Bring in the jobs
Use current project timing and work assumptions rather than a separate planning spreadsheet.
See the workload behind a promised completion date
Check department workload before promising the completion date.
An open date on the calendar does not mean the shop has room
For owners and production managers who need capacity behind the calendar.
1
Sales sees dates without department workload.
2
Unscheduled jobs disappear from the plan.
3
Bottlenecks surface only after work queues up.
4
Moving a job requires rebuilding the forecast.
Turn job demand into a visible load
Review by department
See where demand concentrates across the parts of the shop that must perform it.
Place unscheduled work
Keep work that needs a date visible until it is deliberately placed.
Adjust before promising
Move the plan and examine the resulting load before communicating the commitment.
An open date is not the same as available capacity
Put scheduled demand beside the department's working capacity so overload becomes a decision instead of a surprise.
Questions shops ask us
Where does capacity come from?+
It is measured, not typed in. Past days are the hours people actually clocked; future days use each department's configured supply.
What views are there?+
Schedule, Outlook, Aging and Grid, plus the bottleneck headline that names the department the shop is waiting on.
Does it tell us what to do?+
It suggests. Moves that would relieve the bottleneck are offered, and you adopt or ignore them. Nothing is scheduled behind your back.
Is there a machine-level schedule?+
As an optional capability: a day-by-day production schedule with a lane per machine or station.
How does it relate to the week board?+
The week board is the plan; capacity is the check on it. A week that overloads a department shows it before you commit.
Is this finite scheduling?+
No. It shows load against supply so a person can decide. It does not optimise machines.