Production Scheduling for Discrete Plants

54% of small and mid-sized plants track production on paper or in spreadsheets, according to IoT Analytics. For those plants, the promise date a customer hears comes straight from the ERP, and checking press and mold availability is left to the planner, working by eye. One missed mold conflict can idle a press through a full changeover. Late orders bring expedited freight and overtime, and a customer burned by a few missed dates starts double-checking each new promise the plant makes. When open press time sits in one planner’s workbook, it goes unsold too.

This playbook shows how to check each job against real press and mold capacity before the schedule goes out, so conflicts get fixed at the planner’s desk and promise dates hold.