Blog
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.
Quoting Against a Date That Has Already Passed in EDGEBIC
A finish-by date in the past cannot be planned into, because the earliest a quote simulation will start is today. See how EDGEBIC answers, and how to read the refusal.
Reading the Import Log After a Nightly ERP Run
An unattended import writes one log file per run recording every row's outcome. Here is the ninety-second review that catches a broken export before the plant works to a wrong plan.
Reading the Job Progress Header as a Supervisor
Five fields answer five different questions about a running job. Learn what job progress percent can and cannot tell you, and the three misreadings that cause trouble.
Rehearsing Your EDGEBIC Migration Load
The data load is a repeatable operation, not a one-shot event. Every entity type is safe to re-import, and a reset takes you back to an empty plant, so plan to load your data three times before go-live.
The Direction Decision Your ERP Export Cannot Make
Forward or backward is stamped on a job at creation from a site-wide default, and no import mask carries it. Settle the policy before the first order file, because direction locks once actuals land.
The Nearest Challenger Line in an Optimizer Result
When the optimizer says your plan is still the best, it often names the runner-up and how far behind it was. That one line tells you how close the decision was and whether to look again.
The One Product That Is Quietly Wrecking Your Delivery Record
A plant-wide on-time percentage is an average, and averages hide the specific part number doing most of the damage. Intersecting volume with on-time performance finds it in one screen.
Training Your Floor on the Kiosk in One Shift
The terminal has about five taps that matter. Learn the order to teach them in, the three habits that decide whether the data is usable, and what to let operators get wrong.
What a Job That Will Not Fit Tells You Before You Promise
A backward-scheduled job that cannot make its due date is caught before anything is saved, with the days-late number attached. That timing is the whole value.
What a Quote's Estimated Cost Does Not Include in EDGEBIC
A quoted cost in EDGEBIC is labor plus material, and nothing else. See what the model deliberately leaves out, and where those real costs belong instead.
What a Rising Backlog Tells You Weeks Before a Job Is Late
Backlog is the queue length in front of a station, and its slope is a leading indicator. Here is the causal chain from a rising number to a late job, and how to measure your own warning lead time.
What an Over-Estimate Warning on a Step Actually Means
A finished step that used more hours than planned raises a warning on its Actual Live card. Learn the three causes behind it and how to tell which one you are looking at.