How to Add an Extra Shift in a Scenario in EDGEBIC

To add an extra shift in a scenario in EDGEBIC by User Solutions you add a work center capacity override and set its capacity percent above 100. The control lives in the Work Center Capacity Overrides group on the scenario's Scenario Parameters tab. Setting a work center to 150% simulates a second-shift or overtime equivalent, and the scenario re-simulates against that boosted capacity while writing nothing to your real schedule. This answers "would a second shift on the bottleneck hit the date?" with numbers.

For the wider scenario-building and comparison walkthrough, read how to build and compare scenarios. This task is documented behavior of EDGEBIC, and the full task library is in the how-to hub. If you have not created the scenario yet, start with how to create a what-if scenario.

Before You Start

• A scenario exists on the quote (create one first if not).
• You know which work center gates the job, usually the bottleneck, so the boost lands where it helps.

Step 1: Open the Scenario Parameters

On the quote's What-If Scenario Analysis view, select the scenario and stay on the Scenario Parameters tab. Scroll to the Work Center Capacity Overrides group.

Step 2: Add an Override Row

Click Add Work Center Override. A new row appears with a Work Center picker, a Capacity % slider, and read-only Original Capacity and Adjusted Capacity figures.

Step 3: Pick the Work Center and Set the Boost

In the new row, pick the work center to boost, usually the bottleneck. Drag the Capacity % slider to 150 to simulate 50% more capacity, roughly a second shift or overtime. Original Capacity and Adjusted Capacity show the before and after: a work center at eight hours a day becomes twelve at 150%.

Step 4: Re-Simulate

Click Run Simulation. The scenario's Simulation Results group updates with the new estimated start date, end date, lead time, hours, and cost against the boosted capacity.

Worked Example: A Second Shift on the Bottleneck

Acme calls back on the Widget-A quote: they need the 200 units by August 8, but the base simulation finishes August 14, six days late. The bottleneck is clear from the cost breakdown: CNC-Mill-1 carries 101 of the 151.5 hours. That is the machine to boost.

You open 📊 Scenarios, create a scenario named 2nd Shift on Mill, and in Work Center Capacity Overrides add a row for CNC-Mill-1. Original Capacity reads 8 (hours a day). You drag Capacity % to 150, and Adjusted Capacity updates to 12, the equivalent of adding an evening shift. You click Run Simulation.

The result comes back at end August 5, a 16-day lead time instead of 25, at a cost of $9,830. The extra $600 reflects the overtime premium captured in the scenario's assumptions. August 5 clears the August 8 deadline with three days of margin. You would compare this against a Weekend Push alternative before committing, but the capacity override did its job: it turned a machine at eight hours a day into twelve and pulled the finish in by nine days, all without writing a thing to the real schedule.

What Changes When You Save

Saving the scenario stores the override. Running the simulation stores the scenario's new results. Neither changes real capacity, the quote, or the routing. The override multiplies capacity inside this scenario only. The scheduler and dashboards do not see it, so a real scheduling run behaves as if the shift never existed until you add it for real.

Scenario Override vs the Real Per-Day Override

This is the distinction that trips people up. A scenario capacity override multiplies capacity inside that scenario only. It is a what-if that the scheduler and the dashboards never see. It exists to answer a question, not to change the shop. The moment you want a capacity change to actually happen, on real dates, so the production scheduler and the load dashboards honor it, you use the per-day capacity override on the work center instead. That one is real capacity data.

The two work together in a rush. You use the scenario override to prove a second shift would hit the date, without disturbing anything. Then, if the customer accepts, you make the change real with the per-day override (or by arranging the actual shift), and only then convert and schedule the order. Skip that second step and the live scheduling run behaves as if the shift never existed, because inside the system it never did. The capacity percent also works downward: set it below 100, say 50, to model a machine at half strength during a partial breakdown or a training ramp, and read how far the dates slip.

How to Check It Worked

Confirm the override row shows the adjusted capacity you expect (for example 12 from an original 8 at 150%). After Run Simulation, compare the scenario's estimated end date to the baseline scenario's: a boost on the bottleneck should pull the finish in. If it did not move, the override may be on the wrong machine.

Common Mistakes and Gotchas

• The boost is scenario-only. It never changes real capacity. To move real dates, use the per-day capacity override on the work center, which the real scheduler honors.
• Boosting a non-bottleneck does little. Adding capacity where there was already slack barely changes the dates. Boost the machine that gates the job.
• A replaced step dodges your override. If the scenario also replaces a step onto a different machine, the routing it runs may not use the work center you boosted. Check the override's work center against the routing the scenario simulates.
• Applying the scenario does not add the shift. Writing the winning numbers onto the quote does not create the real second shift. Arrange it in the real capacity data before you convert, or the live run misses the promise.

One more practical note: the override changes capacity, not cost per hour directly, so when you model a second shift the higher cost that comes back reflects the extra hours worked at the assumed rate. If overtime carries a premium rate you want reflected precisely, capture it in the scenario's description and account for it when you re-price, or use a manual cost override on the quote after applying the scenario. The capacity slider answers "does the date fit"; the pricing controls answer "what does it cost," and a rush quote needs both.

Adding capacity is one lever. A different way to hit a date is skipping or outsourcing a step, covered in how to skip a step in a scenario.