Weekly scheduling in under a minute, instead of several hours
Weekly production scheduling is one of the most time-consuming tasks in manufacturing. With PLEXecute, you create an optimized schedule in seconds that considers equipment, personnel and orders, while maintaining full control for manual adjustments.
< 1 Min
Scheduling Time
Instead of hours
100%
Visibility
All resources at a glance
0
Missed Conflicts
Automatic detection
The Problem with Manual Production Scheduling
Every Monday morning, the same ritual begins in manufacturing facilities: The department managers and planners open different ERP systems, Excel, call the workshop, review shift schedules and juggle delivery dates. After two to four hours of intensive work, the weekly plan is ready, at least theoretically. Because as soon as the scheduling is done, the first changes arrive: A rush order from an important customer, a sick leave notification, a broken machine. The laboriously created schedule becomes obsolete within hours.
Production managers know this situation all too well. Manual scheduling in spreadsheets or even on paper is not just time-consuming, it's also error-prone and inflexible. Conflicts in equipment or personnel assignments are only discovered when problems arise on the shop floor. And every change requires manually reworking the entire schedule.
1
The Time Drain of Weekly Scheduling
Creating a complete weekly schedule consumes valuable working hours that are missing for strategic tasks. Production managers spend an average of 4-8 hours per week on manual scheduling: time that's missing for process optimization, employee development, or quality improvements.
2
Constant Changes Destroy the Plan
No plan survives contact with reality. Sick notifications early in the morning, rush orders on Friday afternoon, unexpected machine breakdowns: production scheduling must constantly be adjusted. With manual scheduling, every change means going back to the desk, checking all dependencies, and informing affected employees.
3
Hidden Conflicts and Overlaps
Complex production schedules hide errors that aren't visible on paper. One machine is not assigned to any employee. Orders compete with a maintenance for the same machine in the same time slot. These conflicts are often only discovered on the shop floor.
4
No Complete Overview of All Resources
Where is which employee working when? Which machine is occupied when? Which orders are critical for delivery dates? With manual scheduling, answering these questions requires searching through various lists, tables, and notes.
How Intelligent Scheduling Works
PLEXecute takes a fundamentally different approach than manual scheduling or rigid standard software. The system combines automatic optimization with full manual control. You specify what needs to be scheduled and the system finds the best way to implement these requirements.
This hybrid approach solves the core problem of previous planning solutions: Fully automatic systems take control away from the planner, purely manual scheduling is too slow and error-prone. PLEXecute combines the speed of automatic optimization with the flexibility of human decisions.
1
Define Orders and Parameters
The scheduling process begins with entering orders. These can be captured directly in PLEXecute or automatically imported from your ERP system. For each order, you define the essential parameters: What needs to be produced? How much? When is the delivery deadline?
2
Start Automatic Optimization
With one click, automatic scheduling starts. The system considers all available information: machine capacities, employee qualifications and availability, shift models, already fixed orders, planned maintenance. Within seconds, thousands of possible scheduling variants are calculated.
3
Review and Understand the Optimized Schedule
The result is a complete weekly schedule in a clear display. Each order is assigned to a machine and time slot, the required personnel is scheduled. Color coding shows status at a glance: blue for ongoing orders, green for finished orders, red for critical conflicts.
4
Manually Adjust as Needed
This is where the strength of the hybrid approach shows: You can manually intervene at any time. Fix a specific order on a specific machine. Block a machine for an unexpected repair. Update a process with current delays. The system respects all your decisions and optimizes the rest around your specifications.
Before
After
Excel - ProductionPlan_v47_final_NEW.xlsx
| Batch | Type | Equipment | Product | Start | End | Duration (h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batch-1 | Production | Skid 1 | Product A | 01:00 | 04:00 | 3.0 |
| Filling | Line 2 | Product A | 05:00 | 09:00 | 4.0 | |
| Batch-2 | Production | Skid 3 | Product B | 02:00 | 09:00 | 7.0 |
| Filling | Line 1 | Product B | 11:00 | 20:00 | 9.0 | |
| Batch-3 | Production | Skid 2 | Product C | 03:00 | 08:00 | 5.0 |
| Format Change | Line 3 | - | 10:00 | 14:00 | 4.0 | |
| Filling | Line 2 | Product C | 15:00 | 23:00 | 8.0 | |
| Batch-4 | Production | Skid 5 | Product D | 03:00 | 10:00 | 7.0 |
| Intervention | Line 2 | - | 11:00 | 17:00 | 6.0 | |
| Filling | Line 5 | Product D | 18:00 | 22:00 | 4.0 | |
| Batch-5 | Production | Skid 4 | Product E | 04:00 | 11:00 | 7.0 |
| Filling | Line 4 | Product E | 13:00 | 21:00 | 8.0 | |
| Batch-6 | Filling | Line 3 | Product C | 05:00 | 20:00 | 15.0 |
| Batch-7 | Production | Skid 3 | Product C | 12:00 | 22:00 | 10.0 |
| Batch-8 | Intervention | Line 4 | - | 11:00 | 15:30 | 4.5 |
| Filling | Line 6 | Product E | 16:00 | 23:30 | 7.5 |
Typical Excel scheduling: Confusing, error-prone, time-consuming
PLEXecute: Clear, automatically optimized, adjustable anytime
Concrete Benefits for Your Operation
Dramatic Time Savings in Scheduling
The most obvious improvement concerns scheduling time itself. What previously took several hours, PLEXecute completes in under a minute. But the time savings go far beyond that: Every change, every adjustment, every rescheduling also happens in seconds instead of hours.
The use of PLEXecute allows production managers to have time again for the tasks that should actually be at the center of their work: process optimization, employee development, quality improvement, strategic planning.
Flexibility with Simultaneous Structure
A common prejudice against automatic scheduling is: "The system takes control away from me." With PLEXecute, the opposite is true. The system delivers an optimized suggestion, but you retain full decision-making authority.
This flexibility is crucial for everyday acceptance. Production scheduling is not a purely mathematical task. There's experiential knowledge, customer preferences, and internal agreements: factors that no system can fully capture.
Detect Conflicts Before They Occur
Overlaps, double bookings, forgotten dependencies: these scheduling errors cost time and money in production. PLEXecute automatically detects conflicts and alerts you before the plan goes into implementation.
Automatic conflict detection is not only active during initial plan creation but also with every change. During master data changes the system immediately shows what impact this has on all ressources and the schedule.
One View for Everything
PLEXecute unifies equipment, personnel, and orders in an integrated view. You see at a glance: Which machine is occupied when? Who is working where? Which orders are critical for delivery dates?
The integrated view has another advantage: Changes in one place immediately become visible in all dependent areas. This transparency not only speeds up scheduling but also improves decision quality.
>0%
Time Savings
In weekly schedule creation
<120min
Calculation Time
For a complete weekly schedule
45
Conflicts
Overlooked problems
0%
Transparency
For all stakeholders
Real-World Examples from Production
Theory is important, but how does intelligent scheduling work in practice? The following scenarios show concrete situations from everyday production and how PLEXecute provides support.
The Situation
Friday afternoon, 3:00 PM. Sales calls: An important customer urgently needs a delivery by Wednesday next week. The schedule for the coming week is already set. The affected machine is fully booked, employees are assigned.
Without PLEXecute
The production manager begins manual rescheduling. Which orders can be postponed? Do the necessary employees have the qualifications? Hour after hour passes with phone calls, checks, and recalculations.
With PLEXecute
The new order is entered with high priority. One click starts rescheduling. The system calculates all options in seconds and delivers a complete, conflict-free schedule including all necessary shifts.
The Result
Instead of hours of rescheduling on Friday evening, the new situation is clarified in minutes. The rush order is scheduled, the impact on other orders is transparent, all stakeholders are informed.
The Situation
Monday, 6:30 AM. Two early shift employees call in sick. One of them is assigned to a critical machine running an urgent order. The day's schedule is at risk.
Without PLEXecute
Hectic phone calls begin. Who can fill in on short notice? Does the replacement have the necessary qualifications? The first hours of the workday are lost to crisis management.
With PLEXecute
Both employees are marked as unavailable. The system immediately shows affected orders and suggests qualified replacement employees who are available.
The Result
The situation is clarified within minutes. The critical order continues, less urgent orders have been adjusted, everyone knows what to do.
The Situation
Maintenance reports: Machine 3 needs to be serviced for two days next week. The maintenance is necessary and cannot be postponed. Several orders are scheduled for Machine 3.
Without PLEXecute
The production manager manually reviews all orders. Which products can also be manufactured on other machines? The risk of overlooking dependencies is high.
With PLEXecute
The maintenance period is blocked in the system. One click on "Reschedule" starts automatic redistribution to the remaining machines.
The Result
Maintenance planning without hours of order juggling. The redistribution is conflict-free, all delivery dates are met, capacities are optimally utilized.
For Decision Makers: What's Behind It?
Behind PLEXecute's simple user interface works a sophisticated optimization system. Over 40+ adjustable parameters control how scheduling is calculated: from prioritizing delivery dates to weighting employee qualifications to minimizing shift changes. These parameters are configured together with you to map the specifics of your operation.
Integration with Existing Systems
PLEXecute is not an isolated system. Orders can be automatically imported from your ERP system. The finished schedule can be transferred to downstream systems. The interfaces are open and documented, so integration into your existing IT landscape is easily possible.
Frequently Asked Questions About Intelligent Scheduling
Yes, PLEXecute can connect with common ERP systems. Orders, master data, and other relevant information can be automatically imported. The exact connection depends on your specific system. In a personal conversation, we'll clarify what options exist for your situation.
On the contrary. PLEXecute delivers an optimized suggestion, but you retain full decision-making authority. You can always fix individual orders, manually set times, block machines, or assign personnel. The system respects all your decisions and optimizes the rest around them.
Most operations are productive within 2-4 months. The exact duration depends on the complexity of your production and the scope of desired integration. We support you throughout the entire implementation: from initial setup through data migration to training your employees.
Changes are part of everyday production. PLEXecute is designed for this: Every change, whether a new order, sick leave, or machine failure, can be captured in the system with a few clicks. Automatic rescheduling immediately shows all impacts and suggests optimized adjustments.
PLEXecute was originally developed for process industries, especially for operations with batch production, recipe management, and complex personnel requirements. The system is particularly suitable for industries such as food and beverage production, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and similar process industries.
Ready to Transform Your Production Scheduling?
See in a personal demo how PLEXecute would work in your operation. No generic presentations, but a production insight.