The most common tool used by schedulers is a simple planning board where work is allocated to resources in time periods such as an hour, day or week. However this is a static decision support tool trying to cope with a dynamic problem.
 



How long will the schedule last before a rush order appears, re-work is required, operators report sick, a machine breaks down, or demand does not match the forecast.  




Each of these will blow a hole in the production plan and the scheduler can spend endless time re-assigning work, changing priorities or altering process routes to meet promised delivery dates.


Beating your competition requires more than just an excellent product and focussed marketing. It's just as important to provide great customer service by keeping your delivery promises. Keeping costs to a minimum, cutting out waste and making the most of the resources available will also drive margins and profits up. Part of this is keeping capacity in line with demand and being agile enough to respond to the unexpected.

It is important to support shop-floor planning and scheduling where planners and supervisors are expected to use their knowledge and experience to come up with the answers to 'When can we ship?'

Unfortunately this often leads to 'he who shouts loudest' as the only rule that prevails in determining what gets on the priority list. Expediting is unlikely to help in meeting the overall business objectives. It's not enough to use white boards and marker pens or colored card to do the job, it's far more important than that. Effective computer scheduling saves money.

Traditional MRPII assumes infinity capacity and simply gives notification when resources are over-utilized. Plans must then be manually balanced using feedback from the capacity planning function.

Finite Capacity Scheduling (FCS) technology on the other hand provides true constrained privatisation for master planning. This means that schedules recommended by FCS optimise the finite available of capacity.

By implementing the FCS system in plants, the following quantifiable real benefits could be achieved: 

Benefit

Improvement potential

Delivery performance

10-20 %

Work in process reduction

20-25 %

Setup time reduction

Up to 50 %

Machine utilization

15-25 %

Reduction in idleness

15-20 %

Maintenance crew utilization

10-15 %

We have analysed the world market for the best-of-breed FCS product and we are proud to represent PreActor FCS and APS products

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PreActor Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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