Master schedule and rough-cut capacity
Build a week-by-week plan of what to make for each item and plant from your forecasts, customer orders and stock. Change the plan where you know better, firm the sure weeks into production orders, and check the load on each machine before you commit.
PLANSScale only
The problem it solves
- The plan for the next three months is a sheet nobody updates when an order lands.
- You commit to a quantity and find out in week two that the press shop cannot make it.
- Stock runs out in week six because nobody worked forward from today's stock.
How it works
- Your planner opens Manufacturing > Planning > Build the Master Schedule, picks the plant and the weeks ahead (12 to start with), and presses Build.
- For each item and week you see the forecast, the customer orders and the demand (the larger of the two). You also see the plan to make, the stock at week end and the machine hours. Weeks where stock goes below zero show in red.
- Change Plan to Make where you know better. Your figure is kept when the schedule is built again, and the stock at week end is worked out again at once.
- Open Rough-cut Capacity, pick the plant and press Check. Each machine and week shows the hours needed against the hours it works; above 85 % is amber and above 100 % red.
- Select the sure weeks and press Firm. Each becomes a confirmed production order from the item's bill of materials, starting on that Monday.
Everything it does
Building the schedule
- Per plant, from this week's Monday, for the weeks ahead (12 to start with)
- Items: those you pick, or every item with a forecast and a bill of materials
- Forecast: each month's forecast spread evenly over its days into weeks
- Customer orders: deliveries to customers not yet done, by week (late ones in this week)
- Demand: the larger of forecast and customer orders
- Plan to Make: enough to keep stock at the safety stock (0 without the MRP feature), sized by the item's order size rule
- Stock at Week End: today's stock in the plant, plus plans, less demand, week by week
- Machine Hours: the plan times the hours one unit needs on its bill of materials' steps
Changing and firming
- Plan to Make is editable; a changed line is marked Set by Hand and kept on the next build
- Firm: a confirmed production order per line, from the item's bill of materials, starting Monday 08:00; the line is greyed and kept
- Firm refuses an item with no bill of materials
- Filters: Not Firm, Stock Below Zero; group by item; pivot view
- Every change is kept in the line's history
Rough-cut capacity
- Per machine and week: hours needed, hours it works (from its calendar times its capacity; 168 hours a week with no calendar) and load %
- Load above 85 % in amber, above 100 % in red
- Counts every master schedule line of the plant with a plan to make
With the MRP run
- Safety stock and order size rules of each item are used by the schedule
- For weeks not firm, the forecast above customer orders becomes demand in the MRP run
Who uses it
PlannerBuilds the schedule, changes plans, checks capacity and firms weeks.
Production ManagerAgrees the plan and the load per machine before weeks are firmed.
SupervisorCan read the master schedule.
Where you use it
- Web: Manufacturing > Planning > Master Schedule, Build the Master Schedule and Rough-cut Capacity (planners and above)
- Not in the SmartMy Manufacturing app (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet): this screen is on the web
What you control
Settings
- Per build: plant (the Entity's first plant to start with), weeks ahead 12, items
- Per item: safety stock and order size (from the MRP feature)
- Per machine: working calendar and capacity, for the rough-cut check
Questions
Will building the schedule again undo my changes?
No. Lines you set by hand and firm lines keep their plan. The rest are worked out again from the latest forecasts, orders and stock.Does firming buy the materials?
Firming makes confirmed production orders. Run MRP to propose what to buy for them.Is rough-cut capacity a finite schedule?
No. It adds up the hours each week's plan needs on each machine and compares them with the hours it works. The scheduling board places the actual jobs.Can I plan by month?
The schedule is by week. Forecasts are by month and are spread into the weeks.Which plan has the master schedule?
Scale, with forecasts and rough-cut capacity.Related features
LINES AND SCHEDULINGForecasts from sales historyMake a forecast per item, plant and month from your past deliveries to customers, by average or by trend, or type it by hand. Forecasts feed the master schedule and, above the orders already in, the MRP run.PLANNING, QUALITY AND COSTMRP run and the planner's workbenchOne run works out what to make and what to buy for a plant, level by level through your bills of materials. It works from customer orders, open production orders, stock and safety stock. The planner checks each proposal on one workbench and orders it.LINES AND SCHEDULINGScheduling board: jobs across machines and daysEvery machine is a row and every day a column, with each job as a bar. Drag a job to move it in time or to an allowed machine. See each day's load against the machine's hours, and replan a machine in one click.LINES AND SCHEDULINGSetup matrix: jobs ordered for short changeoversGroup items into setup families, such as a colour, a size or a die. Type the minutes it takes to change over from one family to another. By Changeover on the scheduling board then orders a machine's jobs to spend the least time changing over.PRODUCTION AND JOB WORKBills of materials, production orders and work ordersKeep each item's bill of materials with its components and the steps on your machines. A production order reserves the material, lays out the work orders step by step and puts the finished goods into stock at cost.
See your shop floor on it.
Tell us what you make, how many machines and people you run, and how production is recorded today. We will set up a line with you and run a job on the terminal.