Types / Methods of Production planning & Control for Ops


No more capacity planning production template in excel xlsOne of the most common things that production facility managers say about production planning software is that they just don’t think their factory is ready for a system like that yet. While a new software program for the entire company can be a major decision, all too often factory managers wait until their facility has serious problems before trying to implement a new program.

Unfortunately, this causes a lot of stress as employees scramble to input data, learn a new system, and implement changes to improve their facility’s efficiency in a reactive mode after expensive mistakes have already been made. Instead, it’s a good idea for managers to implement a new system before small problems turn into big ones. If any of the following statements are true about your company, then you might want to start seriously exploring a new production planning software program.

Orders are shipping late or lead-times are getting longer:

We all know that keeping our customers happy is critical to the success of our business and our own careers. It’s easy to continue the status quo and hope that your customers won’t go elsewhere for faster, more reliable service. But instead of hoping, you can take action to use a planning and control system to ensure that you are the best choice for your customers, not your competitor.

Routine maintenance, cleaning, safety, and quality control inspections are being missed:

Types of methods of manufacturing production planning and control for operations managers for APS While most factories have delays in these areas during peak operational times, regularly missing or delaying inspections from these departments can quickly become a disastrous problem. If your facility can't seem to keep up with routine factory functions like these, you need a better way to get your schedule under control.

You don't know where your facility is leaking money or losing productivy:

Ideally, every piece of equipment and employee in your company would work at maximum efficiency on the right orders, giving you an easy-to-predict production rate and maximum profitability. In the real world, however, each employee has their own pace and issues, and every machine has its own quirks. If you don’t know what issues are causing your production rates and profit to plummet, you need to do something. Production planning software can track every production line, product, and employee in order to find patterns and solutions that humans just can’t spot. Plus, an APS system go beyond tracking to actually automate work assignments and production sequencing to maximize on-time output of the factory automatically.

Your facility is planning to expand:

Types of Production Planning and Control for Operations Managers

While managers often implement new software after an expansion, it’s a lot easier to get the production software up and running before new lines and employees are added. Not only does this give the prediction portion of the program more data to work with, but it also gives you time to adjust the program to your facility before implementing more changes. As an added bonus, the software can help facilitate the expansion by generating what-if scenarios for various factory floor configurations, staff rotations, and even equipment swaps so you know what your investment will do for your business and your customersbefore you make the investment.

Your labor costs are climbing:

Increased production doesn’t always mean you have to hire more staff. Likewise, decreased production doesn’t mean you have to lay-off staff. Advanced production planning software can find the most efficient way to use the people you have and identify training or marketing opportunities. That means you’ll have a more efficient workforce and increase your profit without painful employee changes. By enabling your planning team with better tools, you will also reduce their stress level, save them time, and make them even more productive than they already are.

If your company is showing any of these signs, you may need to implement an advanced production planning software program.

Get Latest APS Trend Updates

Recent Posts

Download Free eBook

Are you Scheduling Production in Spreadsheets?

With PlanetTogether Scheduling, you'll create better production schedules much faster with SAP ERP, Microsoft 365 for Operations / Dynamics AX, Ross (by Aptean). Plus, those schedules will take your material and capacity constraints into account, so you'll know that commitments made will be commitments that are met. Learn why your ERP alone is not enough.

ERP Alone is Not Enough

Proof of Concept to Satisfy All Stakeholders

Our proof of concept sales model allows you to try before you buy. You wade into the purchase phase with as much known about the satisfaction level of the integration that you can possibly know - then you can get into refinement and specialization of your APS integration. We train your staff how to target in SQL.  

See Our PoC Model

"We searched diligently for the right tools in the SAP family and found the systems lacking, so we looked elsewhere. PlanetTogether was the most flexible and adaptable option."

DEAN DIETRICH
Vice President of Operations Support

“The fact that PlanetTogether was .NET-based was important. It meant we could easily integrate with our manufacturing software."

DICK MARX
Materials Manager

"On the integration to SAP: “We flipped the switch and it worked. It was a seamless transition. The team at PlanetTogether is exceptional.”

BRUCE HAYS
Director of Manufacturing

"The requests for information and meetings around challenges tied to production have gone down. We now have ‘one version of the truth,’ which is a win.”

BRIAN GOODWIN
Master Scheduler

"PlanetTogether's software is by far the best and most encompassing planning software package offered today. Before it took hours to schedule our production because scheduling was based on manual reports. Now it only takes seconds!”

ED CZYSZ
Production Scheduling Manager

"I’m very happy now that everything is up and running. We use it for everything. PlanetTogether has cut production scheduling time in half."

JAIME OZUNA
Production Scheduler

Free Trial for Ops Managers

With PlanetTogether Scheduling, you'll create better production schedules much faster. Plus, those schedules will take your material and capacity constraints into account, so you'll know that commitments made will be commitments met.

Free Trial Offer

APS for Operations Managers

Whether it is Industry 4.0, IoT or your industry specific manufaturing certifications that you need to keep up with; see how Advanced Planning & Scheduling can help you bridge gaps by optimizing efficienc in your opeation.

Request Demo