How to Create an Effective Production Schedule | Itefy

How to Create an Effective Production Schedule

A robust production schedule is critical for your firm to stay competitive. Let's understand its dynamics and how it helps your company expand its customer base. 

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What consumers see on the shelves is a product, but it is the result of a long process of sourcing, planning, and production. Since there is a lot involved in this process, businesses need to improve efficiency to stay competitive and ensure that customers get products on time.

If your company plans to improve its production efficiency, the best way is to follow a well-defined production schedule. It is estimated that firms that focus on production planning can become 30% more efficient. 

This write-up will explore what an effective scheduled production looks like, its detailed steps, how you can implement it with software, and more. 

What is a Production Schedule? 

A production schedule refers to assigning raw materials, resources, and processes to particular products. It makes the whole production process much more efficient by reducing inaccuracies, overlaps, and time-frame confusion. It also helps you reduce costs significantly by ensuring that resources are spent where they are needed most.  

Scheduling is a critical element of any supply chain. In fact, it is an integral part of some of the the most popular supply chain key performance indicators (KPIs), such as the following:

  • Cost reduction 
  • Daily performance 
  • Order management 
  • Inventory turn
  • Production service rate 
  • Cycle time 
  • Production time 

It's critical to come up with a plan that revolves around these KPIs. 

Types of Production Scheduling 

Production is a complex process that can be designed with various approaches. Production processes also matter significantly in this regard. Let’s understand the different types of production methods that you can consider.  

1. Job Method 

Job Method can also be called the bespoke production method, because it involves customized materials processing requirements. Since each product will have different customization requirements, your production approach will also change. Small and medium-sized enterprises usually adopt this approach, but it can also work well for larger corporations.  

2. Batch Production Method 

As the name suggests, this production method focuses on bulk or continuous production instead of individual manufacturing. It allows manufacturers to tweak the production process by observing it closely at each stage and making it more efficient. It is the ideal production method for firms in the food sector or large-scale manufacturers in general.  

3. Flow Production Method 

Also called the discrete production method, it has limited human interaction, with materials flowing from one machine to the other, resulting in finished goods. Since there is little human interaction to begin with, it’s critical to ensure quality control so that the manufactured items aren’t defective. This production method is ideal for companies that produce uniform goods.  

4. Process Production Method 

Process production is the traditional production method involving assembly lines. As the name suggests, this method produces goods by passing materials through multiple processes. Again, it is a great method for firms making a lot of similar goods.  

5. Mass Production Method 

The mass production is the flow production method on steroids. It has a similar approach to manufacturing in bulk but on a much higher level. Companies that want to produce similar goods at a mega scale can benefit from this method, as they are targeting uniformity. Mass production also saves firms a lot of their valuable time.  

How to Make a Production Schedule: The Crucial Stages 

Let's discuss the stages of an effective production schedule in detail. 

1. Planning 

Planning is the first stage of a production schedule and is often the most critical one. It involves defining the end goal of a production process and determining the budget and resources needed to achieve it. Let’s look at the two most popular types of planning:

  • Static planning means each stage of production goes according to the schedule without any changes. 
  • Dynamic planning means there might be changes to the schedule before reaching the end goal. 

A robust asset management system can help you devise a detailed workable plan. 

2. Routing 

The second stage involves the plan of how the finished products will reach production facilities to the end user. Production planners consider everything from routing raw materials to production to delivery in this stage and analyze the viability of their plans.

The purpose of this stage is to find the most efficient way to make products and deliver them to consumers. Around 98.1% of customers say that their delivery experience weighs heavily on their loyalty towards a brand, so ignoring this aspect is unwise for any business. 

production schedule

Delivery time is an important consideration for customers. 

3. Scheduling 

Scheduling is all about defining the time-frame for each stage and determining the deadline for project completion. It can be divided into three types:

  • Master production schedule means manufacturing the product within a given time-frame. It includes elements like budget, resources, routing processes, and more. 
  • Manufacturing schedule only defines the steps or stages involved in using raw materials to make a product. 
  • Retail operation schedule resembles the master production schedule, but focuses on retailers instead of direct sales to customers. 

4. Dispatching 

The dispatching stage is all about implementing the production plan by ensuring that all the inputs are available for the production process to start. This stage also involves issuing detailed instructions to the personnel participating in production to ensure that they understand their roles and everything goes smoothly. 

5. Execution 

The final step of this detailed process is ensuring that the planned schedule goes ahead as intended. Here is what planners and schedulers ensure in this stage:

  • All processes run effectively. 
  • Production is completed within the predetermined time frame. 
  • Clients and customers receive their orders according to the given schedule. 

6. Maintenance 

Not all plans go as intended. The production schedule designed in the beginning might need changes down the line due to various factors, such as unplanned equipment downtimes. That’s why schedulers must monitor and update the schedule according to varying circumstances to ensure that everything runs smoothly and deadlines are met.  

production schedule

Unplanned downtime can be a result of various factors. 

Once the schedule has been updated, the details should be shared with everyone so that they are aware of new expectations and tasks. 

Benefits of a Production Schedule 

Firms that design production schedules can benefit from them in the following ways:

  • They can reduce costs by identifying the least expensive routes for raw materials to be converted into finished products. 
  • Proper accounting of available raw materials and their usage ensures there are minimal to zero instances of shortage. 
  • A significant reduction in lead times, ensuring customers don’t have to wait too long between ordering and receiving the product. It also enhances customer satisfaction. 

Design Robust Production Schedule With Itefy 

Designing a robust production schedule is essential to ensure that your production process runs smoothly from the beginning to the end. It also saves costs as the resources are directed efficiently to their best use cases.  

Itefy makes manufacturing scheduling easier for firms with its class-leading Asset Management System. Since equipment is at the heart of any manufacturing process, our System helps improve its utilization and provides valuable insights into its usage. It also notifies you whenever your equipment requires maintenance so that your production keeps running smoothly. 

So, start a new, more effective production process today with Itefy’s free 14-day trial. 

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