Blog
Insights on production scheduling, lean manufacturing, and manufacturing software from 35+ years of industry experience.
Everything we have published.
Shift Scheduling and Production Scheduling: The Link Most Planners Miss
How 2-shift vs. 3-shift decisions directly impact production schedule throughput. Learn available capacity math, bottleneck shift strategies, and when to add a shift vs. add equipment.
The Bullwhip Effect in Manufacturing: Why Small Demand Changes Wreck Your Supply Chain
Understand the bullwhip effect in manufacturing supply chains - why a 5% demand change becomes a 40% swing upstream, and how to dampen it with better scheduling.
Perfect Order Fulfillment: The Composite KPI That Drives B2B Customer Satisfaction
Perfect Order Fulfillment measures on-time, complete, undamaged, and correctly invoiced orders. Learn the formula, benchmarks, and how scheduling accuracy drives POF.
Queue Time: The Biggest Scheduling Lever You're Not Managing
In most job shops, queue time is 80-90% of total lead time. Learn how to manage queue time, apply Little's Law, and use finite capacity scheduling to cut it.
Schedule Nervousness: Why Your Planners Ignore the Production Schedule (And How to Fix It)
Schedule nervousness destroys planner trust and floor execution. Learn what causes it, how time fences fix it, and why a stable 90% schedule beats a volatile 100%-optimal one.
Activity Based Costing in Manufacturing: A Practical Guide
Learn how activity based costing allocates overhead more accurately than traditional methods, and how scheduling data powers ABC in discrete manufacturing.
Andon-Triggered Rescheduling: How Real-Time Machine Alerts Should Change Your Production Schedule
Andon alerts signal a production problem - but most plants stop at the alert. Learn the complete andon-to-reschedule workflow that protects delivery commitments when things go wrong.
Backorders in Manufacturing: Causes, Customer Management, and How Finite Capacity Scheduling Prevents Accumulation
What causes backorders in manufacturing, how to manage customer backorder situations effectively, and how finite capacity scheduling stops backorder accumulation before it starts.
What to Measure Before Buying Scheduling Software: Your Pre-Implementation Baseline
Learn the six key metrics to measure before implementing scheduling software so you can prove ROI, set targets, and report results to leadership with confidence.
Bottleneck Migration: What Happens to Your Schedule After You Solve the First Constraint
Solve your bottleneck and it moves. Learn how constraint migration works, how to predict where it shifts, and how to re-optimize your schedule after capacity changes.
Cellular Manufacturing Scheduling: How Dedicated Cells Change Your Scheduling Approach
When you create manufacturing cells, the scheduling problem changes fundamentally. Learn how cell scheduling differs from functional layout and when to make a cell dedicated vs. shared.
Composite Manufacturing Scheduling: Cure Time Constraints, Autoclave Capacity, and Layup Sequencing
Composite manufacturing scheduling software that handles autoclave cure cycles, prepreg shelf life, layup sequencing, and NDT inspection holds for aerospace and automotive suppliers.