Blog
Insights on production scheduling, lean manufacturing, and manufacturing software from 35+ years of industry experience.
Everything we have published.
How the Anomaly Report Keeps a Bad Schedule Off the Floor
A scheduling anomaly report catches the broken plan before it prints: how automated checks flag inverted dates, orphaned actuals, and impossible gaps before the floor works to them.
How the Audit Trail Settles Who Changed the Schedule
A schedule change log ends the who-moved-this argument: how a recorded audit trail of old and new dates turns a blame conversation into a two-minute lookup.
How Visual Scheduling Shortens Planner Onboarding
A visual schedule teaches a new planner what a spreadsheet hides: how a Gantt that shows load, sequence, and slack cuts the time to a productive first month.
How a Shared Schedule Reduces Key-Person Risk
When the schedule lives in one veteran planner's spreadsheet, the whole plant depends on that person. A shared scheduling model turns tribal knowledge into a system.
How Backward Scheduling Trims Finished-Goods Inventory
Finish jobs too early and you pay to store them. Backward scheduling times each job to its due date, cutting the days finished goods sit waiting to ship.
How Fast You Answer a Customer Date Change
When a customer moves a due date, the shop that answers in minutes keeps the order. A live scheduling model turns a date-change request into a same-call answer.
How Import and Export Masks Cut Double Entry Between ERP and the Floor
Re-keying orders from your ERP into a scheduling tool wastes hours and breeds errors. Reusable import and export masks move the data both ways without retyping it.
How Shop Floor Actuals Close the Plan-vs-Actual Loop
Shop floor actuals feedback loop: how kiosk punches keep the next schedule accurate, resume jobs from where they really are, and stop the plan drifting into a wish list.
How Overlapping Operations Shorten Delivery on Big Orders
Lot streaming lead time reduction: how transfer batches let a downstream step start on the first sublot, pulling a 52-hour handoff down to 37 on the same two machines.
How Skills Data Targets Your Cross-Training Spend
Cross-training is expensive, so train the skills that actually free up the schedule. Operator and skill data shows which certification gap is holding the plant back.
How What-If Simulation Wins Profitable Rush Orders
Rush orders are won or lost on how fast you can promise a date you can keep. What-if quote simulation lets you test a rush against your real load before you commit.
How Machine Pools Add Capacity Without Buying Machines
Machine pool scheduling adds usable capacity without capital: how a work center group routes work to whichever member is free, absorbing demand spikes you already have iron for.