Blog
Insights on production scheduling, lean manufacturing, and manufacturing software from 35+ years of industry experience.
How the platform actually works: scheduling, optimization, the shop floor and ERP data.
Contract Manufacturers: One Schedule Across Many Customers
Contract manufacturer scheduling that shares machines across customers: route steps to machine pools, weight jobs by priority, and load every customer against one finite plan.
Electronics Quoting and What-If: Comparing Scenarios Before You Commit a Date
Electronics quote what-if scheduling compares scenarios like weekend shifts or extra line capacity against a real simulation, so an EMS quotes the date it can defend.
Food Manufacturing Traceability: The Production Record Behind Every Batch
Food manufacturing traceability starts with a production record: which line ran the batch, when, how many good and scrap pieces, and the exact routing used.
Foundries: Scheduling Furnace Batches and Casting Lots
Foundry lot scheduling: run a furnace as parallel chambers with one job each per day, then model the cooling delay before castings can move to machining.
Furniture Manufacturing: Pool Your Routers and Sanders Into Work Center Groups
Furniture work center group scheduling lets a routing say ANY ROUTER, so the scheduler picks the machine with real capacity on every run and idle machines stop sitting.
Long-Lead Assemblies: Scheduling Around the Casting That Takes 12 Weeks
Long lead assembly scheduling for heavy equipment: pull the build to finish just in time, reserve the delivery tail, and time the work around a casting that arrives weeks out.
Heavy Equipment: Scheduling One Job Across Two Plants
Heavy equipment multi plant scheduling done right: model the days a weldment spends in transit between facilities so downstream steps start when the parts actually arrive.
High-Mix Low-Volume: Scheduling Hundreds of Small Jobs
High mix low volume scheduling that holds together: pool flexible machines, price sequence-dependent setups, and load hundreds of small jobs against one finite plan.
Job Shop Mixed-Priority Scheduling: Rush, Standard, and Stock in One Plan
Job shop mixed-priority scheduling sequences rush, standard, and stock orders by priority then due date, and can search job orderings for a provably better plan.
Li-Ion Battery: Scheduling Coating and Other Continuous Lines
Li-ion battery continuous process scheduling: mark coating and drying lines as continuous, use a start-to-start lag so downstream overlaps, and compress electrode makespan.
Li-Ion Battery: Planning Around Yield and Scrap Honestly
Li-ion battery yield scrap planning: how a planner sizes a job so good cell output meets demand, and where the yield field belongs in replenishment rather than the scheduler.
Machine Shop Multi-Shift Scheduling: One Job Across Day and Night
Machine shop multi-shift scheduling lets a single job span day and night shifts and multiple machines, so a 28-hour part finishes in a day, not a guess.