Contact Us
Contact us

Operational Excellence

Production Scheduling Optimization

Applying deep expertise in manufacturing and supply chain, IPM can tailor advanced planning and scheduling software to your operation, reducing costs, inventory levels, and changeover complexity. 

aluminum cans on a production line at a manufacturing facility

Overview

Advanced planning and scheduling can help manufacturers improve productivity and margins and get more from their existing equipment and workforce. But balancing inventory and customer demand can be a challenge on a good day. When raw material and skilled labor are in short supply, and SKU proliferation and unscheduled break-ins continue to rise, it’s even more difficult. 

IPM consultants can help by assessing your operation and tailoring state-of-the-art scheduling software to your unique needs. With deep expertise in manufacturing and supply chain, we understand the tradeoffs you make every day between your well-thought-out production schedule and the short runs due to raw material shortages, customer-requested rush jobs, and unplanned downtime.  

Optimize your production schedule

First, we’ll work with your team, from staff on the line to senior management, to understand and map your products, processes, and priorities. Then, working with a production scheduling optimization solution, we’ll apply best practices to develop a product wheel that suits your specific business needs. A product wheel sequences production efficiently, optimizing run lengths and minimizing line changeovers. While the configured software provides an efficient and reliable production schedule, it also lets you run scenarios to optimize break-ins and evaluate potential long-term changes.  

IPM’s expert consultants will: 

  • Join you on-site to understand your operations and work directly with stakeholders from the plant floor to the management office to learn challenges and uncover opportunities. 
  • Create custom rules to drive your unique product wheel, incorporating best practices. 
  • Personalize the user experience and easily integrate a production scheduling optimization solution with existing ERP and planning systems. 
  • Lead your team through testing, training, and deployment, followed by post-deployment iteration and support. 

The result: More effective changeovers and break-ins mean you’ll improve productivity and unlock capacity from your existing equipment and labor. With the ability to set and adjust inventory, you can reliably meet customer service targets. The increased throughput and lower costs, including from reduced inventory levels, will drive up margins. And with smarter, faster decision-making, you will be more resilient to better manage unexpected disruptions. 

Count on IPM to help you drive production efficiency

IPM consultants bring expertise in manufacturing and supply chain, as well as technology implementation, to the table. We’ve led hundreds of manufacturing improvement and supply chain projects, and we have more than 30 lean/six sigma-certified consultants as well as those with APICS and plant engineering certifications.  

Leverage our tools, skills, and experience to maximize capacity and yield, minimize the impact of changeovers and other downtime, and decrease inventory costs. 

 

Insights

Cookies on a manufacturing production line

ARTICLE

Discover Untapped Value in Your Production Processes

There is likely untapped value—such as underutilized resources or inefficient procedures—within your current production processes, equipment, and workforce. If you make it a priority to analyze data and observe processes firsthand, you’ll find bottlenecks, unexpected sources of downtime, and unrealized capacity.

Read More

Contact

Our Experts

Jason Bonnet IPM Managing Director

Jason Bonnet

Managing Director, Consumer Products

contact our experts
Aaron Burger IPM Director

Aaron Burger

Director

contact our experts
Sean Kilroy IPM Director

Sean Kilroy

Director

contact our experts
Matthew Wilson IPM Senior Consultant

Matt Wilson

Senior Consultant

contact our experts

Interested in learning how IPM can help optimize your production schedule?

Start a conversation