Visual Planner Production Planning and Scheduling Solution for Exact Macola Progression and ES
Today s Business Challenges Keeping direct material costs down Difficulty accurately assessing capacity and load Trying to level production and load Reducing labor costs Reducing procurement costs Reducing production wastage Why is planning production so important to Exact customers? In today s economic climate Exact customers are looking for solutions that will give them the lean manufacturing and competitive advantage they need to stay ahead of the competition. Typically however, they are struggling to manage something that should be at the very heart of their business Production Planning. They are still manual tools like Excel spreadsheets to do this. Their schedules are totally blown apart when a rush order appears, re-work is required, operators report sick, a machine breaks down, or demand does not match the forecast. All of this results in the their Planners spending endless time re-assigning work, changing priorities or altering process routes to meet delivery dates. Over time the inability to produce reliable production plans will result in higher operating costs and a potential loss of business. Reducing production WIP Keeping to delivery dates Reducing costly inventory levels Winning new business Visual Planners answers questions like this: What can we promise for a delivery date? When should we order the materials that are needed to complete this order? Can we transfer production to alternative work centers? What is the impact of this new order to our current backlog? What order should we run next? What will Visual Planner do for Exact customers? Fully integrated into Exact Macola progression or ES, Visual Planner will drive the optimization of the production process, providing the control required for effective planning and resource management. Using Visual Planner in a Macola integrated manufacturing environment will greatly improve customer service levels while simultaneously increasing efficiency and maximizing output. Through Visual Planner s graphical planning screen a single point of reference is provided to view all the information needed to make effective planning decisions (Departments, Work Centers, calendars, product details, order details, free capacity, material requirements and availability). With manual systems, it is impossible to bring all this information together into a single coordinated view. Visual Planner works straight out of the box and can be fully implemented in under week. This ultimately means a quicker return on your investment. Once installed you will immediately see your live Macola data and will be able to drill down into information that includes orders, stock availability, trial kit list, captured bill of materials, order properties, production reports and much more. In addition, you have the ability to instantly write data back into your Exact Macola system confirming production schedules. All of this helps you achieve complete unison with your purchasing plans and enables you to produce reliable up to the minute production plans. Can we complete this order earlier? What are we shipping this week?
Growing list of standard features Support for Jobs A job is something that has multiple tasks. This can be a customer order with pulled POP or SFC orders, a POP order with dependant orders, a Shop Order or Parent Shop Order with dependant orders Support for tasks These can POP Orders or Shop Order Operations. Tasks can be executed in sequence, with or without overlap or in parallel, as in Shop Floor paths Multi Users & Multi Company Scheduling Progress status on task in scheduler view A progress bar provides a graphical view of the percentage of work completed on any order. Multiple methods of scheduling including, drag & drop, automatic backward, forward and sequential scheduling. Various reports are available including production plan, SF reports, late delivery and capacity charts. Dashboard s also available. Create your own shop calendars and apply them to departments and work centre s Fast return on investment works out of the box, eliminating costly installation and implementation periods. Fully integrates into Macola packages providing access to real time data to base production planning decisions on Clear upgrade path from Exact Macola Progression through to Exact Globe Written with the latest Microsoft.Net tools, you can be confident Visual Planner incorporates the latest technologies. It will not just make your production activity more efficient, but will also be compatible with up-to-date operating systems and software. The Exact Solution Visual Planner will provide Exact customers with an unrivalled way to see the resources they have available and allocate work accurately. So, not only will it make the planning process more efficient, but will help them to: Give reliable delivery promises to customers, avoiding the costs which can be incurred in meeting unrealistic dates. This can reduce overtime, premium prices paid for rushed raw material deliveries, and much more. And of course, the company s on-time deliveries will improve so that they can meet those key customer service targets. Easily see the time and resources available in each work centre, so work can be accurately scheduled, knowing the people and machines should be available. This will ensure the best use is made of the resources, and also highlights idle time that might be used constructively, or creates an opportunity to cut costs. By accurately scheduling each order, the Planner will provide the purchasing team with the right information from which to plan material orders and stock. This helps to ensure the materials are available when they are needed. Helps to achieve the best match to customer delivery requirements which means that customer service can improve at the same time as reducing finished goods stock. Provides instant access to material availability information for either one order or many. This means there should be no surprises and, if a vendor fails to supply on time, the Scheduler can quickly change the production schedule so valuable machine and labor time is not wasted. By improving production planning the company can reduce the time wasted in non-productive activities, ensuring that they get the most from their resources. And everyone has an easier life! Less disruption and changes in the production process will also help the company improve quality and reduce wastage. This means the company can often do the same task more quickly and with fewer materials. Reducing the percentage of waste by only one-tenth of a percent can lead to a 3% improvement in productivity. Less disruption in the purchasing process means buyers can do their job in getting in materials that are good quality, competitively priced, and delivered on time Production planning is often done too late and with too little information. This means raw materials are purchased using fixed or estimated lead times. With Visual Planner, production planning is fast and efficient and will help reduce the company s stock levels. The positive effect that Visual Planner has on productivity by cutting workin-process (WIP) inventories for a given level of output should be significant. In some cases, a reduction of WIP by one-tenth will produce a significant rise in productivity and free up cash tied up in inventory Will allow the Planner to see everything from the graphical planning board e.g. Customer Orders, Bill of Materials. Real drill downs.
Delivering benefits from day 1! Fewer production stoppages and lower excess costs due to waiting time Improved control of Work In Progress, hence reduced use of overtime to solve problems Improved on time delivery performance Lower air freight and late delivery penalties Flexibility to respond quickly when requirements change Rapid What if planning to look at alternative solutions before expediting them to the shop floor. This keeps the workforce busy and helps smooth out those production peaks and troughs. Increased efficiency, better quality products and crucially less wastage through schedules generated by Visual Planner Helps accurately predict what stock is needed and when, reducing the levels of expensive safety stock Visual Planner s automatic scheduling rules aim to reduce as much as possible the makespan time for a job and to reduce the disruption caused by tool and line change over time, thereby keeping work in progress to a minimum Works in complete unison with Macola s MRP, so buying plans match production thus reducing raw material stocks and purchasing costs. Buyers can concentrate on cost saving Designed from the outset to work in co-operation with Macola Progression so gets the best from the company s existing investments. Unique Features Because Visual Planner is the only production planning and scheduling tool that is completely integrated into Macola Progression and ES, it can provide Exact customers with features that are simply not available in other packages. With Visual Planner it is easy to interrogate live Exact data without the need to ever go into Exact. Extensive drill-down features provide you with instant access to information that will help you to make better planning decisions. Features like these: Graphical Planning Board: Lets your clearly see the available working time in each work centre and the orders already scheduled. The orders that you need to schedule appear in a spreadsheet style list that you can sort any way you wish. Simple drag and drop each order when you wish to schedule it, or let automatic scheduler do it for you. This will save Schedulers so much time and release them to manage activities on the shop floor. Ability to reduce lead times through improved control Efficient production plans allow buyers to take advantage of best prices and availability, quantity of materials, helping to lower direct material costs. No need for costly overtime and crisis management Helps accurately predict production capacity and its impact on delivery schedules Production plans are is instantly written back into Macola reflecting new dates working in complete unison with Exact s MRP module. Visual Planner will free-up production Planner's time. Typically, the time saved is in excess of 50%. This time saving allows closer monitoring of production and higher efficiency levels. Compatible with up-to-date operating systems and software Increased visibility through View Only licenses Ongoing support and development from Lynq s highly experienced Support team
Case Studies ITW Sexton ITW Sexton has pioneered the design and manufacture of deep drawn metal containers for a variety of markets and applications. With their strong commitment to excellence and customer service, they have emerged as a leading provider of premium drawn components to the electronics, filtration, and aerosol industries. Unique Features Continued Trial Kitting: This feature allows the Schedulers to see all the components needed for any group of orders that you select. Shortages are highlighted in red and they can drill down to see open purchase orders with two mouse clicks. Trial Kitting will help Schedulers identify available stock in one or multiple stocking locations. All of this will help them to confirm that all the components needed are available before any orders are released. If the materials aren t available they can quickly rearrange production to keep things running smoothly or contact the purchasing department to expedite the materials required so that they can complete the order in time for delivery to the customer. The Business Challenge Trying to run a complex business with its many variables and requirements using an excel spreadsheet was a real challenge for all concerned. Failure to achieve promised deliveries and inability to forecast accurately future delivery dates, determined the main cause as inadequate availability of information on machine loading and available resources. Something had to be done! Visual Planner Solutions In late 2008 ITW Sexton made the decision to replace their outgrown systems with Macola ES and Visual Planner. Delivery performance now substantially improved Less pressure on production management Far more proactive instead of being reactive Planner is able to make a better assessment of forward lead times Distribution of Planner s work to lists helps ensure all resources are available when required to fulfil the schedule Bill of Material: Visual Planner provides you with the ability to drill down into the live captured BOM data that is stored in Macola from the Graphical Planning Screen. Production Order Properties: Order Properties drill down provides realtime information on the item location, stocking policy, customer orders, manufacturing and production reporting all from one screen. Your Schedulers will never need to look at a Macola screen again!!!! DHS Systems LLC DHS Systems LLC is the world leader of high-tech, soft-walled shelter systems serving medical, military, government and civilian needs. Its primary product is the Deployable Rapid Assembly Shelter, or DRASH, a quick erect/strike shelter system that integrates shelter, mobility, lighting, heating, cooling and power distribution in one flexible package. A Make to Order Manufacturer who s major customer is the US military. Calendar Maintenance: The limitations that exist in Macola s Shop Calendar are now a thing of the past. With Visual Planner you can quickly create and maintain calendars that are based on real operational times. With easy to use templates, you can define your standard working day and week (start time lunch time and end time) and apply them to one or many work centers. Special day rules can also be created and applied to your working calendar to represent things like double shifts, machine down time, reduced head count and much more. By doing so, a visual representation of available capacity within a chosen planning period is clearly visible on the graphical planning board.
Case studies cont. Business Challenge DHS wanted to be able to accurately assess capacity and load. Leveling the production load with better use of available resources and a clearer picture of current and future workloads was a priority for DHS. Improving visibility between the shop floor and inventory was also a challenge. Visual Planner Solution A much clearer picture from a capacity standpoint delivered visually on the graphical planning board and through available reports. More flexible and dynamic tool allowing the scheduler to maximise available resources and reducing production peaks and troughs. Using Visual Planner s MRP CP & FP scheduling ability and What-If scenarios run before committing new start and finish dates into Macola Integrated dash boards have provided additional management information directly from Visual Planner. The ability to see if stock is available or on order in any Macola location before starting production has been a great asset. What If Orders: Create these order on the fly, so when a customer wants to place an order with you, you can quickly establish whether you have the capacity to complete the order by the customers due date. Once you are satisfied you have the capacity all you need to do is generate a real shop or pop order to take up that capacity in your plan. International Control Services The services that ICS provide are commonly referred to as Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS). Business Challenge ICS s biggest business challenge was how to reduce their large inventory levels and WIP. They also needed a better way to schedule around their forecasts and to get better MRP pegging information than is currently available in Macola. Visual Planner Solution The ability to automatically schedule MRP CP & FP orders provided Enhanced MRP pegging through Visual Planner and creating and referencing of What If Scenarios Exercise to find tune routings for more accurate scheduling Predicted reduction in inventory and WIP in this year will release a significant amount of cash back into the business. Capacity Charts & Management Dashboards: Visual Planner provides short and long term capacity planning charts along with Management Dashboards providing you with all the information you need to meet your key performance targets.
Why Lynq and not somebody else? Lynq s Visual Planner is the only Macola integrated production planning and scheduling tool available on the market Business today. Challenge ICS s biggest business challenge was how to reduce their large inventory levels and WIP. They also needed a better way to schedule around their forecasts Russell Hajek and to get better MRP pegging information than is currently available in Macola. No other production planning solution Business Analyst provider has the level of Exact Macola ERP Manager Exact knowledge Planner Solution and experience that Lynq Omron The has. ability to automatically schedule MRP CP & FP orders provided Business Challenge Unlike other suppliers, we are totally Being committed a quick turn manufacturer, to Macola and Earlex do not take supply orders from major Mark retailers Maclachlan and therefore must have raw materials sourced quickly, temporary production staff in place other and assembly ERP solutions. lines available This means and prepared. we are Factory Manager The Scheduler s free to concentrate job of controlling providing all of this through best an in-flexible Earlex excel spreadsheet Group was not only a thankless task but was also very inefficient and was costing value Earlex service money. and new innovation customers. It also means the Exact customer s Planner Solution investment is safe with us. Visual Planner is a significant part of our new production planning process. Increased visibility throughout the organization This has been a great product for us and an excellent investment that We listen to our customers and where maximizes the productivity of our MS / MRP system. Reduce appropriate and reallocate to do headcount so try to incorporate their ideas into the software. Not every Terry P. Geoman supplier is willing or capable of The ability to quickly adjust to changing conditions, produce Director better production of Manufacturing plans and provide both the planners and procurement team time to do providing that kind of flexibility. their job. King Technology Visual Planner is one of the least Improved stock control expensive production planning solutions on the market today. In some cases Better fulfillment of delivery promises this means that return on investments is almost immediate. The ability to report completed production directly from Exact Planner Shorter more accurate lead times keeping Earlex ahead of the completion Customer Quotes Our Excel based, in house solution is unwieldy, inaccurate and an I.T. resource hog. We have looked at several other planning solutions over the last 18 months and Visual Planner is the best solution. More importantly, the people at Exact are very attentive and open to building features into the product that meet our needs. Their in depth knowledge of Macola gives me confidence that Visual Planner will only get better. Enhanced We know MRP Exact pegging Macola through inside Exact out! Planner This and creating Visual and referencing Planner of is What extremely If Scenarios well integrated with Macola Progression / ES for is very important as the products are both POP and Shop Floor and with plans to develop a version for Globe there Exercise totally to integrated, find tune routings we know for more where accurate the scheduling is a clear upgrade path for companies wanting to move to that platform. data is kept, what impact changes to the data make and so on. It also means Predicted reduction in inventory and WIP in this year will release Steven a significant J. Rogers amount of cash back into the business. that when Exact upgrades Exact Macola Principal or brings out a new release, Visual Beachwood Systems Consulting, Inc. Earlex Planner Group is quickly made compatible. Other suppliers have other ERP Earlex are a leading manufacturer of power decorating and power cleaning appliances for both the professional and DIY markets in Europe and Lowes in the USA. solutions to consider and are therefore not as quick to react. There is even an upgrade path to Exact Globe. When planning labor & parts, in one look I can immediately see an overview of how busy we are, if there are peaks or troughs during a week or month
Lynq s Commitment to You With years of experience and commitment to excellence, Lynq s experienced team has worked with Exact Macola for over 20 years. Lynq has an enviable reputation as one of the best suppliers of Exact Macola products in the market today. For more information on Visual Planner or to arrange a demonstration: Please visit www.lynq.co.uk Contact Lynq Ltd on UK: +44 (0) 1329 800 000 US: +1 614 586 4238 Contact Exact Software on 1.800.468.0834