The production planner is a visual tool to allow the user to view and reorganise the schedule of work orders. Primarily this is for open production work orders, but can also include planned work orders (resulting from sales orders or higher level work orders) or from forecast. The idea is that the user can view the effect of work orders on capacity (both rough cut and fine cut), and adjust the scheduling, sequence or work cell allocation of work order steps until capacity is planned appropriately. As well as capacity it is also possible to view material availablity either in summary (using traffic lights) or in detail. The production planner is accessed from the Production menu Scheduling dashboard.
Note that the production planner works on a copy of live production data. When starting to use this tool the data is copied from live production data. After changes are made then the changes are "applied" back to the production, at which point the data will be seen for instance in the work cell screen as viewed by an operator. For consistency, data can be modified by only one user at a time before applying the changes back to production (unless cancelled).
The main display grid is based on work order steps. The columns can be reordered and removed or added to the screen to obtain the most relevant display of data. For instance if production is based on the principle of make to stock, then it is possible to remove the columns related to customer data. Colour coding will appear on the grid to highlight work orders that are schedule behind required dates.
The basic concept is as follows:
- The user loads the production plan. This copies data from all existing work orders, (planned, open and forecast) into the temporary work space.
- The user then makes changes to the schedule, either by setting work order step dates manually or using the drag and drop feature. Also by changing work cells or by adjusting the sequence of work orders at a cell inside a day.
- The user can also change the work cell of particular steps on a product’s route.
- The modified plan can be reviewed for effect on capacity.
- When the revised production schedule is ready, the user updates the modified data back to live orders.
It is possible to lock the schedule of a particular work order. This will prevent another user rescheduling it, and also prevents the night reschedule process from rescheduling the specified planned work orders. Locking a work order can be done for instance if the schedule has been agreed with a particular customer.
The production planner supports multiusers, but if only one user can change the planning. Consequently it is recommended that a single user is responsible for production planning. It is possible to set user rights so that specific users only have read only rights to the production planner.
Remember that changes are not updated to the live data until the user presses the required button to do this. If a production plan is left open for some time, it may be necessary to reload the live data to take account of any changes that have been made on open or planned work orders. As planned work orders are rescheduled each night, it is also necessary to reload the current situation in the morning if a plan is left open overnight.
Licensing
The Production planner module needs to be licensed for this screen.
Roles
The user needs to have the "Production Planner Read Only" or "Production manager" role to access the screen. If the user only has Production Planner Read Only role, the user can not reschedule any work orders, so the drag and drop functionality is not available. The Read Only level can however enter and save comments on the work order.
There is no cost information shown on any screens.
The "Management" role is not valid on these screens. All users with the above roles can view all work orders.
Using
The displays can show the different kinds of work orders:
| Type: | Display: | Description: |
| Work order | Work order number | Normal opened work orders |
| Planned work order | Sales order number | Planned work order as a result of sales order activation or for a subassembly needed in a higher level work order |
| Tentative order | Name of tentative order | Tentative orders entered in the sales forecast section and marked as "Scheduled" |
| Comparative forecast | Name of comparative forecast | Comparative forecast entered in the sales forecast section and marked as "Scheduled". Note that comparative forecasts can not be shown together with the above because they are compared to (rather than summed with) the above order types. |
By default only opened work orders are displayed.
Only opened and planned work orders can be rescheduled on this screen.
In the system work orders must have a route and each route must have a minimum of one step. Each step occurs at a single cell. It is possible to have subsequent steps at the same cell. If routing is not being used, the display will show only a single cell with the default cell name the same as the company name, and each product will have a single step on this cell.
There are two types of work order: Dedicated work order and make to stock work order. Dedicated work order has a one-to-one relationship between the sales order line and the work order. Make-to-stock work orders may be partly allocated to multiple sales orders. By filtering a screen to a certain sales order, project or customer, the system will show any make-to-stock work orders that have at least a part of their quantity allocated to the specified criteria. For a make-to-stock work order to display the customer and sales order details, it must be allocated to a single sales order line.
The connection between work orders and sales order lines may be by allocation (in which case there is a possibility that the allocation may be changed) or by dedication (dedicated work order flag is checked on the sales order line).
The work order step element has embedded colour traffic lights indicating the material status of the work order. The work order number is a hyperlink that will open a popup that will show full details of information related to the work order.
Inside text
Work order number - step. E.g. 1234 - 10. Note that for dedicated work orders the number automatically includes the sales order number and line number in parentheses. "1234 (5404-2) - 10"
For planned work orders there is no work order number. In this case the text is sales order number, which is hyperlink that will open sales order report.
Background colour
White = normal, pink = current date is after the required date of the sales order line to which the one or more of the items are allocated.
List view
The list view is a sortable grid that shows top level work orders with the ability for the user to drill down to manufacturing and procurement information.
Planned orders (both manufacturing and purchase) are based on the Manu Online system’s planning features. This means that all purchase and manufacturing plans and material allocations are generated at the time of sales order activation, or in the case of make-to-stock orders, at the time of opening the work order. The plans and allocations are then reanalysed during the night run. Typical settings for the night run are that the allocation of top level work orders is not changed, but lower levels and purchased materials are rescheduled according to due date. This may have the effect that the allocation of materials to work orders may change during a night, for instance if a sales order is cancelled, materials are delivered earlier than expected or a new sales order is entered with a closer required date than another. See Manu Online user manual for further details.
The view is initially collapsed, so it is showing only a list of the top level work order lines.
The list works on an "exception" logic for purchased materials. This means only missing materials will be shown. For manufactured items (subassemblies and final products) the materials will be listed also when they are in stock.
The list screen has four areas arranged vertically:
- Button bar
- Filter (Criteria for the list)
- Rough cut capacity
- List section
Button bar:
| Retrieve | Refreshes page according to selected criteria. Resets the sort order. |
| Reload situation | Reloads planning data from live data. Removes all data from the working tables and copies the current product data to those tables. |
| Cancel changes | Cancels unsaved changes and reloads the plan from the working tables |
| Apply plan | Applies changes to live data. The data in the working tables is copied over live production data. |
| Save selections | Saves current column widths, column order and selected criteria for the current user. |
| Save as default selection | Saves the current settings as the default for all users |
| Default selections | Returns the screen to default column settings and clears criteria. |
| Save Plan | Saves the "Schedule Locked" updates on the list view and any changes on the screen that are not saved to the working tables. |
Filter
The screen can be filtered to show a subset of the work orders.
The filter is a 3 column grid with the following controls:
| View | Day/Week/Month |
| Work order number | Filter with part or all of a work order number. |
| Work cell | Filter the list to one work cell. If multiple manufacturing locations are in use, it is possible to filter to all cells in one location |
| Customer | Part customer name |
| Sales order number | Complete sales order number |
| Include tentative forecasts | Also displays tentative forecasts |
| Show comparative forecasts | Displays only comparative forecasts |
| Include planned orders | Also include planned work orders |
| Item ID | Part item name or id of the product |
| Item type | List of item types |
| Item family 1 | Drop down list (for product item) |
| Item family 2 | Drop down list (for product item) |
| Item family 3 | Drop down list (for product item) |
| Re-scheduling of parallel steps | When step is re-scheduled on list view and this check box is selected, the parallel work steps of work order are re-scheduled automatically accordingly. |
| Start Date From | Displays only work steps that have planned start date on this date or after this date |
| Capacity display | Either rough cut, machine time or work time. |
Rough cut capacity:
The grid displays either rough cut, machine time or work time for the chosen period and displayed against capacity.
The expected rough cut capacity can be edited here by clicking if one individual work cell is selected in the filter. This can be used to mark specific days where capacity is not available.
Fine cut (work or machine time) is colour coded with a capacity indication. Green is less than 80% capacity is used, yellow is 80% to 100%, orange is 100% to 120% and red is over 120%
The capacity is the based on the sum for that time period of the rough cut capacity units for the selected cell, or for all cells if no cell selected. Account is taken of the number or working days in a week and any holiday exceptions.
Daily max capacity is defined on work cell screen (see print screen below).The capacity grid shows the max capacity of selected work cell. If user selects week or month view on filter bar, the daily capacity is automatically converted to week or month capacity. The max capacity of current week / month is the capacity of current date + capacity after current date. For example, if current day is Thursday, the current week capacity displayed is capacity of two days (Thursday + Friday).
If company cannot run on max capacity every period, user can manually key the expected rough cut capacity for the period. The expected capacity is written directly on production planner’s capacity bar. If the user selects week or month view on filter bar, the daily capacity is automatically converted to week or month capacity.
The planned units lists the rough cut sum for units that have open work orders, taking into account the users selection if also forecast and planned work orders is to be included.
The previous column shows the number of units that have planned finish date earlier than today.
The after column is the total for all units after the date span displayed.
List section
There are three kinds of row on the grid:
- Top level work order line
- Lower level work order line (subassemblies)
- Purchased item line
The user can "drill down" each item by clicking a + mark next to the line that he is interested in. This will expose the levels of the product structure showing all planned and open manufacturing levels and all material shortages. Materials which are available in stock and allocated to this order will not be shown regardless of whether they are purchased or manufactured subassemblies.
The first drill down level will show the lower level work order (or orders) that is linked to the top level work order. In the case of make-to-stock items there may be several work orders. The work orders may be open or planned, with different data being shown depending on this.
Subsequent drill down will expose lower level work orders (if the product structure is more than three levels) or missing materials if any. Materials are only shown if they are missing.
Traffic light functionality
One of the main objectives for the screens is for the user to quickly see the state of manufacturing and materials on a highlighted basis. "Traffic lights" can be used for this. In the list view, a few red lights in a long list of greens will enable the user to quickly focus in on the problem areas.
| Section | Traffic light | Meaning |
| Manufacturing | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | Traffic light |
| Manufacturing | Green: |
| | Yellow: |
| | Red: |
| Materials | White: |
| | Green: |
| | Yellow: |
| | Red: |
| Picklists | Green: |
| | Yellow: |
| | Red: |
Top level work order line columns
Top level work orders are those work orders that are producing an item of type "Product" (i.e. not sub assembly). A top level work order may or may not be allocated to a single sales order. If the work order is allocated to a single sales order or the sales order is dedicated to it, then the line will show sales order information.
The open quantity is from the point of view of manufacturing. So open quantity is sales order quantity - (delivered quantity + allocated in stock quantity)
The materials traffic lights allow the user to decide if he wants to drill down to the material level.
The work order number is a link to open the work order information popup
For planned and open work orders the user may specify that the "Schedule is locked" from a check box on the work order. This is shown for information on this display.
| Title | Data |
|
| Planned start date | User can enter data | Order by |
| Planned finish date | User can enter data | |
| Promise date | Of sales order | (if available) |
| Week number | Based on planned Start date of work step. | |
| Work order |
Work order – step element if the work order is open.
Sales order number / line number, if it is planned work order |
|
| Schedule locked | Checkbox | |
| Customer | Customer short name | (if available) |
| Item id | Item id of manuf product | |
| Item description | Wrapped text as it can be long | |
| Order quantity | ||
| In stock quantity | ||
| Open quantity | (if available) | |
| Manufacturing | Traffic lights | |
| Materials | Traffic lights | |
| Picklists | Traffic lights | |
| Comment | “!” if there are any work order comments | User knows to open popup to read comments |
| Comment | User can enter data | User can write work order comments also straight on the grid. This is same as comment on work order popup. |
| Instructions from sales | User can enter data | Sales order lines Production Instructions is displayed on this field and user can also update the data on the grid. |
Lower level work order line columns
Work order lines show the status of manufacturing. Work orders can be opened or planned. If they are planned then there will be no work order number.
The materials traffic lights allow the user to decide if he wants to drill down to the material level.
| Work order | Work order number |
|
| Item id | Item id of manufactured product | |
| Item description | ||
| Quantity | ||
| Planned start date | User can enter data | |
| Actual start date | ||
| Planned finish date | User can enter data | |
| Actual finish date | ||
| Current Step / Cell | ||
| Planned hours | Total planned work hours | |
| Manufacturing | Traffic lights | |
| Materials | Traffic lights | |
| Picklists | Traffic lights | |
| Comment | "!" mark |
Materials line columns
Material lines are the list of materials which are not available from stock. The materials may be allocated from a purchase order, or may not be yet ordered (planned order is open). Materials may be allocated from different purchase orders, in which case they will be listed separately.
The required quantity shown is by purchase order, not the total needed for the whole work order as some materials may already be in stock. If no purchase order is specified it means that the purchase order has not yet been issued and the data shown is for a planned order.
The promised date is the latest promise date of the purchase order line. In principle the order quantity may be split between multiple requirements and there may be multiple shipments promised by the supplier. The user may open the purchase order popup to show more details.
| Item id |
|
hyperlink to item card popup. |
| Item description | ||
| Supplier | ||
| Purchase order / Line nbr | ||
| Required quantity | ||
| Missing quantity | ||
| Promised date | Latest promised date |
User control of screen elements
The user can adjust the layout of the screen by dragging and resizing the columns. Columns can also be removed from the grid by dragging them off the grid (sets column width to zero) Columns can be reordered or can be grouped by.
If the user presses the save settings button, current selection for criteria is saved to the database, so that when the user returns to the screen appears as he last saved it. The column order is automatically saved by PC, when user updates the column order. So when user closes and opens the production planner again with same PC, the column setup is same.
Pressing the Default selections button will clear the current criteria.
Drag and drop functionality
The user can drag and drop work step’s planned start date from the list to the date grid. This will set the work order’s planned start date to be set to date of the grid. If the grid is set to week mode the planned start date is set to the Friday of that week. If the grid is in month mode, the date is set to the first working day of that month. (Working days are set in the company section)
Setting the various dates depends on the status of the work order.
| Work order is open but not started | Changes both start and finish date of the order and the steps within it. |
| Work order is open and started | Changes the finish date of the work order and the start and finish dates of any steps that are not started. The current step has only the finish date changed. |
| Planned work order | User can reschedule only planned start date. The planned finish date is changed automatically, using the item’s throughput time. |
| Tentative forecast | Can not be rescheduled |
| Comparative forecast | Can not be rescheduled |
Work order scheduling inside a day
Dragging and dropping a work order up and down in the grid inside the same day will reorder the work order as displayed in the work cell screen after the plan is applied.
Work order popup screen
Clicking the link of the work order-step object will open a modal dialogue box. This will have tabs for overview, routing, materials and work hours for the work order.
Overview tab:
The only fields that the user can edit are the comment fields related to the work order: work order comments, step comments and comment to customer.
Routing tab
Shows the list of steps on the route
Items tab:
Grid showing the status of product’s components. Items are totalled by item id from all issues
Work hours tab:
Grid showing booked work and machine hours with operator information.
Shortage materials tab:
This tab lists the shortage items of work order.
The "Schedule locked" field
User can lock the rescheduling of work order on production planner. It is done so that schedule locked check box is selected on production planner list view and "Save plan" is pressed on button bar. After the schedule is locked the Planned Start Date and Planned Finish Date fields of work step are not editable anymore. User can’t lock one specific step of work order. Always all the steps of work order are locked automatically when one step is locked.
For planned work orders the schedule locking feature means more than just locking the re-scheduling of steps in production planner. If schedule of planned work order is not locked, night run and re-activation of sales order always optimize the work order to be ready just according to sales order line’s Promised date. If scheduling of planned work order is locked, the night run and re-activation sales order do not re-schedule the planned work order, although the work order’s finish date is not according to sales order line’s promise date.
Example 1: New version of sales order is created and sales order line’s Promised date is postponed to be 2 weeks later. Sales order is re-activated.
Result: If the planned work order’s schedule is not locked, the planned work order is automatically re-scheduled to be ready two weeks later also. If the planned work order’s schedule is locked, the planned work order is not re-scheduled.
Example 2: The planned work order is re-scheduled in production planner to be ready later or earlier than sales order line’s promised date. If the planned work order’s schedule is not locked, next night run will re-schedule the planned work order to be according to sales order’s promised date. If the planned work order’s schedule is locked, the planned work order is not re-scheduled.
"Holiday calendar" to store dates where capacity is not available.
The holiday calendar is accessed from the company section. The user can add all the exceptions to the normal working week by specifying the holiday date. These dates will be excluded from the capacity display.