Blog
Insights on production scheduling, lean manufacturing, and manufacturing software from 35+ years of industry experience.
Planning and scheduling practice that applies whichever system you run.
How to Choose Production Scheduling Software: Buyer's Checklist
Use this buyer's checklist to evaluate and choose the right production scheduling software for your manufacturing operation. Features, pricing, and red flags.
How to Build a Master Production Schedule (MPS) Step by Step
A step-by-step process for building and maintaining a master production schedule: gather demand, set time fences, calculate ATP, check rough-cut capacity, publish, and run the weekly MPS review.
Multi-Constraint Scheduling: How to Handle Complex Manufacturing
Learn how multi-constraint scheduling handles machines, labor, tooling, and materials simultaneously to produce realistic production schedules for complex manufacturing.
How to Identify & Eliminate Production Scheduling Bottlenecks
Learn how to identify production bottlenecks in your manufacturing process, understand their impact on throughput, and eliminate them with scheduling strategies and tools.
Production Schedule Optimization: 10 Proven Techniques
Discover 10 proven techniques for production schedule optimization that reduce lead times, improve machine utilization, and boost on-time delivery for manufacturers.
Why Production Scheduling in Excel Fails (And What to Use Instead)
Discover why Excel fails as a production scheduling tool for manufacturers, the hidden costs of spreadsheet scheduling, and better alternatives that actually work.
12 Production Scheduling KPIs You Must Track
Discover the 12 most important production scheduling KPIs that manufacturers must track to measure scheduling effectiveness, throughput, and delivery performance.
Production Scheduling Methods & Techniques: A Practical Guide
Explore the most effective production scheduling methods and techniques used by manufacturers, from dispatch rules to Theory of Constraints and APS optimization.
Production Scheduling vs Production Planning: Key Differences
Understand the key differences between production scheduling and production planning, how they work together, and why manufacturers need both for operational success.
Real-Time Production Scheduling: Benefits & Implementation
Discover how real-time production scheduling helps manufacturers respond to disruptions instantly, improve on-time delivery, and maintain accurate shop floor visibility.
What-If Analysis in Production Scheduling: Use Cases & Benefits
Learn how what-if analysis in production scheduling helps manufacturers test scenarios, evaluate trade-offs, and make confident decisions before committing changes.
What Is Production Scheduling? Definition, Steps and a Worked Example
Production scheduling decides which job runs on which machine, when, and in what order, within the capacity you really have. See the steps, the main methods and a five-job example comparing FIFO, EDD and SPT.