Step up from scheduling with wallboards or spreadsheets

"We invested six months of time and hundreds of man-hours in an MRP system guaranteed to work for us. But, based on our customer information and needs (bin number of parts and lot number of production runs), we had to make too many changes to our processes. As a result, we could not track the needed information throughout the MRP system.

We were not going to modify our processes in order to meet the needs of someones software. Just the opposite, we needed the software to meet the needs of our processes. MaxScheduler was the most natural fit."

This is typical customer feedback verifying the straightforward, solutions-oriented added value MaxScheduler scheduling software (www.maxscheduler.com) brings to job shops and other production businesses. "MaxScheduler is simplified, scheduling software for manufacturing," says general manager Peter Gadzinski. "MaxScheduler helps companies step up from spreadsheets, paper, or office-based wallboards to notably improve planning and operations throughout the shop. With MaxScheduler, you can easily import jobs and create a graphical schedule in minutes. The key to the software is ease of use. It lets you import job lists and create a straightforward graphical schedule in minutes using only a mouse to drag and drop. Whether in a web-based subscription or standalone PC license, the software sets up in minutes and is intuitive to install and run."

Enterprise systems (MRP and ERP) are great at tracking all the potential information about your business, often including a scheduling module, Gadzinski continues. But package inflexibility can make such modules poor matches to how you want to run your business. The systems may create a machine-focused schedule when you would like to schedule based on operator availability. MaxScheduler can fit these scenarios. It can fill the feature gap in existing MRP installations, meaning job information can be imported and the schedule created. The two systems can run side by side.

"Some of our customers even consider MaxScheduler to be a stripped-down, MRP system," Gadzinski adds. "This is because it gives a simple view of how current jobs are scheduled against resources, giving you a real time view of plant capacity - all achieved without the overhead of entering tons of other information that enterprise systems require."

The main screen in MaxScheduler shows a schedule in the top portion and a list view in the bottom. The list view shows jobs to be scheduled. Jobs are scheduled by using your mouse to drag jobs from the list view to their position on the schedule. Furthermore, the schedule for your business is protected by a log-in screen.

In short, MaxScheduler delivers two main features to job shops: the ability to create a schedule with ease, and the ability to share and communicate changes throughout the organization, including Work In Progress (WIP). "Cutting down on phone calls and wasteful status meetings can be a real bonus, as any business owner or sales manager can tell you. For example, sales staff can remotely check schedule status for themselves to confirm if the plant can handle a last-minute rush order. Furthermore, operators can update task status and conditions from the shop floor, so communications are two-way and up to date."

To return to the same customer: "Quantifying benefits isnt easy - but every member of the production team will state that we could not operate today without MaxScheduler. There have been numerous occasions where I have made the following statement to a customer: ‘If we have the requirements for your job, once we receive the parts and create a work order - your parts are scheduled on a machine within 4 hours. This is powerful."

MaxScheduler offers a free hour of scheduling software consultation, call us 416-702-7387. For more information, visit www.maxscheduler.com