What is Finite Capacity?
Finite capacity is a scheduling approach that never books more work on a machine, work center or operator than it has hours for. When a resource is full, the next job waits for the next open slot instead of being stacked on top.
Example
A shop has 3 CNC lathes on one 10-hour shift, 5 days a week: 3 x 10 x 5 = 150 hours of weekly capacity. Open orders need 160 hours. A finite scheduler places the first 150 hours by priority and moves the last 10 hours to next Monday, so the planner sees on day one which order is at risk and can add overtime or reset a date.
Read the Full Guides
- Definition in depth: What is finite capacity planning?
- Compared with infinite capacity: Finite vs infinite capacity planning and scheduling, with a side-by-side table and one job scheduled both ways
- Software: Finite capacity scheduling software from User Solutions, including Resource Manager DB (RMDB) and EDGEBIC (RMDB 2.0) by User Solutions
Related Terms
- Infinite Capacity - The opposite approach that assumes unlimited resources and requires manual overload resolution
- Capacity Planning - The broader process of matching workload to resources, which finite capacity scheduling automates
- Advanced Planning & Scheduling - Software category that uses finite capacity as its core scheduling engine
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more in our complete manufacturing glossary or production scheduling guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
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