Master Scheduling Software For Manufacturers
Master scheduling software is a type of detailed scheduling tool and falls under the class of master production scheduling solutions. It is used to produce and optimize a master production schedule, which states what the company’s manufacturing operations expect to produce and what they need to purchase to accomplish this business goal.
The output of this planning software is the number of products, due dates, and available to promise. The inputs are the inventory and required parts, generated by the material requirements planning (MRP) and enterprise requirements planning (ERP) software systems.
What Does a Master Production Schedule Software Do?
Transforming plans with discrete data
The aim of master production scheduling is to elevate production plans from vague, qualitative outlines to concrete, quantitative data sets. The software brings together data from different sources – including market demand, materials resources, labor force, and infrastructural capacities – to deliver production data. This tells teams precisely how many items they need to be producing across a set timeframe.
Outlining alternative production workflows
It may seem like the idea of planning and scheduling is to deliver a watertight workflow with no foreseeable issues. While this might be the end goal in a perfect world, it is much more difficult to achieve in practice as in manufacturing and other disciplines, things can and will go wrong. Master production scheduling software identifies alternative workflows so that your team can quickly pivot to a Plan B as and when required.
Delivering and leveraging capacity insight
The software helps businesses understand the capacity of their equipment and their facility as a whole, providing the insight needed for long-term forecasting. The software then draws upon this data to deliver further insight, helping teams to leverage the highest levels of efficiency and capacity possible from equipment.
Comprehensive data integration
The software solution integrates with other management information platforms and manufacturing software on a company-wide basis, including marketing and finance platforms, to achieve comprehensive insight. This unified approach to data puts managers and team members in control, enabling them to organize orders and deliveries in advance and to manage the shop floor with great accuracy.
Improved relationships
On a broader, more profound level, MPS solutions support improved customer relationships and better client satisfaction. Businesses are able to provide accurate delivery predictions to their customers and come through on those promises time and time again. The improved insight also makes it easy to achieve lasting, meaningful relationships with partners and suppliers.
Controlling inventory resources
The data that teams draw from the master production schedule helps them to stay on top of tracking their inventory resources. Team members will know, at a glance, how they will need to manage these resources, placing orders from suppliers and increasing inventory efficiency in order to minimize shrinkage and wastage.
Benefits of Master Production Scheduling Software
Supply chain efficiency
With an MPS solution in place, you will take control of your supply chain, placing orders from suppliers as and when required and managing existing inventory resources. This, in turn, optimizes storage space and production capacity.
Reliable production
Via accurate forecasting and planning capabilities, MPS solutions make production more reliable. Businesses can predict production capacity weeks, months, or even years in advance.
Great communication
The centralized solution puts everyone on the same page, delivering insight and understanding that can then be passed onto suppliers, partners, and customers. Data integration also brings disparate departments together to achieve streamlined processes on a company-wide basis.
High levels of flexibility and agility
With an MPS solution in place, your business is armed with knowledge and understanding. This leads to improved flexibility and agility as you respond to changes in market demand, or other factors, and implement new plans and production schedules accordingly.
Cost-effective operations
All of the above comes together to improve cost-efficiency. No time is wasted during your production operations, storage costs and shrinkage are minimized in your inventory, and improved supplier relationships may lead to better supply agreements in the future. Predictable delivery also improves customer relationships and client-facing reputation, increasing revenue in the long term.
Master Production Schedule Components
When you review a fully optimized master production schedule example, you will be able to discern the following components:
Product master list
This is a straightforward overview of all of the products on your roster. You can order this list according to different criteria, including popularity and market demand.
Product variation outlines
This component provides more insight for your product master list. Different product variations are recorded across different fields within the schedule – for example, various sizes or color schemes.
Timeframe subdivisions
The MPS is broken down into several timeframe subdivisions, including annual, monthly, and weekly divisions, to allow for accurate demand forecasting and production planning.
Production quantities
This refers to the number of units you will be manufacturing according to product type, product variation, and timeframe subdivision – for example, the production of 150 units of Product A in a large size in one week.
Master Production Scheduling Issues
Lack of agreement on the initial plan
The initial production plan and schedule need to be agreed upon and given the green light. Without this agreement, the work orders may not align with operational targets.
Information bottlenecks
Production should not operate in isolation. Instead, it needs to feed off data from other areas of the business. An effective Master Production Scheduling software solution should be integrated with the material requirements planning (MRP) system, enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, and other manufacturing systems so that it has access to live production data.
Non-alignment with demand
If an MPS is drafted, implemented, and then left alone, it will quickly fall out of sync with demand. The right software solution will help to ensure long-term flexibility and agility.
Cumulative lead time is incorrect
Cumulative lead times and execution windows should be defined according to data. If these timeframes are incorrect, the MPS will not be fit for the purpose.
Production Planning vs. Master Scheduling
Production planning and master scheduling share some common ground in that they are both concerned with forecasting and predicting production capacity in the short and long term. However, they differ considerably in the technical details of their execution.
Production planning is a broader process, taking into account the inventory of components required, the cost and capacity of production, and the timeframe required to bring the finished products to market. Master scheduling, on the other hand, focuses more on the details, converting production plans into finalized work orders that are executed according to a particular time window. As such, an MPS is a shorter-term solution, focused on execution and delivery across weekly and monthly timelines, up to a year in advance.
Leverage Key Advantages from MPS Solutions for Your Manufacturing Enterprise
Here at Optessa, we provide Advanced Planning and Scheduling software to enterprise-level manufacturers. Our solutions are focused on high-level speed and accuracy, revolutionizing capability for manufacturing facilities. Reach out to our team to learn more about what these solutions can achieve for you.
