Advanced Scenarios

This section describes advanced scenarios for using Manufacturing Planning Optimization in more complex production planning environments.

These scenarios are intended for planners and key users who already understand the basic MPO workflow: retrieving production orders, scheduling them, assigning proposed dates and times, and adjusting the underlying production orders once the plan has been reviewed. The Factory Planning page works as a worksheet-based buffer, meaning production orders are only updated when the Adjust action is executed.

Scenario 1: Optimizing Production by Planning Characteristics

Business Scenario

A manufacturer produces several products that require different setup, cleaning, or preparation activities. For example, products may need to be grouped by allergen group, product family, packaging type, or temperature requirement.

Instead of manually deciding the best production sequence, planners can use Planning Characteristics to group and sequence production orders in a more efficient way. MPO supports up to ten Planning Characteristics, which can be assigned to Items and SKUs and later used during scheduling.

Example

A bakery produces:

By grouping orders with similar Planning Characteristics, the planner can reduce unnecessary cleaning or changeover activities between production runs.

Recommended Process

1. Configure the required Planning Characteristics.
2. Assign Planning Characteristic Values to Items or SKUs.
3. Retrieve production orders into Factory Planning.
4. Use the Schedule action to organize lines according to planning logic.
5. Use the Assign action to calculate proposed start and end times.
6. Review the proposed sequence before applying it.
7. Use Adjust to update the Production Orders.

Expected Result

Production orders are sequenced in a more logical order, reducing downtime and improving production flow. The scheduling process uses Planning Characteristics and other attributes to minimize downtime, balance workload, and meet due dates.

Scenario 2: Managing Changeover Times Between Products

Business Scenario

Some production environments require additional time when switching between products, product families, or planning characteristics. This may include cleaning, tool changes, packaging changes, allergen controls, or temperature adjustments.

MPO supports this through the Changeover Matrix, which determines downtime between items or Planning Characteristics and is used during scheduling calculations.

Example

A production line manufactures dairy and non-dairy products. When switching from a dairy product to a non-dairy product, a cleaning activity is required.

Recommended Process

1. Define the Planning Characteristics that influence changeover requirements.
2. Configure the Changeover Matrix.
3. Retrieve production orders into Factory Planning.
4. Run Schedule to organize orders.
5. Run Assign to calculate production times including changeover impact.
6. Review the Changeover Time and related scheduling fields in Factory Planning.
7. Apply the plan using Adjust.

Expected Result

The production schedule reflects more realistic timing by considering the required transition time between production runs. Changeover times are displayed in Factory Planning and assigned by the matrix between operations.

Scenario 3: Planning Across Multiple Production Lines

Business Scenario

A company may operate several production lines that share similar capabilities but have different operating hours, preparation times, or planning rules.

MPO introduces Production Lines as dedicated planning entities. Each Production Line can have its own starting and ending times, preparation time, default optimization subperiod, and automatic split behavior.

Example

A manufacturer has three lines:

The planner can retrieve and optimize production orders by Production Line, allowing each line to be planned according to its own capacity and constraints.

Recommended Process

1. Create separate Production Lines for each relevant planning resource.
2. Define the daily starting and ending time for each line.
3. Configure preparation time and default optimization subperiod.
4. Assign Production Lines to the relevant routings.
5. Use Factory Planning filters to plan one or more Production Lines.
6. Retrieve, schedule, assign, and adjust production orders.

Expected Result

The planner can manage production capacity more accurately by scheduling production orders against the appropriate line instead of relying only on standard work center planning. Production Lines are designed to enhance planning by allowing operations to be scheduled based on the specific timing and configuration of each line.

Scenario 5: Manually Adjusting an Optimized Schedule

Business Scenario

Although MPO automates scheduling, planners may still need to override proposed results due to operational decisions, customer priorities, workforce availability, or unexpected constraints.

Factory Planning supports manual adjustments, allowing users to override system suggestions by setting manual dates and times.

Example

The system proposes Order A before Order B, but the planner knows that Order B must be produced first due to shipping requirements.

The planner can manually update the proposed planning information before applying the schedule.

Recommended Process

1. Retrieve and schedule production orders.
2. Run Assign to calculate proposed dates and times.
3. Review the proposed schedule.
4. Enter manual date or time overrides where required.
5. Validate capacity and sequencing impacts.
6. Run Adjust to apply the final plan.

Expected Result

The planner keeps control over the final schedule while still benefiting from automated sequencing and time calculation. Manual Date and Manual Time fields allow user-defined scheduling overrides in Factory Planning.

Scenario 6: Planning Maintenance Together with Production

Business Scenario

Production planning should consider planned downtime, preventive maintenance, or unavailable periods. If maintenance is not included in the planning process, production may be scheduled during unavailable time slots.

MPO supports maintenance-related configuration through the Maintenance Work Center, Maintenance Item, and maintenance routing setup. The Assisted Setup can also create default maintenance routings when the required information is available.

Example

A packaging line requires preventive maintenance every Friday morning. The planner needs this unavailable time to be considered before production orders are scheduled.

Recommended Process

1. Configure the Maintenance Work Center.
2. Configure the Maintenance Item.
3. Create or validate Maintenance Routings.
4. Include maintenance activities in the planning cycle.
5. Retrieve production demand into Factory Planning.
6. Review maintenance time together with production load.
7. Apply the optimized plan once validated.

Expected Result

Production and maintenance activities can be considered together, reducing the risk of planning production during unavailable periods. Factory Planning includes flags such as maintenance time and scheduled downtime to support this visibility.