See what PFM has in store:
Protect Commitments
Shop Floor Scheduling Made Easy
Optimize Resources
Maximize Throughput
Optimize Jobs of All Sizes
Eliminate Expediting
Reliable Delivery Dates
Increase Profitability
Real-Time Shop Floor Execution
Integration with Existing Production Planning Systems
Manufacturing Predictive Analytics
Real-Time Reporting
Precise Production Line Routing
Visual Dashboards
Protective Time Buffers
Mobile Access
The results were immediate. We went from four weeks late to three weeks late to two weeks late to one week late. And now, I can look out one month and see that we’re going to be one day, two days late on this job, but on time for that job.
We don’t "kick" all of the jobs to the shop floor at once like we used to. Putting too many jobs onto the shop floor prematurely burns up machine time. You utilize capacity before it needs to be used by putting all the jobs out on the shop floor at once.
In the first couple months using PFM, our concentration was to just get rid of the backlog of late orders. Now, since February 2018, we’ve run four months in a row where we’ve been 90% or better on time with all of the orders coming through the door. That’s a dramatic turnaround!
Aerospace & Defense
- Engineering with CAD integration
- Engineering change control
- Specifications and data "flow down" for ITAR, DFAR, etc.
- Actual job costing
- Project Management with Earned Value Management and milestone reporting
Automotive Manufacturing
- Configuration management
- Serial and lot control
- Design and engineering
- Capacity planning & scheduling (Lean, TOC, JIT)
- Actual costing
Electronics & High-Tech
- Alternate item on bill of materials (BOM)
- Item cross reference (supplier and manufacturer)
- Approved vendors and manufacturer lists
- Supply chain visibility with Web based portals
- Reference designators
Energy Manufacturing
- Strengthen Your Supply Chain
- Sophisticated Project Management
- Connect Service Efforts to Operations
- Localization & Financial Accounting Visibility
Field Service, Maintenance & Repair
- Improve Customer Satisfaction & First Time Fix Rate
- Reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)
- Optimize Routing of Field Service Techs
- Support for Depot Repair, Break-Fix & More
- Offer Managed Service Contracts
Furniture & Fixtures
- Industry Expert Partners
- Increase Quote Win Rate
- Improve Planning & Scheduling
- Cut Operational Costs
- Shorten Product Development Lifecycles
History of Production Control
Learn MoreIndustrial Equipment & Machinery
- Win More Business
- Meet Customer Delivery Expectations
- Increase Velocity of Spare Part Sales
- Collaborate With Suppliers & Customers
- Leave Your Competitors Behind
Industrial Manufacturing
Learn More- End-to-end customer relationship, sales, purchasing, performance, and financial management
- Estimating with multiple quantity breaks
- Integrated capacity planning (Lean, TOC, JIT) with unlimited "what-if" scenarios
- Material planning with real-time visibility of demand and supply
- Cost control (actual, average, standard)
Medical Device Manufacturing
- End-to-end customer relationship, sales, purchasing, performance, and financial management
- Estimating with multiple quantity breaks
- Integrated capacity planning (Lean, TOC, JIT) with unlimited "what-if" scenarios
- Material planning with real-time visibility of demand and supply
- Cost control (actual, average, standard)
Metal, Glass, & Plastic Fabrication
- Purpose-Built ERP
- Estimate with Confidence
- Improve Delivery Performance
- Paperless Real-Time Shop Floor Data Collection
- The Right Materials at the Right Time
Process Manufacturing
- Flexible Formula Management
- Stay On Top of Quality Requirements & Regulations
- Build a Better Batch
- Lot Recall
- Process Workbench
Production Planning and Scheduling FAQs
Q: What is production planning?
A: Production planning refers to the process by which manufacturers allocate resources — including raw materials, employees, and production capacity — to meet the requirements of incoming work orders.
Q: Why are production planning and scheduling important?
A: Production planning and scheduling are essential to ensuring proper resource allocation, completing work on time, and meeting customer commitments.
Q: What are the main things to consider when scheduling production?
A: When scheduling production, it’s important to consider raw materials, available inventory, production capacity, employee skill levels, forecasted demand, and due dates, as well as other variables that can crop up during a job.
Q: Why is Excel and other spreadsheet-based software insufficient for production planning and scheduling?
A: Although Excel and other manual forms of shop floor scheduling are affordable and pose a relatively low barrier to entry, using spreadsheets for production planning and scheduling is labor intensive and error prone. Excel and other spreadsheet-based software do not offer true dynamic capacity management, meaning manual schedules quickly become outdated. By comparison, PFM uses dynamic capacity management, so your employees can trust that all schedules are up to date and accurate.
Q: Why is QuickBooks insufficient for production planning and scheduling?
A: Although QuickBooks Enterprise for Manufacturing & Wholesale is a popular production scheduling software solution, it doesn’t enable you to convert raw material levels into finished product stock. Additionally, QuickBooks is unable to account for variability on the shop floor — such as workers calling out sick, machinery breaking down, and so on — the same way that PFM does.
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