Looking at the history of production scheduling and planning can create insight into where problems were presented and fixed.
Centuries after the first manufacturing plant, production scheduling remains an issue for factories. At first this task wasn't as daunting as plants specialized on only one or two products at a time. However, over the years of technological advancement, managers and factory owners began to study the efficiency of production lines. 
A look at the history of manufacturing scheduling would not be complete without first beginning with Frederick Taylor. Taylor is considered one of the forefathers of industrial efficiency. Through his observations of the workforce, Taylor noticed that laborers who took breaks showed less physical and mental fatigue and were thus able to perform more efficiently. Indeed, it was his belief that the effectiveness of a manufacturing facility depended greatly upon its labor. He supported having set operational processes that were understood by employers and employees alike so that every member of the production floor can make informed decisions. His scientific analysis of the manufacturing process began a greater movement into the study of efficiency.
Karol Adamiecki and Henry Gantt entered into production scheduling by modifying bar charts to itemize steps in a schedule based on a calendar. These two engineers invented very similar methods. However, Adamiecki did not publish his until 1931, by which time Gantt's 1915 efforts had become the standard. Bars were used to show the planned period for each step of a process, quickly communicating scheduling information to everyone in a factory. Naturally, Gantt charts became the primary scheduling tool in many modern manufacturing facilities.
Gantt's production scheduling worked well in a single factory, however coordinating activities in multiple production facilities proved difficult. Fortunately, Johnson’s Rule helped to eliminate some of these problems. Johnson made it possible to find the most efficient time for each stage of the manufacturing process and determine a schedule that would allow all facilities to work together to create product in the most economical manner.
Johnson’s Rule served as a significant breakthrough. A multitude of companies were growing internationally, and this insight made it easier to manage multiple production facilities across the globe. These charts incorporated the tasks of all plants within a company and scheduled them according to completion speed. Whereas Gantt charts scheduled tasks, Johnson's Rule created optimized sequences. For example, if Facility One can outproduce Facility Two for Component A, then Facility One becomes the official producer for Component A across the company. Though this method had the potential to decrease overall production time within a multi-plant company, results varied greatly upon communication between facilities.
This process exists within the industry today, though now it's computerized. Scheduling software cross-references the production schedules of multiple plants to inform users of suggested changes to maximize performance. Anyone granted access can now update a production schedule almost instantaneously from across the globe.
In today’s modern factory, production scheduling is a top priority. The ability to produce hundreds of different products at a moment’s notice is necessary to maintain customer satisfaction and a competitive status within a given industry. This means it's imperative to a company’s well-being that a production schedule is precisely regulated to ensure the product is produced in a cost-effective manner. A production schedule also keeps the process adaptable to ever-changing industry standards.
In this video, you’ll see how PlanetTogether Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) uses Gantt chart labels to make production schedules easier to understand and act on. Building on the classic Gantt chart concept introduced in the early 1900s, PlanetTogether turns bar charts into an interactive, data-rich view of your factory schedule.
Learn how labeled Gantt charts help planners and managers:
– Quickly identify orders, operations, resources, and constraints directly on the timeline
– See planned start/finish times, setup, run, and wait in one visual schedule
– Spot bottlenecks, delays, and idle time so they can adjust sequencing and capacity in seconds
– Connect historical scheduling methods (Taylor, Adamiecki, Gantt, Johnson’s Rule) to modern, APS-powered visualization and optimization
This video is ideal for production planners, schedulers, and operations leaders who still use traditional Gantt charts but want a more powerful, APS-driven way to visualize and manage modern, multi-product, multi-plant schedules.
The history of production planning shows a clear pattern: each advance—from Taylor’s time studies to Gantt charts to Johnson’s Rule—came from a need to manage more complexity and improve efficiency. Today, factories juggle hundreds of products, multiple plants, and constantly shifting demand. Static bar charts and spreadsheets are no longer enough; you need APS-powered planning that can update schedules in seconds and coordinate work across sites.
Download our one-page “The Money Is in the Planning” infographic to see how modern planning and scheduling can help you:
Use this infographic with your planning and operations teams as a quick visual guide to where advanced planning and scheduling can deliver the next leap forward in your own production planning history.
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