Is Your Production Plan Realistic? Check the Bottleneck Load

A production plan is realistic when the required material, capable machines, skilled people and inspection time can support the planned quantity and sequence. Check the limiting work centre before committing the rest of the schedule.

Use the actual product mix. Eighty parts with a three-minute cycle and fifty parts with a four-minute cycle require different time, even on the same machine. Include their setups and the jobs already occupying the resource.

Calculate the available time and required load

This illustrative shift has 480 calendar minutes. A 30-minute break and 30 minutes of planned maintenance leave 420 available minutes. The two exclusions do not overlap. Assume the stated run times already represent the planning basis chosen for these jobs.

The shift is overloaded by 70 minutes before any additional loss. Do not hide the gap by removing setup time or applying a second unexplained efficiency factor. If historical performance requires a planning allowance, state what it covers and avoid counting the same loss twice.

Check the other release conditions

• Material: usable quantity, required unit and revision, quality status and timely incoming supply.
• Machine: capability, tooling, maintenance window and the preceding job.
• People: required skill, shift availability and competing assignments.
• Process: approved routing, setup, first-piece approval and any outside operation.
• Inspection: the inspector, method and time needed before the next stage or dispatch.

An alternative machine is useful only if it can run the route with the necessary tooling and people. Material arriving at the gate at 09:00 may still need receipt and inspection before it can support a 09:00 start. Use our material readiness checklist to retain those conditions.

Resolve the overload before making the promise

The planner can review sequence, split quantities, move a suitable job to another verified resource or arrange an authorised additional shift. Each option changes a constraint and needs a new load calculation. Record the chosen quantity, start, finish, owner and affected customer commitment.

Then compare actual start, setup, output and completion with that released plan. If setups repeatedly exceed the estimate, review the setup basis; if material is repeatedly late, keep the cause with the supply handoff. Combining all delay into a generic machine-efficiency percentage obscures the decision.

Plan and follow execution in Optiwise

Optiwise combines BOM requirements, stock and open supply through Smart Suggest, with machine calendars, shifts, worker skills and job allocation. Capture process entries by machine, worker, time and quantity, including rework and finished output. Planners can review the work and its constraints from connected records.

Frappe's work-order documentation is a primary reference for the general relationship between work orders, operations and material movement. The planning and control guide explains the feedback after release.

Questions from manufacturing teams

Should setup time be included in capacity?

Yes. Include each required setup or changeover in the resource load, using an explicit planning basis.

Does free machine time mean the job is ready?

No. Check material, tooling, skilled people, routing and inspection as well.

Should I use OEE as a capacity discount?

Only with a defined method that fits the planning data. Do not count losses already included in run times or calendar exclusions again.

Bring one shift plan to an Optiwise demo and follow its bottleneck, material requirement and released jobs.