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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.
What Is a Quote Expiry Date?
A quote expiry date is the last day a quoted price and promise date are meant to stand. Learn why capacity movement makes an old simulation fiction, and what to re-run.
What Is a Reporting Window?
A reporting window is the from and to date range a report runs over. Learn why reports are point-in-time, what no data really means, and how defaults work.
What Is a Sales Order Reference Number?
A sales order reference number is the order's human-readable identifier, required on every order and unique per customer. See how the rules work.
What Is a Shift Priority Score in Scheduling?
A shift priority score ranks candidate shifts before the scheduler books any hours, weighting immediate availability first, then free capacity, then how early in the day the shift starts.
What Is a Simultaneous Capacity Slot in Scheduling?
A simultaneous capacity slot is a moment when every machine in a parallel group can start together. Learn the four checks it must pass and why it is all or nothing.
What Is a Targeted Reschedule?
A targeted reschedule re-plans only the jobs you actually changed, leaving every other job and its reserved capacity exactly where it was. Definition, example, and when to use it.
What Is a Work Center Availability Flag?
A work center availability flag tells the scheduler to skip a resource entirely, and an effective date keeps a machine out of the plan until it is commissioned.
What Is a Work Center Occurrence Suffix in a Routing?
An occurrence suffix distinguishes repeat visits to the same machine in one routing, so a job that mills, heat-treats, then mills again keeps two distinct steps rather than one confused one.
What Is an Import Run Log?
An import run log is the per-run file recording every row an import processed, its outcome, and the exact reason for each failure. Learn what it contains and how to read it.
What Is an Instance Selection Strategy in Scheduling?
An instance selection strategy decides which machine the engine prefers when several have room: spread the load, pack the busiest, or take the first. Learn all three.
What Is an Operation State in a Production Gantt?
An operation state is the color-coded flag on a scheduling Gantt bar that records how the operation got to where it sits: engine-placed, dragged, saved, replaced, or flagged for review.
What Is an Original Scheduled Date in a Production Schedule?
An original scheduled date is the start or end an operation received on its very first scheduling run, frozen and never overwritten, so per-step variance stays measurable.