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Insights on production scheduling, lean manufacturing, and manufacturing software from 35+ years of industry experience.
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How the Allocator Fills a Partial First Shift
How EDGEBIC clips the first shift of a job to a mid-shift earliest start, computing usable hours from the start time forward so the first day is never over-allocated.
Load Leveling Across a Planning Week
Load leveling smooths the peaks and valleys of work across a week so no single day is overloaded. See how a finite scheduler spreads load forward, with worked numbers.
Protective vs Productive Capacity
Productive capacity makes throughput; protective capacity is deliberate spare on non-bottlenecks that lets the shop recover and keep the constraint fed. See why both matter, with numbers.
Released vs Unreleased Jobs in Scheduling
A released job is authorized and ready to hit the floor; an unreleased job is planned but held back. See the difference, why it controls work-in-process, and how to manage it.
Rough-Cut vs Detailed Capacity Planning
Rough-cut capacity planning checks a few key resources against aggregate demand; detailed capacity planning schedules every operation finitely. Compare the two with worked numbers.
Slack-Based Job Sequencing
Slack-based job sequencing runs the job with the least slack first, where slack is time until due date minus work remaining. See the minimum-slack rule with worked numbers.
Why a Bottleneck Needs a Target Date to Anchor a Schedule
Why marking a work center as the bottleneck is not enough to trigger anchor scheduling in EDGEBIC, and how a target start date on the constraint step activates it.
Why Finite Scheduling Shrinks Lead Times
Finite scheduling shrinks lead times by exposing hidden queue, sequencing out idle gaps, and overlapping steps with transfer batches. See the mechanism with worked numbers.
Why Sequence Matters More Than Speed on a Setup-Heavy Line
On a setup-heavy line, the order you run jobs in beats raw machine speed, because changeover time dominates. See why resequencing can beat a faster machine, with worked numbers.
Capacity vs Throughput in Manufacturing Scheduling
Capacity is the hours a shop could run; throughput is the good output it actually ships. Here is why the two diverge and why adding capacity off the bottleneck adds nothing.
How a Plan Absorbs a Late Material Delivery
How a finite capacity plan reflects a late material delivery: model the arrival as a material step or job start, reschedule, and let downstream shift while completed work stays.
How a Schedule Accounts for Scrap and Yield Loss
If a routing loses parts to scrap, you must start more than you ship. Here is where EDGEBIC inflates the quantity for you, where you size it yourself, and how to get the number right.