Blog
Insights on production scheduling, lean manufacturing, and manufacturing software from 35+ years of industry experience.
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Make-to-Order Shops: Scheduling Backward From the Due Date
Make to order backward scheduling: pull each job to finish just in time, cut work in process, and get told before you promise when a due date simply will not fit.
Medical Device Scheduling: Planning on Operator Hours, Not Just Head Count
Medical device operator hours scheduling tracks a per-person hours ledger, so a plan books only the certified-operator time you have and slides work when it runs out.
Metal Fabrication Quoting: Promise Dates From a Real Capacity Simulation
Metal fabrication quoting software simulates the job against live shop capacity, so a fab shop quotes lead time and cost from a real schedule, not a gut feel.
Packaging Lines: Scheduling Machines That Must Run in Lockstep
Packaging multi-machine line scheduling runs filler, capper, and labeler in synchronized lockstep, or splits a job across duplicate lines to finish in half the time.
Plastics Scheduling: Modeling Mold Cavities and Pieces-Based Capacity
Plastics cavity capacity scheduling models a multi-cavity mold as machine instances and schedules by pieces per hour, so the plan matches real molding throughput.
Print Shop Quoting: Turn a Job Around With a Real Press Schedule Behind It
Print shop quoting software simulates the job against your live press load, so a quick-turn quote carries a lead time and price the shop can actually hit.
Tool and Die Shops: Scheduling When Setup Runs the Job
Setup heavy scheduling for tool and die shops: price each machine's real changeover by sequence so plans stop assuming an average that is wrong in both directions.
Scheduling Certified Operators in Aerospace Manufacturing
Aerospace operator certification scheduling: the schedule stops booking five Inconel jobs against one certified welder and starts showing the real slip.
Traceable Routings for Aerospace and Defense Work
Aerospace routing traceability scheduling: every job keeps the exact routing it was scheduled with, so an engineering change cannot silently re-route live work.
Protecting Delivery Dates on Long Aerospace Routings
Aerospace production scheduling constraints: pin the autoclave to its date and size buffers so a slip at step three does not cost you the delivery.
Routing CNC Work to the Next Available Machine
CNC alternate machine routing: how a fallback machine gets chosen before allocation using projected finish times, its own cycle time, and its own setup.
Scheduling Lights-Out CNC Machining
Lights out machining scheduling needs an operator model that books the setup and frees the run, so one attendant starts seven cells without being oversold.