Planning & Scheduling Questions
- "What industries in PlanetTogether suited for?
- Does PlanetTogether allow for manual schedule adjustments?
- Why should we choose PlanetTogether over other systems?
- We don’t have any “pegging” information in our ERP system that connects different levels of the bill of material. Will PlanetTogether still be able to coordinate production between work orders or will we have to add these links manually?
- Is the system updatable in “real-time” so that our schedule is always accurate?
- Can PlanetTogether schedule multiple plants?
Integration Questions
- Which system does PlanetTogether integrate with “out of the box”?
- Can information flow in both directions between PlanetTogether and ERP software?
- How long does it usually take to create a new integration and how much would it cost if we contracted with PlanetTogether to set this up?
- If we upgrade our ERP system will PlanetTogether still work?
- Can PlanetTogether run “standalone”?
Getting Started Questions
- Will we need a new administrative position to use your software?
- What skill set is needed to use PlanetTogether?
- How much of our teams time will be required to setup PlanetTogether?
- Will we need a new server for PlanetTogether?
- What size company is PlanetTogether best suited for?
Do you have another question? Is your question not here?
Want to learn more? Call (617) 803-7917 to speak to one of our trained specialists.
Contact UsPlanning & Scheduling Questions
- What industries in PlanetTogether suited for?
- We have installed scheduling software in hundreds of factories in many different industries and we’ve created PlanetTogether to be extremely adaptable making it capable of handling most production scheduling problems. Some of the industries that we have experience with include: Food & Beverage, Chemical, Job Shop, medical equipment manufacturing, industrial equipment manufacturing, coffee roasting, high-tech, printing, forges, injection molders, and truck equipment manufacturing/automotive. If you’d like to confirm that our system will work for you please give us a call – we have scheduling experts standing by to speak with you about your specific challenges.
- Does PlanetTogether allow for manual schedule adjustments?
- Absolutely! This is one of PlanetTogether greatest strengths – the ease with which you can make changes in a graphical drag-and-drop environment. While most scheduling systems allow limited drag-and-drop, PlanetTogether takes it one step further with “capacity-constrained” drag-and-drop. This means that when you make changes, PlanetTogether adjust the schedule to ensure that capacity is not violated and material constraints are followed. This allows you to make changes quickly and easily and also see the impact of your changes instantly. There are also many other manual and automatic scheduling tools. Give us a call to take a look at what we can offer you.
- Why should we choose PlanetTogether over other systems?
- PlanetTogether will do a better job of creating accurate schedules that respect all of your constraints (labor, machines, materials, tools, storage). PlanetTogether is easier to use due to its “capacity constrained drag-and-drop”. PlanetTogether is based on the flagship Microsoft platform, the .Net Framework, which means it is more familiar to your users (like Microsoft Office), is widely supported, is easier to integrate with, and has a long lifetime ahead of it. PlanetTogether is the only true “collaborative” scheduling system that allows multiple planners to be logged on and rescheduling simultaneously so you can work the way you need to as your company grows. The founders (link to new management team page) of PlanetTogether have over fifteen years of experience completely focused on solving production scheduling problems. PlanetTogether has also been selected by more ERP companies than any other system as their recommended solution, including Microsoft, Sage, Softbrands, SCC, Navigator,Escape Velocity Software, Vicinity Manufacturing, and Horizons Manufacturing.
- We don’t have any “pegging” information in our ERP system that connects different levels of the bill of material. Will PlanetTogether still be able to coordinate production between work orders or will we have to add these links manually?
- PlanetTogether can examine your bill of material for each work order to determine material requirements and then automatically peg material flows across work orders (any number of levels). So even if you don’t have explicit links PlanetTogether will still alert you or reschedule dependent work orders if a supplying work order will be delayed (by drag-and-drop or otherwise). Note that you can also create explicit links between work orders in the event that the intermediate material must be allocated to one or more specific downstream work orders.
- Is the system updatable in “real-time” so that our schedule is always accurate?
- Yes. PlanetTogether updates instantly whenever it receives information such as the completion of an operation or the breakdown of a machine. The update can be pulled from your ERP system or even come from a direct feed from a labor reporting or shop floor tracking system. PlanetTogether also has its own screens, called “Shop Views” which are designed to show schedules to shop floor personnel and allow for reporting of production.
- Can PlanetTogether schedule multiple plants?
- Yes. PlanetTogether is a “collaborative” scheduling system that can handle any number of Plants and simultaneous Master Schedulers, Viewers, and What-If users. (sold separately). Plants can be scheduled independently or inter-dependently according to your needs.
Integration Questions
- Which system does PlanetTogether integrate with “out of the box”?
- Sage MAS 500, MAS 200, MAS 90
- Escape Velocity Systems O2
- Microsoft NAV, GP, AX, and Small Business Financials
- SAP Business One with Production One
- Horizons Manufacturing
- Vicinity Manufacturing
- Supply Chain Consultant’s Zemeter
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- SQL Server
- Epicor Vantage
- PlanetTogether can also import from virtually any other system using any of the following: ODBC, CSV/text, XML
- Can information flow in both directions between PlanetTogether and ERP software?
- Yes, provided that your ERP software allows updating. PlanetTogether can import and export to most systems. However, some systems do not allow update through ODBC of SQL stored procedures. In this case a program has to be written in the ERP framework to update the work orders from the PlanetTogether SQL Server or text file export.
- How long does it usually take to create a new integration and how much would it cost if we contracted with PlanetTogether to set this up?
- It usually takes a few days to create a new integration. Typical costs range from $1,000 for a basic integration to $5,000 for a more sophisticated one.
- If we upgrade our ERP system will PlanetTogether still work?
- Yes, though it may require some minor modification to the “Interface Wizard”. Integration with PlanetTogether is very flexible and configurable. So it’s easy for our staff or your own team to adjust it should any fields change in your ERP system between versions.
- Can PlanetTogether run “standalone”?
- Yes. All data can be manually entered and maintained.
Getting Started Questions
- Will we need a new administrative position to use your software?
- No. Most companies find that using PlanetTogether actually greatly reduces the amount of time spent managing production. Time that is now spent expediting orders, consolidating information, and updating spreadsheets can be spent on more pro-active tasks since most of the planning process will be automated. A typical user spends anywhere from one to three hours per day reviewing and adjusting the schedule once PlanetTogether is in use.
- What skill set is needed to use PlanetTogether?
- It is important that your PlanetTogether scheduler(s) are: (1) very familiar with your production operations and what would make a “good” schedule and (2) reasonably comfortable using computers on a daily basis (Someone familiar with Excel will find PlanetTogether easy to learn).
- How much of our teams time will be required to setup PlanetTogether?
- The amount of time your planners or production managers usually spend varies from 40 to 120 hours in total. We realize that your team is very busy running your business so we work remotely over the internet and schedule our time with your personnel based on their priorities and work schedules. An implementation usually takes anywhere from four to twelve weeks in calendar time.
- Will we need a new server for PlanetTogether?
- Usually not. Unless you are scheduling several thousands of orders or your servers are aging, PlanetTogether can usually run on your existing hardware. See the hardware requirements page for more information.
- What size company is PlanetTogether best suited for?
- Our target market is mid-sized manufacturers ranging from ten to five hundred million dollars in annual sales. We offer small business, standard, and enterprise editions so most companies other than small start-ups will find PlanetTogether to be a great solution to the scheduling problems.
Do you have another question? Is your question not here?
Want to learn more? Call (617) 803-7917 to speak to one of our trained specialists.
