PRODUCTION PLANNING
PRODUCTION PLANNING
Contract manufacturers with complex products need to monitor multiple processes simultaneously to plan and control their production. Manufacturers of multi-variant products need specialized AI-based software to control and optimize the entire production process.
The Challenge of Complexity
Manufacturers of multi-variant products ask themselves the following question every day How to plan complex production processes so that all orders are completed on time, economically, and with high quality? Short production cycles with minimal work-in-process and high on-time delivery are desirable. In reality, however, employees and machines are overworked and products are often not ready on time. In addition, long planning and coordination processes result in high costs
What is efficient production planning?
Efficient production planning must enable companies to plan production as an overall system, taking into account all boundary conditions. To do this, they must define an optimal sequence for all production processes and ensure that production runs smoothly. It should also be possible to create the production plan without time-consuming team meetings. Foremen and machine operators should be relieved of planning tasks. It should also be possible to integrate short-term "boss orders" into the planning process. In this way, companies can always give their customers reliable delivery dates.
Act instead of react
AI-based optimization of production planning ensures that all production processes are synchronized through intelligent processes. As a result, companies achieve cross-divisional planning transparency across production, purchasing, design, and sales. The system ensures that all processes are carried out as planned and that delivery deadlines are met. Specialized software calculates exactly when which production steps can realistically be scheduled with which resources and parts to be procured. Planners can accept or override these suggestions. Production has an accurate overview of the current status of all orders at all times.
Benefit: Intelligent Production Planning
Intelligent Production Planning links all departments involved in the processing of all orders. This tight integration ensures complete visibility, allowing each department to view and assess the current status of production.
An AI-based tool makes it possible to
- Provide reliable delivery dates;
- Implement demand-driven procurement;
- Implement an optimized material flow;
- Identify and avoid potential disruptions early on;
- Respond to unpredictable events.
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Production Planning
If you cook, you need good knives! It takes up to 50 production steps to make a knife. In this video, AI Catalyst Tyrone Castelanelli explains how manufacturers are using AI to organize them efficiently.
Successful and growing companies eventually reach a point where they need an intelligent planning system.
This is because such a tool can be tailored precisely to their production processes.
INFORM optimizes daily
> 20.4 million work sequences in production planning for contract and small series manufacturers.
Focus: Five Key Aspects of Production Planning for the Future
While machine and plant builders lead the world with their products, they are often less innovative when it comes to optimal production planning. Yet digital and intelligent solutions are critical to long-term success.
Companies need to address these five issues:
1. Many companies are still working with outdated planning methods that do not address the high level of complexity. What is needed is an industry-specific solution that addresses the unique challenges of the engineering industry.
2. To deliver on time, departmental thinking is counterproductive. What is needed is holistic planning. Modern, AI-based planning systems provide a comprehensive view of the entire value chain and coordinate tasks across departments and plants.
3. Data is the fuel of modern planning tools. A perfectly prepared data base is not necessary for a modern planning tool. Intelligent systems can optimize processes even with incomplete or incorrect data and improve data quality through transparent presentation.
4. the use of AI often raises the question of whether intelligent solutions will replace humans. However, such systems should support planners in their daily work and open up new possibilities for them. The goal is a combination of human skills and machine capabilities that leads to high-quality solutions.
5. Using resources efficiently, reducing CO2 emissions, and minimizing environmental impact have long been essential principles in mechanical engineering. With AI-based and predictive planning, machine builders can avoid expensive and polluting express deliveries, optimize their inventories and reduce their energy consumption.
