From Frustration to Functionality: Turning Your Manufacturing Schedule Into a Production Asset
Creating a manufacturing schedule is all about making a short-term plan for your production activities. You break the process down into individual tasks or stages, which helps you plan everything from raw materials to labor and equipment to shipping. The schedule outlines when each task should start and finish, the available resources, and any constraints or dependencies you need to consider along the way.
If you do it right, it can cut down on the chaos and help you:
- Improve production efficiency
- Reduce material and labor waste
- Meet order deadlines
- Decrease downtime
- Lower costs
- Increase profitability
If your company uses an ERP or MRP solution, these benefits are multiplied exponentially, as the data you collect from actual order timelines helps inform your planning, improving the accuracy of your schedule. With real-time data using manufacturing scheduling software, you can see exactly where the hiccups are in your process and address them head on, improving efficiency and saving you time and money. But, without a master production schedule to compare your results to, you don't know where you stand or where you could do better.
With these benefits in mind, let’s dive deeper into the nuts and bolts of production scheduling.
Schedule Types
You can’t underestimate the role of production scheduling in manufacturing; it’s what keeps operations running smoothly and helps meet delivery deadlines. Managing things can get pretty complicated with changing customer demands and limited resources, not to mention juggling different products and processes. Add in issues like equipment downtime and communication breakdowns, and you’ve got a recipe for inefficiency that can really slow things down.
A good schedule means less downtime and waste, and it allows businesses to pivot quickly when demand changes. The most common schedule types are a push, pull, or hybrid approach.
Push
With a push schedule, production starts based on what you think the demand will be. This can come from past sales, market trends, or other factors. It helps speed up the time between an order being placed and delivered, but it can lead to high inventory costs if those products don’t sell.
Pull
In a pull schedule, production begins when you get customer orders. This approach helps you use resources efficiently and cuts down on waste since you’re only making what’s actually needed. The downside is it can’t respond to new orders fast because the production line is busy.
Hybrid
A hybrid schedule mixes both push and pull methods. For example, a tech manufacturer might push raw materials and components to the factory but switch to pull processes once an order comes in. It’s a more flexible way to manage production and keep up with unpredictable changes in demand.
Key Factors in a Manufacturing Schedule
While a production schedule's specifics can vary depending on the industry or product, it’s typically based on a few factors.
Production Capacity
How much can you actually produce in a given time? Knowing your maximum capacity is important because you don’t want to be running at that level all the time. It’s about finding that sweet spot that lets you make progress while preparing for any unexpected hiccups or delays.
Logistical Flow
How do materials, resources, workers, and supplies flow on the shop floor? Sometimes just tweaking the layout or the order of things can improve efficiency. Small changes can make a big difference in how smoothly everything runs, and manufacturing scheduling software can help you make adjustments easily.
Materials
How long does it take to get raw materials? And how much can you store at once? You definitely don’t want to pay people and have machines sitting idle waiting on the materials they need.
Labor
Do you know your workers' strengths and weaknesses? Have you matched them up with the right tasks? It's also smart to build in some job redundancy so production won’t grind to a halt if someone’s out sick, on vacation, or a no-show.
Equipment
What’s the capacity of each piece of equipment, and how much downtime do you need for maintenance or repairs? Planning for maintenance and downtime reduces its impact on production.
Costs
Keep an eye on your costs throughout the schedule, including raw materials, labor, and overhead costs. Always know where your money’s going.
Scheduling Techniques
Creating a schedule can be as simple as drawing a line to show each production phase. But with today’s complex manufacturing processes and the interdependencies between phases, you may find that a simple line drawing or stacks of unorganized papers don’t work for you. Here are a few advanced scheduling techniques to think about.
Gantt Chart
A Gantt chart is a bar chart that shows each task that’s required during production. It highlights how long each one takes and its dependencies on the tasks before and after it.
Critical Path Method
The critical path method (CPM) helps identify critical tasks in the process that could significantly affect production timelines. It analyzes the amount of float, or unused time, between tasks to determine which ones are critical to completion.
Project Evaluation and Review Technique
The project evaluation and review technique (PERT) compares planned performance to actual times in hopes of improving production times. It uses mathematical formulas to determine where bottlenecks occur.
Today’s manufacturing scheduling software can help production teams easily create even the most complex schedules and analyze them to improve efficiency.
Rolling Out a Manufacturing Schedule
A schedule is only good if it works in real life. So, once you’ve developed your schedule, roll it out to your crew. Then, track progress and adjust as needed. Here are the steps to take:
- Share the schedule with your team and give everyone a heads-up on any new processes, tech, or software they’ll be using.
- Keep an eye on the production process using real-time data. It’s a good way to stay on top of everything and spot any issues before they become big headaches.
- Be ready to make adjustments if necessary to tackle any issues or bottlenecks.
- Keep monitoring things and pivot as needed.
When it comes to monitoring your schedule, software or other tracking tools are essential for gathering all the information you need to assess your progress. Saying production is slowing down in one area is one thing, but knowing the exact stage of production and how much time is wasted is a game-changer. With that insight, you can easily target your adjustments and get the most bang for your buck.
You’ll also need to stay flexible during the implementation phase. Things come up and people make mistakes. Be ready to change on a dime if needed. In the end, the results will be worth it.
Optimizing Manufacturing Schedules
A well-managed schedule can make all the difference in production. Here are some tips to get the most out it.
Identify Bottlenecks and Inefficiencies With Real-Time Monitoring
Nothing beats the value of real-time data and process tracking. It’s hard to argue with stats!
Prioritize Critical Tasks
Figure out which tasks are crucial to your process using the critical path method. Focus on improving those first.
Use Lean Manufacturing Principles
Using principles like just-in-time delivery and continuous improvement helps keep you running at your best. It’s all about being efficient and looking for ways to do things better.
Use Manufacturing Scheduling Software
Manufacturing scheduling and monitoring software is ideal for tracking how production is going. It can even help you spot potential problems before they happen so you can solve them early and keep moving forward.
No matter if you’re using a push, pull, or hybrid schedule, manufacturing scheduling software can also help improve efficiency and cut costs. By analyzing your schedule to pinpoint critical tasks, you’ll know exactly where to focus your improvements. Plus, with real-time monitoring, you’ll be able to see the effects of those improvements and business benefits right away.
