“A bargain ain’t a bargain unless it’s something you need.” –American screenwriter, Sidney Carroll Identifying what your company really needs and finding the best-fit application to fill that need is the crux of every purchasing decision. The same can … Continued
It’s not always a race to the finish line. For manufacturing, the goal is to produce an order on time–but not too early. Why? Finishing early creates an inventory that has to be stored and it creates an expense … Continued
Scheduling is creating a plan for the future. But how often does reality conform exactly to the plan? The original plan might offer the blueprint for an activity, but it offers little help for determining what to do when the … Continued
If everything went according to plan, there would never be a need for rescheduling. But Murphy’s Law says that if things can go wrong, they will. Because of this, every good business owner knows the value of flexibility and that … Continued
I’ve written a lot about Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. And I’m guessing that if you’ve come this far in the blog, we’re in agreement on their benefits to an efficient organization. So let’s take it one step further. In … Continued
A recent survey by Unique Scheduling Solutions indicated that “extensive training and experience” is needed to prepare a person for scheduling and/or production planning. And sometimes, “extensive” means months or years! This is because the inside scoop, or “tribal knowledge” … Continued
Want to know how to translate a second into dollars? It all comes down to calculating your scheduling down to the second. Many applications don’t even use minutes to compute schedules. They use time “buckets” of five- or 15-minute intervals–or … Continued
If you’ve ever watched Jimmy Fallon do any of his Evolution of Dance bits, you’ll notice a couple things: We Americans started out simple, moving our bodies out of necessity with a basic step-touch, then curiously to more complex moves … Continued
If the old proverb “Necessity is the mother of invention,” then surely the need to provide accurate promise dates is the mother of finite capacity scheduling. It’s absolutely true. Let’s start with the basics: Any good business analyst will … Continued
Previously, in this BLOG, we have discussed the subtleties of various scheduling applications. A good app must accommodate many capabilities—some obvious, some not-so-obvious. That said, let’s review the basic capabilities that should be at the heart of any scheduling app. These … Continued