Production Scheduling Software | Worst-Case Scenario: Unable to Deliver!

A production scheduling software helps to plan, coordinate and control the entire production process. The software tool helps to allocate resources such as labour, material and equipment, with focus on quantity, deadline and capacity. The implementation results in more efficient and cost-optimised production plans.

A production scheduling software is intended to manage planning and control tasks ranging between the central ERP and MES at shopfloor level.

The tasks of a production scheduling software are

• the creation of production plans
• the management of safety stocks,
• the allocation of resources,
• the tracking of production progress and
• the creation of performance reports.

In addition, a production scheduling software plays a central role in communicating within teams as well as between different departments, customers and suppliers. By providing a single point of truths, you can make decisions more easily, which in turn, results in raised operational efficiency.

As often in reality, the answer is “It depends!”. It depends on the current situation in the company, on what the expectations are in regard of the introduction of a production planning software and on the complexity of the production or manufacturing processes itself. However, there are a number of minimum requirements a modern production planning software should include:

• Open interface for integration of peripheral systems
• Plug & Play integration into the central ERP system
• Support of manual and semi-automated production planning based on planning proposals
• Simulations of master and transaction data
• Creation of what if scenarios
• Provision an Available to Promise (ATP)
• Management of time and resource conflicts in line
• Drag & drop functionalities within Gantt charts

For every company in the manufacturing and process industry, production planning is critical. Because without an effective production, there are no deliverable products. And without products, there is no turnover and no profit. Of course, the requirements for a production management software vary greatly depending on the customer and the industry. As a rule of thumb, the larger the company and the more complex the production processes and supply chain relationships, the more a production management software needs to be supplemented with Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) functionalities.

Production planning is divided into different planning horizons – strategic, tactical and operational. Depending on the industry and the production process, the time horizons may vary considerably. Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) often refers to the strategic-tactical planning, whereas production scheduling describes the operational, detailed scheduling process.

An APS software usually includes functions to manage advanced production plan and resource optimisation processes. APS systems may include the planning of production campaigns, the management of external production by contract companies, cross-plant planning and vendor-managed inventory, among others.

In contrast, a production scheduling software demonstrate its strengths in regard to the operational execution of the production plan. This kind of software facilitates the tracking of material flows and labour utilisation, as well as the provision of real-time feedback on production status.

However, the transition of a production scheduling software and APS is fluid. In terms of an integrated end-to-end approach, all systems should be linked and communicate with each other. An integration into the upstream ERP is also mandatory.