Schedule Adherence

In today’s increasingly competitive ‘must have now’ marketplace, companies are having to respond to customer demands in terms of product variations and delivery times with ever decreasing time scales. A large number of companies have developed standard planning systems using Excel spread sheets whilst some use the planning module of their ERP systems. This demands time and some effort and in the majority of cases planners are not able to see the real impact of their changes on the shop floor.

For companies who have very few products this is not too much of an issue, however if they have a wide variety of products this presents a problem in terms of managing delivery deadlines, Labour, materials, equipment and waste. More changeovers mean more waste during start-up /clean down process. Machinery has shorter time to running at optimal speed so equipment is not as efficient and therefore production is more costly and in turn less competitive. More and more companies have to pay particular attention to Allergens with today’s ever varying food products which introduces another significant variable in optimised scheduling and the schedules’ interface with the reality experienced in production.

Lack of visibility of the impact of a change to product has meant that companies now use spread sheets at shop floor level. They are holding higher inventory levels in terms of finished goods and raw materials and in a number of cases it is down to the operators to make important decisions.

This leads to higher costs, more waste, and the inability to meet customer delivery dates. By working with all of the stakeholders within a company emsPT have been able to provide solutions that not only allow for schedule flexibility but are able to provide visibility across the manufacturing process highlighting the likely impact that changeovers will have on the day’s schedule. They also have the ability to run “what if” scenarios resulting in optimised schedules for increased line efficiencies, reduction in inventory levels, rework and scrap. This has increased customer satisfaction, production agility and bottom line profit.

If you wanted to make changes to your plan/schedule to make a new product would it help if you were able to see the likely impact on assets, labour, raw materials, future productions runs, customer orders and delivery dates in advance? This could enable you to reduce waste, maximise appropriate resources and give your customer improved and realistic delivery dates helping you to increase profits and competitiveness.

Why MES helps with schedule adherence