capacity on the dashboard.

3. Find work centers that halt the manufacturing process. Go from top to bottom of the list of work center types to achieve the maximum optimization effect with the least effort.

4. Double-click the chart to open a detailed report for all positions.

5. Consider the following options to increase available capacity and speed up your production schedule:

• Change the work schedule of work center types.
• Use additional equipment.
• Transfer equipment by changing its classification.
• Remove equipment from other orders/stages.
• Use alternative work center types.

6. Open the Load of work center types according to production schedule report.

7. Estimate the use of work center types for the period, by divisions, stages, orders, or products.

How to identify and address material supply issues

1. In the Production schedule creating menu, click the Summary information tab.

2. Review the Delay in supply chart. The system will automatically:

• Take the actual production schedule.
• Compare it with the data obtained from the what-if scenarios.
• Display the top five work center types that have the highest relative (%) load of their capacity on the dashboard.
• Display the top five material items that shift the stage schedule due to insufficient stock, which does not allow the actual schedule to align with the model schedule.

3. Find materials that shift the schedule most of all.

4. Double-click the chart to open a detailed report for all positions.

5. Find out if you can stock up on the items to speed up the production schedule.

How to review final production stage dates

1. Save the schedule.

2. The system automatically fills the schedule in relevant stages.

3. Go to Manufacturing and click Stage dispatching under Production scheduling and controlling.

4. Make sure the stages have correct production dates.

Paths

How to initiate tasks for the production planning team

1. Go to Quick menu and then click Duties under Mail, tasks.

2. Create a Duty with an issue description and link it to the issue order.

3. Assign the task to the production planner (user).