The fine art of scheduling

MIETrak Pro production control software from MIE Solutions offers a number of different scheduling types with the most commonly used approach being finite, forward planning in the form of the system’s Advanced Planning Scheduling (APS).

The systems APS offers users a comprehensive yet intuitive interface to plan workloads on the shopfloor for coming days, weeks and months. The development team at MIE Solutions has always strived to improve the system in all areas, taking into account continued feedback from over 10,000 users worldwide.

Legacy systems would often only have the functionality to look at a single resource, whether that be based around machinery or personnel. However, the reality is that in a lot of environments, both of these need to be considered simultaneously in order to truly simulate what is possible in terms of production output on the shopfloor. Furthermore, taking into account the expected delivery dates of job specific purchase orders further adds to the realism with the effect it has on when work can be started.

Two of the most recent additions to the systems scheduling module are the ability to link employees to specific machines and to automatically reschedule the APS throughout the day.

Previously, MIETrak Pro handled linking employees to work centres where, as an example, users could define that three individuals were trained and qualified to work in a 5-axis machining work centre. This centre may comprise three different types of machine, and so based on customer feedback, the development team added a further layer to this whereby, should they choose, users can link employees to specific machines based on their distinct skill set.

Sam Hawkes, sales director at MIE explains why this additional level of functionality was developed: “This feature was widely requested by many machine shops due to the diverse range of machines available on the market, each of which have different controller interfaces and set-up procedures.

“Our aim is to develop the scheduling module to be as close to reality as possible in order to allow users to plan accurately, and this functionality is very much a factor that needs to be considered.”

The procedure of advanced planning requires a simulation to take place in order to plan and prioritise all outstanding work that still needs to be manufactured. Previously, this had to be actioned by a user, most commonly at least once a day in order to update existing work and account for new work that had since been added into the system.

MIE Solutions identified this as a task that could be automated and so as a result, added an auto-run function which schedules the APS at set times throughout the day without the need for any human intervention.

Technical director Chris Mann explains how this will benefit users: “Automation and software come hand in hand and so anything that can be automated can lead to efficiency improvements throughout a business. The addition of the APS auto-run removes the burden from the user and also ensures that the production plan is up to date for the benefit of the shopfloor, with the latter being beneficial for companies who work out of hours shifts where there might not be anyone in the office to carry out the task manually.”

MIE Solutions www.mie-solutions.co.uk