Planning and scheduling process inputs and flow chart.

TACTIC Software Concepts for Planning and Scheduling

Planning and scheduling in manufacturing and production environments is about deciding what orders should be worked on, in what sequence (e.g., priority), with what limited capacity (e.g., machines, tools, and labor) and limited material (e.g., on-hand and promised), and at what time.

As new orders, problems, and changes occur, what-if problem solving is the iterative process of rescheduling to see adverse effects, trying what-if ideas (e.g., change priority, capacity, or material allocation) to reduce the negative impact, and comparing schedules to decide the best course of action.

Tactic planning and scheduling software manages, compares and analyzes these “what-ifs”, to help you determine the best course of action.

What-If Tool for Production Planning and Scheduling

Many factors can affect decisions that try to balance what’s good for customers with what’s good for business. Our TACTIC software can handle some decisions efficiently, you can handle other decisions effectively, and there are decisions that are best reached by interacting with TACTIC.

TACTIC is a visual interactive what-if tool. It allows you to quickly combine formal data (e.g., orders, routings, inventory, bills, and capacity limits) and intuition (e.g., what-if ideas) to create detailed schedules. It lets you visualize problems, and interactively investigate, change, and add data to find the best what-if ideas to resolve problems.

TACTIC planning and scheduling software uses your computer for the mechanics of planning and scheduling. That is, calculating elapsed times, checking lists of what is available and what is allocated, and ensuring that production is scheduled in the proper sequence.

A Visual Tool for Planning and Scheduling for Manufacturers

TACTIC gives you visual feedback on schedules using Gantt charts, tables, and comparison graphs. TACTIC calculates violations (e.g., late orders) and their causes (e.g., bottlenecked machines). It also recommends one or more actions (e.g., add more labor) to correct the violations. You can then try the corrective actions as different what-if changes, reschedule, and see if the changes resolved the violations. The flexibility of viewing various future outcomes and selecting the best “what-if” is a highlights of this robust planning & scheduling software solution!

For example, working overtime OR outsourcing production might be two alternative courses of action to resolve a late order. You might try both your what-if ideas in the software. You can then compare the two what-ifs  – analyzing various business metrics (e.g., profit, utilization, on-time delivery), and then selecting the best alternative.

The TACTIC screen below shows graphs of three different business metrics. Two different what-if scenarios are plotted on each.

Planning and Scheduling Software Charts and Graphs

Ready to see Waterloo’s “what-if” engine at work to plot the best scenario for your next production run? Schedule a no-strings demo here of TACTIC and see for yourselves what our planning and scheduling software can do for your business.