Article

Smart Scheduling Gets Even Better: Introducing What If Scheduling

ERP, Production Planning, Scheduling

Industrial internet of things and innovative manufacturing
Last year Genius ERP introduced a revolutionary new way to schedule your shop floor: Smart Scheduling And now we’re excited to announce that Smart Scheduling is getting even better—introducing What If Scheduling!

Refresh — What is Smart Scheduling?

Smart Scheduling is the first true DBR (Drum-Buffer-Rope) scheduling tool for custom manufacturers built into an ERP system.

Smart Scheduling is based on the Theory of Constraints (ToC), and uses the fundamental principle that within any custom manufacturing plant there is a Drum—one, or a small number of, scarce resources—which control the overall output of the plant.

Increasing the capacity of the Drum is the only way to increase the capacity of the manufacturing plant.

Genius ERP’s Smart Scheduling tool streamlines shop floor scheduling by identifying the bottleneck, or Drum, and then automatically prepares a detailed schedule that maximizes the capacity of the Drum, to increase the overall efficiency of the plant.

The Drum is typically the most heavily loaded resource or work center in your shop. Once the Drum is identified, a DBR scheduling tool automatically prepares a detailed schedule accounting for the Drum, and each job and task on a project is prioritized and scheduled.

A DBR schedule squeezes the highest possible level of performance from the Drum, and thus is the most effective and efficient schedule for the shop as a whole.

To ensure that you won’t get behind on your schedule and that your production won’t be disrupted, a Buffer is put in place to guard against delays and problems. The Buffer is a period of time that is designed to protect the Drum resource from problems that occur upstream from the Drum operation. What this means is that the Drum will never be starved for work, and that jobs will pass through to the Drum at the correct pace.

And finally, Ropes, or mechanisms that allow jobs to flow seamlessly through the shop, are identified to ensure smooth production. While the Drum sets the master schedule, and the Buffer provides protection, the Rope communicates and controls the actions necessary to support the production system.

What this means is—instead of using complicated algorithms that don’t work in custom shop environments—Smart Scheduling creates the most efficient schedule for your shop based on how your shop actually functions. No more scrambling and feeling like you are trying to play keep up: Instead A DBR scheduling system creates an accurate, reliable, prioritized, and easy-to-follow schedule.

Smart Scheduling gives you a more efficient and effective schedule, which lets you better plan and manage your shop, and meet your ultimate goal: to deliver more jobs on time and increase your throughput.

Introducing What If Scheduling

We are excited to announce that we have added a new feature to our Smart Scheduling system: What If Scheduling.

What If Scheduling allows you to easily deal with changes and shifting priorities—whether from a customer request, a new order, or a late delivery from a 3rd-party vendor. Before you actually change your schedule and disrupt all the current jobs you have in progress on your shop floor, What If Scheduling runs simulations for you so you can see the impact of a change before you actually make it.

What if Scheduling lets you test the results of adding or moving jobs, without impacting your shop environment, until you find the schedule that works best—the one that balances all of your priorities and ensures on-time delivery.

Learn more about Smart Scheduling, now including What If Scheduling, here or book a free demo to see Genius ERP in action and what it can do for you!

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