Need template for Just In Time production schedule

[M Skabialka]

We are planning to deploy some products out to field sites at about 1 - 5 a
month until they have what they need, then move to the next site. We have
to manufacture these products ahead of time, and need a year's notice of how
many they need each month so we can do Just In Time production.

I am guessing that Project would be ideal for recording how many are needed
where and when, but most of the templates at Microsoft have actions for each
step, while I need numbers of products. I have never seen, let alone tried
Project before, so does anyone know of an example of what I need so I can
get an idea of how this works? We have a copy of Project 2000 not being
used, and if this works we will probably get the latest version.

Thanks,
Mich

 

[Rod Gill]

Project is a scheduling tool for tasks needed to deliver projects. It is not
best suited to production scheduling. In your scenario it looks like you
need some operations research type analysis first.

JIT production sounds good, but what's the cost of 1 days delay at each site
and what's the cost per day of finishing production a day early? From that
you can calculate just how soon is cheapest. For example it may turn out
that the cheapest option may be a 1 month stockpile of goods as the cost of
being a day late is so high (resource, opportunity and penalty costs etc.)

Initially I would use Excel to create a production schedule. Proejct can do
part of what you want, but if you do not know how to drive Project well you
may potentially get misleading answers from it.

--

Rod Gill
Project MVP

Project VBA Book, for details visit:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

NEW!! Web based VBA training course delivered by me. For details visit:
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[M Skabialka]

We have it in Excel, but it looks like Project, with dates at the top and
field sites at the left. The data is the numbers of items to be fielded in
a particular month, then we backtrack for production time.
eg
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Site1 Manuf 2 4 1
Site1 Fielding 2 4 1
Site2 Manuf 1 3 2
Site2 Fielding 1 3 2


This is very simplified of course, but yes we do need to be able to insert
delays which will effect subsequent manufacture or fielding. This requires
lots of cut/paste in Excel which is why I though Project might work better.
Cost is worked in a separate system, so is irrelevant to this. We are
scheduling the installer's time. The items must be produced and delievered
so they are in place for installation at the same time that he is free at
that location.

I am not sure why production scheduling is not a good fit for Project as you
infer. Isn't a schedule of tasks the same thing as a schedule of
deliverables?

A sample would give us an idea of how to make it work, so we can get out
first understanding of the concept of the differences between Excel and
Project. Is there one available?

Thanks,
Mich

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

For years I've been trying to explain to Project gurus that production is a
set of tasks, and thus Project's tasks and resources handling may be an
excellent fit for workshop scheduling, as you suggest.
Alas, not all production scheduling is tasks scheduling, and Project isn't
fit for all task scheduling.

For starters, Production planning has two distinct aspects: Requirements
planning, dealing with HOW MANY for when, and Workshop scheduling, where the
how many is solved, and the question is simply WHEN, taken into acccount
machine capacity.

Project is completely out of the game when requirements planning is
concerned, completely, totally.
You can't even tell Project how many of an item you have in store, let alone
plan replenishment etc.

Where Project does more or less match production planning is when indeed the
tasks to plan look like "a project": a unique undertaking with defined
results, and a beginning and an end. This is the case for the production of
individual orders (as opposed to serial production); in fact, some
production management software will refer to Project as the ideal tool to do
it (only very few production management packages have this scheduling logic
built in).

Why I did not react to your first call for help and why I'm still reluctant
to dive into your problem is that is smells requirements planning rather
that shop scheduling to me, indeed quoting from your original post:

"most of the templates at Microsoft have actions for each step, while I need
numbers of products. "

In your second post you start mentioning tasks... a completely different
world!

Greetings,

 

[M Skabialka]

The small chart I provided has most of the information we need - if we tell
the manufacturer we need 4 widgets in May, and it takes them 3 months to
make it then we need to know to notify them to start making 4 of them in
February. How many they have in stock, or what their process is, is not our
problem. We order - they deliver - we install. The only thing that might
affect the timeline is if there is a problem in an installation and it takes
longer, so all subsequent installs are delayed. So we start ordering the
next ones later. The tasks would be "Order 4 widgets in May", "Install 2
widgets in June". I can only foresee dates, places and numbers.

Is this not what Project was designed for also?

Mich

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

OK, send me a mail to jandemesATprom-ade.be and I'll send you a small
template.
Greetings,

 

[M Skabialka]

Mail sent yesterday, thanks

OK, send me a mail to jandemesATprom-ade.be and I'll send you a small
template.
Greetings,