Production Schedule Optimizer agent
Orders work orders by shortest processing time, as a suggestion for a planner to adopt.
Validated with each clientWhat does Production Schedule Optimizer replace? The work of a production planner: plan the production schedule. Orders work orders by shortest processing time, as a suggestion for a planner to adopt.
Shows why
It shows its reasons and how sure it is on every draft. When it is not sure, it only brings the item to your attention.
Waits for you
Nothing is filed, paid or posted until a person approves it.
Gets reviewed
Every approval and correction is recorded, so you can see how it performs on your own books.
A day with this agent
A 40-person fabrication unit. The planner releases work orders in the afternoon and decides the order of work for the next morning.
- Work orders are released. Each one carries its operations, such as cutting, welding and finishing, with planned minutes against each.
- Once a day, early morning, Kinnow adds up the minutes. The routine is set to run at 5 am in your time zone. It takes every released work order and adds the planned minutes of its operations.
- It lists them shortest first. Doing the quickest jobs first is a standard way to bring down the average lateness of a queue.
- Orders with no operations are set aside. An order with no routing is not a zero-hour job. It is left out of the sequence and named in a note, so nobody mistakes a partial list for a plan for the whole shop.
- The planner sees a suggestion. It lists the work order numbers in the proposed order, with the reason "shortest-processing-time ordering".
- The planner decides. Follow it, change it, or ignore it. The agent does not reorder or reschedule any work order.
See tomorrow's queue sorted from your own work orders.
What it reads and what it hands back
| What it reads | What it hands back | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| Released work orders and the planned minutes of each operation | A suggested order of work order numbers | In Make, as a suggestion for the planner |
| Work orders with no operations listed | A note naming them (up to five) and saying they were not sequenced | With the suggestion |
What a person decides
Nothing is filed, paid or posted without a person. The sequence is advice, and the planner owns the shop floor.
- Whether to follow it. The planner adopts the order, changes it or leaves it.
- Routing. You decide which operations and planned minutes each work order carries. The suggestion is only as good as those figures.
- What it never does. It does not release, reschedule or reorder a work order by itself.
Ask Kinnow about this
Questions an owner or plant head would type. Each answer shows where the figures came from.
- "Which work orders are released but not yet started?" Shows the list with work order numbers.
- "Which released orders have no routing?" Shows the orders the suggestion could not place.
- "How many planned hours are released for the coming week?" Shows the total and the orders behind it.
Bring one week of released work orders and see the suggested sequence.
Works with
This agent belongs to the Make application and is used in manufacturing. Related: BOM Variance for material use against the bill of materials, and the glossary entry on material requirements planning.
Questions
What does the Production Schedule Optimizer agent do?
Orders work orders by shortest processing time, as a suggestion for a planner to adopt.
Who decides the production schedule?
The planner. The agent suggests an order by shortest processing time, and the planner chooses whether to adopt it.
Does it take account of due dates or machine capacity?
No. It orders by the length of the work only. Due dates, machine capacity and material availability are for the planner to weigh.
What happens to a work order with no operations listed?
It is not placed in the sequence. The suggestion carries a note naming such orders, because their length is unknown, not zero.
Does Production Schedule Optimizer get better with use?
Kinnow records each approval, correction and rejection against the confidence the agent stated, so you can see whether "sure" really means sure on your own work orders. That is a measurement for you to read. The agent does not rewrite its own behaviour from it.
How is it paid for?
It is part of your agent pack, and there is no charge per user.
Tell Kinnow what slows you down.
Answer three questions. Get the applications, the agents and a two-week plan for your business.