Planning and Scheduling Finite Constraints

Manufacturers face numerous constraints on a daily basis as they strive to ship orders on-time and at minimum cost. If equipment, labor and materials were unlimited life would be much easier. However, the reality in this globally competitive manufacturing landscape is that production managers and planners have limited resources with which to work.

Advantages

• Raw material and component availability are analyzed based on current inventory levels for each item as well as projected purchase order receipt dates.
• Machine capacity adjusts schedules automatically based on working hours and when equipment is taken down for maintenance or repair.
• When production workers are absent schedules can be automatically adjusted and work off-loaded to other personnel.
• If tooling is limited, schedules will take this into account to avoid over-scheduling of limited tools even if enough machines or labor are available.
• Whether labor, equipment, tools, materials (or any combination thereof) are limiting factors, they are scheduled accurately (even during drag-and-drop!) so schedules are always reliable and can be followed by the shop floor.
• While most of your constraints can be handled “out of the box” by FACTIVITY, you may have requirements that are particular to only your business. No problem!