• Is your company manufacturing / commissioning complex products that require numerous activities before you can start 'cutting metal'?

• Are identical orders the exception?

• Do you need better tools to monitor each order and recognize emerging problems before they become  emergencies?

• Have high costs and/or insufficient standard data like Bills of Materials and Bills of Labor prevented you from acquiring such tools in the past?

Owl Database Application's Scheduling Software for small and medium sized companies is the answer for these problems. It's extremely flexible, easy-to-use design allows you to adjust the program to your reality. And it is priced to pay for itself within months. 

Set-up starts with defining the tasks (steps, operations, activities) you want to monitor, including assigning each task to a specific Department, Phase and 'Gate' (or milestone). At the same time, you have to declare the preceding tasks each task needs completed before it can be 'started' (e.g. parts have to be ordered before they can be received) plus its duration (lead time) in work-days.

The program allows for up to 999 tasks, and very few limitations apply on how you set them up. A 'Where-Used' report for each task facilitates easy changes later on

 

Using the just defined tasks, the routers for each phase can now be programmed

With a click, each router can be checked if it is 'closed' (each task needs at least one previous and one subsequent task) within the phase

 

The software is designed to define equipment options and assign additional tasks (if required) for each of them. These Option-Routers will be overlaid to the regular tasks when configuring an order.

 

Configuring an Order

Once the set-up is complete, each order can be configured, i.e. select the Options, the applicable Routers plus define a buffer between the phases

After all the necessary selections are made, the order has to be 'Configured' (create the necessary data automatically). It has then to be checked if the routing (with the inclusion of the options) is 'closed' (uninterrupted continuity within the Phases). Based on the 'Duration' of each task, the program can now calculate the dates for each task and indicate the earliest completion date (when starting today).

 

The program can now calculate the planned start- and end dates for each task based on the entered 'Planned Completion Date'. These dates can be manually overwritten or recalculated at any time.

 

As the orders move through the processes, the scheduled- and actual completion dates have to be entered. To reduce the possibility of mistakes, the tasks are shown by Department and Shop-Order number. Entering an actual date means the task is complete.

 

The software includes a form that shows the priorities (open tasks) for each department, sorted by planned completion date.

The form also indicates for each task if it is late and by how much. Drill down capability allows to quickly look up the status of the immediately preceding task(s)

As underlying document for a scheduling meeting, a report with this information for each department can be printed.