Master production scheduling module is designed to enable companies to have total control over
how to best utilize their resources while matching demand and supply; keeping in mind that the
objectives may change with respect to the current business needs or even seasonality.
One of the strongest aspects of NovaLab’s planning software xS Planner’s master production
scheduling solution is its speed and interactivity which allows planners to explore different scenarios
and perform what-if analyses quickly. An important strength of this module is the built-in restricted
resource capability. That is, while generating master production schedules, the system takes into
account of the capacity restrictions of all related resources such as machines, molds, operators etc.
The system also has the capability to change the planning horizon length and resolution (such as
weekly or monthly) as well as which forecasts and/or customer orders to be considered which allows
a planner to balance how myopic the system should behave with respect to current customer orders
versus the forecasts, which may be open to many changes.
The objective of this system is not to sequence the operations of the required production over the
resources, but to determine the best mix of products and quantities to be manufactured to serve
tactical objectives of the company optimally.
The system allows for fully automated or semi-automated decision making. That is, if a planner wants
to change the recommended quantities of some of the products, the system can repair the rest of
the plan to best match the firmed decisions.
The module has supporting functionality such as dynamic material requirements view, warning
generation mechanism, dashboards for KPIs and resource utilization charts to better interpret results
and support decision making.