PlanetTogether

Overview
Business Benefits
Key Features
Solution Details
Technical Specs

Solutions Overview

PlanetTogether customers have transformed their planning and scheduling processes from disconnected spreadsheets and ad-hoc procedures to productive and profitable modern methods using PlanetTogether visual planning, scheduling and optimization software. Using real-time integrated sales and manufacturing data, PlanetTogether optimizes orders and resources using adjustable planning rules tuned to your key business drivers.

These are the key functions that PlanetTogether provides your team to maximize your success:

Resource Scheduling Automation and Easy Adjustment

Integrated to your existing order tracking systems, PlanetTogether produces accurate schedules that update automatically saving you time and giving you unprecedented visibility. Easy drag-and-drop adjustment allows for flexibility and control over every aspect of your schedules and resources. All important constraints are taken into account automatically including: machine capacity, labor, inventory, and tooling for schedules that are truly accurate and reliable.

Order Prioritization

Build thoughtful rules into your prioritization of orders and customers to be sure that the most important customers are taken care of and the most profitable alternatives are chosen.

Exception Warnings and Preventive Planning

Spot bottlenecks, material shortages, and potential problems in advance while low-cost solutions and alternatives still exist.

Output Maximization and Cost Minimization

Get the most out of your existing resources by minimizing changeovers, assigning work to the best resources for the job, and level-loading your work to avoid idle time. Cut inventory carrying costs by scheduling to produce the right materials at the right place at the right time.

Performance Tracking and Improvement

Identify and correct performance problems by tracking actual results versus standards-based schedules. Know right away if jobs are falling behind and are at risk of shipping late.

Capacity and Inventory Planning

Gain the visibility of planned workload and backlogs by department and by resource so staffing levels can be planned for. Be forewarned if production will fall short of demand or safety-stocks targets so adjustments can be made and high customer service levels achieved.

What-If Scenario Analysis

Look at alternative plans such as varying shifts, overtime and new orders to make informed decisions – all without interfering with the “live” schedule. Share what-if scenarios with others in your team to collaborate for the best possible results.

If you are looking for your first APS system, you might feel a little unsure about exactly what characteristics to look for. Please feel free to download our white paper on "Selecting Scheduling Software"

Want to learn more? Call (617) 803-7917 to speak to one of our trained specialists.

"The users tell us they are most excited about the PlanetTogether portion of the solution. The graphical scheduling board with drag-n-drop functionality is intuitive and informative."
-Gary Legendre, Project Manager for Interdyn Progressive Group

See PlanetTogether's Features in action.

Discover the productivity gains and cost reductions that result from crystal-clear production visibility, real-time schedule connectivity, and a tool that optimizes your resources around your customers every minute of every day. Contact Us.

Business Benefits

Business Owners

Win more orders and keep customers coming back by shipping quickly and delivering on-time.
Cut overtime and inventory carrying costs, and delay capital equipment expenditures by utilizing resources to their fullest.
Increase your competitive edge with quick turnaround and state of the art shop floor control.

Operations Managers

Increase your visibility of future bottlenecks and workloads to reduce last-minute emergencies.
Reduce manufacturing costs by better utilizing resources and cutting inventories.
Achieve higher on-time delivery and quicker turnaround on customer orders.

Planners

Save the time and effort of updating disconnected spreadsheets since schedules are updated automatically based on data in your manufacturing system.
Provide order ship dates and schedules to others within the organization more easily without so many phone calls and e-mails.
Produce great results for your company and enjoy more interesting day-to-day work.
Get certified on leading-edge planning and scheduling tools.

Sales and Customer Service

Win more orders by promising shorter lead-times and accurate promise dates.
Gain clear insight into order status and expected delivery dates.
Keep your customers happy by delivering on-time.

IT Personnel

Simplify your system maintenance requirements by relying on PlanetTogether personnel to maintain your planning solution remotely.
Provide necessary tools to company personnel without having to update their client computers due to PlanetTogether’s self-updating client software.
Learn more about key technologies such as Microsoft .Net and SQL Server.

Want to learn more? Call (617) 803-7917 to speak to one of our trained specialists.

Install your Free Two Week Trial Version Today

One of our represenatatives is standing by to assist your needs.

Key Features

Are you looking for the best scheduling software to fit your company? PlanetTogether uniquely empowers you with features that other systems don't offer. Because our developers have more than a decade's worth of experience creating production scheduling software, PlanetTogether has all the features any scheduler and facility could ask for. Here are a few of our key features:

Visual Scheduling Board for easy “drag-and-drop” re-scheduling
Optimization Engine to maximize production efficiencies and on-time delivery
"What-If" Impact Analysis to evaluate proposed changes before committing resources
Constraint-Based Scheduling create constraining links between different jobs explicitly or based on time-phased inventory, production and bills-of-material
Process Manufacturing Constraints have special rules for batch production scheduling in industries such as Food & Beverage and Chemical production
Multi-User & Multi-Plant Capabilities for multiple factories or planners
100% Microsoft.Net Architecture to easily extend, support, and use
Sales & Operations Planning to plan inventory and synchronize production with demand
Forecasts Accurate Schedules with Real-Time Updates

Want to learn more? Call (617) 803-7917 to speak to one of our trained specialists.

Solutions Details

PlanetTogether solutions fit your business. Simply choose the system Level based on the size of your company and the functional Modules based on your scheduling needs. The result is a solution that is right for you now and has the flexibility to grow as your business grows.

Levels

Enterprise: Companies with multiple locations face challenges such as: process standardization across facilities, inter-plant coordination, and multi-warehouse storage and transfer. PlanetTogether Enterprise handles these challenges and provides a cohesive solution across your entire company.

Standard: Whether your company is a mid-size to large business or a small business that is thriving and growing, PlanetTogether Standard will provide you with the tools to simplify your scheduling challenges and streamline your manufacturing flows, while enabling your team to work together.

Small Business: Small manufacturers face many of the challenges of larger manufacturers and as a business grows manual and spreadsheet-driven tools often become a burden to maintain and difficult to use. PlanetTogether Small Business will provide an easy-to-use, integrated scheduling solution that helps take your business to the next level.

For all system levels, PlanetTogether offers unique “collaborative” scheduling which means multiple users can work together cohesively, adjusting and viewing schedules and what-if scenarios as needed.

Click Here for more details about PlanetTogether Licenses.

Visual Scheduling (Base System)

The Base System is the starting point which has the critical functionality that all manufacturers need to simplify their scheduling process and increase productivity on the shop floor with the improved visibility and ease of drag-and-drop scheduling and capacity planning. Learn More

Optional Modules

The following modules can be added to the Base System, in any configuration. (Typically the Finite Capacity & Raw Material scheduling option is selected along with any of the other Modules though it is not a strict prerequisite.)

Finite Capacity & Raw Material Constraints Learn More
Optimization and “What-If” Scenarios Learn More
Advanced Planning & Analytics Learn More
Additional Plant licenses Learn More

Want to learn more? Call (617) 803-7917 to speak to one of our trained specialists.

Technical Specs

Hardware and Software Recommendations

These are the minimum and recommended hardware and software for running PlanetTogether in a production environment. Note that a dedicated server is not usually required if scheduling less than approximately 5,000 jobs with up to 10 operations per job.

Please pay special attention to the monitor size, processor speed, and memory (RAM) requirements as these tend to have a big impact on the user-friendliness and productivity of the solution.

	Minimum	Recommended
SERVER:
Operating System	Windows Vista, XP, Windows Server	Windows Server (helpful for multiple Remote Desktop Connections)
Processor	32 bit, 2 GHz	64 bit, 3+ GHz
RAM	2 GB	4+ GB
Hard Drive Space	10 GB	30 GB
Database (for optional data warehouse)	MSDE/SQL Express 2000 or newer	SQL Server 2005 or newer (For Web-based reporting)
Microsoft.NET Framework	Version 3.5	Version 3.5
Other software	Any required ODBC drivers	Any required ODBC drivers
Monitor	17” 1024 x 768 resolution	21” UXGA 1,600 x 1,200 resolution or higher

MASTER SCHEDULER or WHAT-IF PC
Operating System	Microsoft Windows Vista, XP, 2000	Windows Vista 64 bit
Processor	32 bit, 2 GHz	64 bit, 3+ GHz
RAM	2 GB	2 GB
Hard Drive Space	5 GB	15 GB
Microsoft.NET Framework	Version 3.5	Version 3.5
Other software	none	Microsoft Office Excel and Access
Monitor	24” 1,600 x 1,200 resolution	30” UXGA 2,560 x 1,600 resolution

VIEW-ONLY/SHOP VIEW PC
Operating System	Microsoft Windows Vista, XP, 2000	Windows Vista 64 bit
Processor	32 bit, 2 GHz	64 bit, 2+ GHz
RAM	2 GB	4+ GB
Hard Drive Space	5 GB	10 GB
Microsoft.NET Framework	Version 3.5	Version 3.5
Other software	none	Microsoft Office Excel and Access
Monitor	21” 1,600 x 1,200 resolution	24” UXGA 2,560 x 1,600 resolution

Integration

While PlanetTogether can run as a standalone system, it was designed to primarily be used in close concert with an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. As such, it has very flexible integration tools that will provide a closed-loop, fully integrated planning system.

Most data can be imported and exported.
Interface "Wizard" can be used to map PlanetTogether data to external system data.
Export to: Microsoft SQL Server, Excel, or XML.
Import from: Microsoft SQL Server, ODBC, Oracle, Microsoft Access, Excel, XML, and text files.
API for direct real-time calls from any Microsoft .Net language (C#, Visual Basic, C++).
Imports and exports can be manual or automated for certain frequencies or times of the day.

Want to learn more? Call (617) 803-7917 to speak to one of our trained specialists.