production planning

A New, Simpler Finite Scheduling Algorithm – In 14 Minutes You Can Understand How It Works and Download A Working Example in Excel

The finite scheduling calculates the exact begin and end of each job considering routing and quantity for the workload and work center availability by a calendar for the capacity.
In the standard Fast Excel Development Methodology this requires smart and complicated formulas to deal with dates and time, and this is needed even in the simplest push only scheduling form. Of course you can copy and adapt the formulas from other examples and let the Fast Excel Development Template do the automation and the VBA coding for you.
This article is about making finite capacity scheduling simpler by an algorithm based on cumulation and sorting, and by some Power Query use. And as always there is a companion tool that implements the logic of the article in a fully automated tool.

A New, Simpler Finite Scheduling Algorithm – In 14 Minutes You Can Understand How It Works and Download A Working Example in Excel Read More »

The Biggest Production Planning Mistake with Excel

Excel is the most widely used software for production planning. Production planning is one of the most common applications for Excel in manufacturing. Yet, there is one common mistake that people make when production planning in Excel. Avoid doing this one thing and you will save yourself hundreds of hours of unnecessary and repetitive work with production planning data. The mistake:..

The Biggest Production Planning Mistake with Excel Read More »

How Scheduling Can Co-Exist with Lean

Today, manufacturing excellence is built on execution. Lean manufacturing places emphasis on daily execution to customer demand. It favours a system of visual signals on the factory floor to replace computer planning and paper reports. Does this mean that production scheduling is in conflict with best practices of lean and demand-driven production? Certainly not. Scheduling goes far beyond Master Production Scheduling, is an essential part of integrated planning and a powerful way to model real-world constraints in a supply chain.

How Scheduling Can Co-Exist with Lean Read More »

Scroll to Top