VOX ISM’s Solution Expert, Mike Fontaine, also known as “Manufacturing Mike,” recently recorded a podcast with Martin Karlowitsch, CEO and Co-Owner of Netronic on production scheduling concepts.
Click here to listen to the podcast on Spotify.
On this episode, you’ll learn:
- That scheduling just single make-to-order jobs can be easily done manually. However, scheduling becomes rather tricky when there are dependencies between multiple make-to-order jobs.
- Why switching to a new ERP system – such as Dynamics 365 Business Central – can be hard in the beginning, and unleashes its full value only at a later stage.
- How old manual scheduling procedures and routines can and should shape the future – e.g., bringing artificial intelligence (AI) to manufacturing.
- Why the traditional concept of running a pure priority-based schedule does not work well in a high-speed make-to-order environment (spoiler: because it takes too much time to maintain the schedule).
- That a good scheduling system should plan against capacity on the one hand, but on the other hand, leave decision power with respect to the sequencing of operations at the shop floor.
- How “black-box scheduling” can (and should!) also work in a time when we are getting to real-time information.
- The best strategy in times when things get more hectic, customers become more demanding, and the need for changing the continually changing schedule seems to be higher than ever … is: resist the temptation. Apply the concept of a frozen, a slushy and a wet schedule.
- Recommendations on the length of the period of a frozen schedule.
What to listen for:
- [02.08] How Mike initially did not use an MRP system, but actually became the MRP system of the company he worked for (and how this felt).
- [03.44] That adding the variables of “time” and “change” to a schedule is what makes scheduling and time-phased material planning rather sophisticated.
- [07.10] Experiences gained when switching from Infor Visual ERP to Microsoft Dynamics NAV (which is now Dynamics 365 Business Central).
- [10.30] The impact that a high-speed make-to-order environment has on the dynamics of the appropriate scheduling framework.
- [11.49] What you can learn from baseball for scheduling: how to translate the roles of players (at the batt, on deck, in the hole) to the priority of work orders and operations.
- [14.10] Why it makes sense to leave some sequencing decisions with the people on the shop floor.
- [16.58] The term “black-box scheduling” – explained.
- [20.48] The concept of a frozen, a slushy and a wet schedule – explained.
- [24.25] The Best Manufacturing Apps Conference (BMAC) 2020: what it is, when it is and why you should attend.