Production planning
Optimise production lines by refining and improving manufacturing schedule with an easy-to-use and visual planning tool
In the dynamic world of manufacturing, production planning plays a crucial role in optimising processes and achieving organisational goals. By ensuring an effective coordination between resource management, capacity planning, and production monitoring, well-structured planning guarantees that products are manufactured on time, in the right quantities, and with minimal waste. With advanced tools like planning software and production dashboards, companies can monitor their operations in real-time, anticipate potential challenges, and adjust their strategies to meet market demand. Whether you run a large industrial plant or a small manufacturing unit, mastering the art of production planning is essential for maximising the efficiency and profitability of your production line. Discover how your company can benefit from effective production planning and remain competitive in an ever-evolving environment.
Key features for production scheduling
Day-to-day planning views
Planning conflicts management
Workload
A highly customisable scheduling software to fit your work order process
Production planning is a complex process ranging from the optimisation of daily tasks to allocate your human and material resources to the control of manufacturing delays and delivery of various projects.
It is important to dispose of a visual, intuitive and efficient production planning software, that enables you to maximise the overall workload and reduce production time and costs. PlanningPME will be your vital ally to optimise your production project management. Our planning software grants you specific functionnalities and views such as Gantt charts and customisable task models and allows you to pre-define successions of tasks models stating durations and resources to be allocated by default.
How to optimise your supply chain
Optimise the workload of your employees and assign tasks to qualified individuals in order to manage all of your pending or future production projects as efficiently as possible.
By using advanced tools such as production backward scheduling and Gantt charts, production managers can visualise and efficiently manage the entire manufacturing process. These tools allow for the coordination of production flows and ensure that each step is completed on schedule while maximising production capacity. Developing a production schedule with cadence helps synchronise activities on the production line, ensuring operations run smoothly and resources are used optimally. This also allows for the identification and management of bottlenecks, which can slow down the manufacturing process and increase costs. By integrating a forecast production schedule, companies can anticipate future needs and adjust their capacity to meet market demand. With real-time monitoring, production managers can quickly react to changes and make informed decisions to maintain operational efficiency. This proactive approach ensures that production remains smooth and objectives are met, thereby enhancing the company’s competitiveness in an ever-evolving environment.
Customers case studies - Testimonials
Testimonials
PlanningPME allows us to plan our industrial production work (cyclical activities over 35 hours). Integrating the software (installation, training, and writing the specifics) took place in less than 2 months with a Target Skills project manager who was competent, efficient and always friendly, all of this within a reasonable budget. We completed the software with specific interfaces in Windec PcSoft and have access to the information relevant for each department: industrial, human resources (preparatory pay slips) and management control. PlanningPME is a relatively new product, the Target Skills team always listen to customer requests to ensure that the product develops.
Discover the success story of our client Somtec
At Somtec, the haute-horlogerie specialist, the management of production schedules has facilitated daily organisation
Company Overview
SOMOS, founded in 1901 in the Paris region, gained its reputation by designing and manufacturing polishing machines for precision optics. The company is able to respond to the highest demands in terms of surface quality with a range of sturdy, proven machinery and consumables that are suited to every need.
SOMTEC-CH was founded in 2008 in La Chaux de Fonds in Switzerland, and joined the SOMOS Group in 2019. It offers customers for fine watchmaking and luxury goods a complete offering of SOMOS machine ranges: subcontracting of polishing and honing, process development, sales of consumer goods and After-Sales service.
Our scheduling needs
In the workshop, it is important to communicate the daily and weekly programme to the operators. Previously, we used a table completed by the head of the workshop. We had to physically move to access information, which was not always updated.
We needed a tool that was capable ofdisplaying in a visual, dynamic wayeach employee’s manufacturing order by machine type, with all the information required.
Senior management and the sales force needed to be able to access this scheduling. Alongside this, we needed a system for scheduling the work of the after-sales technicians that could be consulted when they were on the road and automatically updated.
Optimising communication between teams and the workshop
PlanningPME offers many different settings options and has the advantage of great flexibility. Therefore we have created several services for the workshop, After Sales Service and the rest of the staff. The production schedule is displayed directly in the workshop, and the operators can interact when an output is completed by changing the task status.
Once an order is received, we directly create the task in a resource “to be scheduled”, which enables us to have a clear presentation of the workload to plan for.
The system of statuses provides a visual overview of the progression of each manufacturing order. We attach a specific colour to each task type for each machine type. Therefore this tool has made communication within the company much easier, and has enabled there to be better team coordination.
Discover the success story of our client Bernina
At Bernina, PlanningPME is mainly used to optimise the occupancy of production machines
Company Overview
BERNINA Thailand Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of the BERNINA Textile Group in Switzerland.The BERNINA Textile Group is a leading global manufacturer of sewing and embroidery machines. Core capabilities are the development, production, procurement and distribution of high-quality household sewing and embroidery systems. Our company mission is “ We are always at the beginning, never at the end ”.
Our scheduling needs
We would need the schedule for our shop floor control, since we have many machines to manage. We need software which is not too complicate and flexible to create and manage the queue on each machine.
Create the working schedule of each machine
We’re using PlanningPME to create the working schedule of each machine in our company, to schedule the queue on machine and hand-out paper as PME format to the shop floor. PlanningPME is simple and easy to work with.
FAQ
A few simple steps to production planning :
- Identify requirements : Determine the products to be manufactured, the quantities required, and the deadlines to be met.
- List resources : Make an inventory of the raw materials, equipment and manpower available for production.
- Establish production stages : Break down the manufacturing process into distinct stages, from procurement to final production.
- Assign tasks : Allocate each production stage to specific teams or machines, taking into account capacity and availability.
- Set a schedule : Define start and finish dates for each production stage, ensuring that everything is coordinated to meet overall deadlines.
- Follow and adapt the schedule : Monitor production progress on a regular basis and adjust the schedule if necessary to avoid delays or optimise resources.
Production planning is used to organise and coordinate the various stages of production to ensure that products are manufactured on time and in sufficient quantities. It helps to optimise the use of resources, avoid bottlenecks and reduce the costs associated with interruptions or delays. Finally, it helps to respond effectively to customer requests by guaranteeing that delivery deadlines are met.
Yes, you can create a production schedule in Excel using tables to list the production stages, the resources required and the associated deadlines. Excel also allows you to add formulas to calculate start and finish dates, as well as creating Gantt charts to visualise the progress of production. However, using a production planning tool sometimes proves to be a wise choice when it comes to saving time and increasing productivity.
Several tools can be used to manage a production schedule, depending on requirements:
- Microsoft Excel
- Trello
- Asana
- ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software: SAP, Oracle ERP, Odoo
- Monday
- PlanningPME
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