THOUGHTS & (Free) ADVICE ON PRODUCTION SCHEDULING SOLUTIONS

 This article arrived in my InBox today and I thought it was interesting enough to share. 

What I really like is Figure# 2 which is really a scheduling maturity level chart. Nobody should be shocked, but many firms are still on the far-left hand side. And that might be all they need to suit their business needs.

I like technology and used to be a strong proponent of software solutions.

HOWEVER, as I learned more and gained more real-life experience, I firmly believe there is a strong case to be made for deeper and more thorough implementation of lean tools with “pull” signal and takt times driving scheduling based on bottlenecks.

 Before going to far forward with software solutions, which tend to be VERY expensive, take a moment to reflect upon some wisdom acquired over 4 decades including multi-site, global production and supply chain management: 

  1. Read “The Goal” by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
  2. Read “Creating A Lean Culture” by David Mann
  3. Read “Sales & Operations Planning: The How-To Handbook” by Thomas F. Wallace and Robert A. Stahl (available on Amazon)
  4. Ask what is the simplest and most effective solution – a lot can be done with the tools you have, especially once you find your bottleneck (point 1), implement fundamental lean concepts (point 2), and work with product families to put in place capacity for future volumes (point 3) so that eventually scheduling becomes execution not firefighting as those product volumes move into the short-term. AVOID THE SUICIDE QUADRANT (read the book in point 3 to know what this is).
  5. If your business needs are very complex and advanced, validate you master data quality before investing in software. Remember the old adage “garbage in/garbage out”. Work centers, capacity, routings and cycle times all need high degrees of accuracy for the software to work. With more advanced tools, you will need additional master data such accurate move, dwell and queue times. You may need to define leap-frog quantities and parallel routings. More importantly, you will need to define changeover costs and matrices. You will need to manage weighting of priorities – minimize cost vs on-time production. Example – should you break a setup to deliver on time or deliver late but save a set-up?
  6. Do you have the other tools mentioned in the article? Workforce management solution to know planned and unplanned absences by the date-shift? Up to date employee certification tracking with expiry management? Enterprise Asset Management for preventive, planned and unplanned (reactive) maintenance? Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to know real-time machine status?
  7. If you don’t have points 5 and 6 in place, is a million-dollar (likely 2-3x more) solution going to truly provide a return on investment?
  8. If you are still moving forward, make sure you have a robust software selection process. Ensure you have critical features on a checklist. Insist on a custom demonstration based on defined scenarios in your business that are key to scheduling success. Focus the scenarios on the situations that cause 80% of the reasons for non-performance. DO NOT focus on the outlier cases that arise infrequently – learn to manage around them.
  9. Select both the software and the implementer with care. Get references and speak to customers using the identical solution for a minimum of 2 years to find out if they would make the same choices AND what they would do differently.

 In the meantime, be aware that companies working diligently with points 1 thru 4 are likely eating your lunch in the market place! (check your six).

 Feel free to reach out to discuss, use the link: MS-Teams Meeting Scheduler


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