Blog
Insights on production scheduling, lean manufacturing, and manufacturing software from 35+ years of industry experience.
Seasonal Capacity Planning: How Manufacturers Handle Demand Fluctuations
Learn proven strategies for seasonal capacity planning in manufacturing, including demand smoothing, flexible workforce models, inventory buffering, and scheduling techniques for peak periods.
Theory of Constraints (TOC) in Production Scheduling: A Practical Guide
Apply the Theory of Constraints to manufacturing scheduling. Learn the 5 Focusing Steps, Drum-Buffer-Rope, and how TOC-based scheduling maximizes throughput at your bottleneck resource.
What Is Finite Capacity Planning? A Manufacturer's Complete Guide
Learn what finite capacity planning is, how it works in manufacturing, and why scheduling against real resource limits eliminates overloads, cuts lead times, and improves on-time delivery.
Scheduling Shared Equipment Across Multiple Product Lines: Allocation Strategies
One bottleneck CNC serving aerospace and commercial lines—how do you schedule it fairly? Learn capacity allocation strategies for shared equipment across product lines.
OEE-Adjusted Capacity Planning: How to Model Planned and Unplanned Downtime
Most capacity plans assume machines run at 100%. OEE tells you they don't. Learn how to build realistic OEE-adjusted capacity models that account for downtime.
Queue Time: The Biggest Scheduling Lever You're Not Managing
In most job shops, queue time is 80-90% of total lead time. Learn how to manage queue time, apply Little's Law, and use finite capacity scheduling to cut it.
Bottleneck Migration: What Happens to Your Schedule After You Solve the First Constraint
Solve your bottleneck and it moves. Learn how constraint migration works, how to predict where it shifts, and how to re-optimize your schedule after capacity changes.