Plans change. Control stays with you.
See the impact of every change before it hits production. Reschedule in minutes.
PlanStudio evaluates machine, labor, shift, setup, tooling and inventory constraints together in a single schedule to produce schedules you can actually execute. It complements your ERP system.
Why PlanStudio?
Scheduling with real capacity
Manage machine, labor, shift, setup and auxiliary equipment constraints together.
Keep changes under control
Edit jobs on the Gantt chart, see the impact, and reschedule the remaining work.
Decide by comparing alternatives
Evaluate different schedules using indicators such as total duration, setup time and resource utilization.
Your ERP plans, but the shop floor doesn’t follow
Creating production orders is not the same as scheduling in detail which resource will run what, in which sequence, and when. ERP systems are designed to manage supply chain and production operations; their standard planning runs mostly do not cover detailed constraints.
That is why ERP output often cannot be executed on the shop floor as is:
- Planned orders are built on fixed production times, regardless of quantity.
- Efficiency differences between resources are not reflected in the plan.
- Setup times, breaks and downtime are not taken into account.
- Limiting factors such as molds, tools and fixtures are left out.
- Changes such as order revisions, breakdowns and staff shortages cannot easily be reflected in the plan.
An example from the field
Consider a manufacturer with three planning engineers working at three different locations. Each takes data from the ERP and manages it with visuals they build in Excel. Together they need to resolve:
- Which product will be produced on which machine, at what rate (units per hour)?
- Which operation of which product will run on which machine, and in what sequence?
- How long will changeovers (setup) between products take?
While doing this, they must take into account precedence and succession relations between operations, shift cycles, headcount, mold and tool conflicts, products that cannot be produced at the same time, and stock levels. A change to a single product creates a chain reaction, and at times a revision becomes harder than rebuilding the plan from scratch.
With PlanStudio, all of this information is managed in one environment, interlinked.
What Is PlanStudio?
PlanStudio is a finite capacity scheduling software (APS) developed for production planning and scheduling. It evaluates the production requirements from your ERP system together with the resources and operational constraints you define, helping you create detailed production schedules.
It is built on two core principles:
Relational logic
Every assignment made on the schedule is checked against the defined constraints.
Visual control
On the Gantt chart showing job durations and resource utilization, you make all assignments and changes by drag and drop. It is an easy-to-use environment that also supports visual analysis.
The goal is not just to create a plan, but to provide a schedule that stays manageable as conditions change.
What Can You Do with PlanStudio?
Finite capacity scheduling
Build schedules that respect the real capacity limits of machines, labor and other resources.
Machine-specific production rates (UPH)
Define different units-per-hour values for each resource. Assess how alternative machines affect the schedule.
Shifts and workforce
Define different shift cycles (two-shift, three-shift, etc.) and headcount per shift for machine groups. Manage the plan by labor capacity as well as machine capacity.
Breaks and downtime
Reflect daily, weekly, monthly and yearly routine breaks and stoppages in the plan.
Automatic setup calculation
Setup times defined per reference and setup relations between references are reflected in the schedule. See how sequence changes affect setup times.
Mold, tool and fixture constraints
Include limiting elements beyond machines and labor in the schedule, and evaluate resource conflicts together.
Operation relationships
Link operations as “start to start” or “end to start” and define lags. Linked operations are managed according to the rules you set; bulk changes can be made quickly.
Inventory and semi-finished goods
Manage production sequence and timing by taking stock levels of finished and semi-finished goods into account.
Multi-level plan visibility
See your plan together with the production levels that come before and after it. Evaluate relations between levels and possible delays together.
Non-production activities
Add breakdowns, maintenance, trials and training to the schedule and account for their impact on capacity.
Fast revision on the Gantt chart
Edit jobs by dragging and dropping. Change values such as quantity, cycle time and staffing for the relevant job only.
Scenarios and KPI comparison
Create alternative schedules and compare them using indicators such as total job duration, total setup time and machine efficiency, supporting your decisions with data.
Works with your ERP systems
PlanStudio is designed not to replace your ERP system, but to complement it with detailed scheduling capability. It takes order, routing and inventory data from SAP or whichever ERP system you use, and writes the resulting schedule back to your ERP system. You keep your existing enterprise system while managing the timing of resources and operations in greater detail.
Manage your planning with more control
Evaluate PlanStudio on your own production processes. Let’s review your requirements and current planning method together.