The schedule breaks at the first breakdown
One solver for allocation and sequencing, schedule repair when a line stops, and shortfalls caught before they reach the line.
What goes wrong today
The production plan is a spreadsheet that a planner rebuilds every week and patches by phone every day.
Volume is split across lines, plants and co-packers by hand, juggling MOQ, truck fill and changeovers. When a machine stops or a rush order lands, nobody can say quickly what moves and what will be late.
Material shortfalls surface when the line is already waiting. The PO is raised late and chased by phone, and the supplier's dispatch status is a guess. Downtime is reported at month end and argued about, so the same loss repeats.
Why existing approaches fall short
- ERP production planning assumes fixed lead times or unlimited capacity, so its schedule is out of date at the first breakdown.
- Spreadsheet sequencing cannot weigh changeover cost, MOQ and truck fill together across many lines and vendors.
- OEE dashboards report the loss after the fact, without the cause chain or the next decision.
How FLX4 addresses it
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OpsNest uses one optimization model to split demand across lines, plants and co-packers within MOQ, truck-fill, changeover and capacity limits, and explains each split. A stage-by-stage scheduler with shift calendars repairs the plan when something changes. It locks the near term, moves only the affected jobs, and shows which jobs moved and which are now late before anyone accepts it.
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A nightly check compares scheduled consumption with stock and open POs and drafts a PO for any shortfall. Downtime events arrive by file or webhook and feed OEE, a loss tree and anomaly flags with their evidence. A root-cause engine builds a cause chain that cites the events behind it. Industry packs add mill grade changes and deckle trim, sewing-line balance, and FMCG batch and shelf-life rules.
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An approved schedule revision is written back to the plan of record. FLX4 never writes to a machine or a control system.
The loop, step by step
- 1 · Predict
Read the floor
Downtime and machine events arrive by file or webhook. OEE and the loss tree update by line and shift, and each anomaly carries its evidence or abstains.
- 2 · Predict
See the shortfall
Scheduled consumption is compared with stock and open POs, so a material gap is visible before the line waits for it.
- 3 · Decide
Re-solve with trade-offs
The solver re-allocates within MOQ, truck-fill, changeover and capacity limits. A what-if repair shows which jobs move and which become late.
- 4 · Approve
Planner and procurement sign off
Schedule changes and shortfall POs wait in the approval inbox. The procurement head approves allocation runs, and POs route by value.
- 5 · Execute
Drafts land where they belong
An approved shortfall becomes a draft PO, and the supplier acknowledges it in the vendor portal. ERP posting is configured per deployment.
- 6 · Learn
Trace the cause
Root-cause chains cite the events behind them, and every proposal, approver and outcome stays on the audit trail.
What it helps you work toward
Outcomes are measured against a baseline we agree with you in writing.
Less time lost to changeovers
Changeover hours per line per week, from the schedule and the event log
Shortfalls caught early
Material gaps flagged before the scheduled consumption date, and how far ahead
Losses ranked by cause
OEE and downtime by reason, by line and shift, against the first month of data
A steadier schedule
Jobs moved and jobs made late per approved revision
What powers this solution
OpsNest
When a line stops or a vendor slips, the plan and the POs keep up.
Explore OpsNest →
PlanningNest
Order the right quantity before the festival, and know why the number is what it is.
Explore PlanningNest →
SourceNest
Know whether a quote is fair before you negotiate, and stop paying more than you agreed.
Explore SourceNest →Integrations
The weekly master production schedule (Excel), machine downtime events (CSV or webhook) and master-data files load directly. ERP connectors (e.g. SAP PP, MM and QM) are configured per deployment. Machine-data feeds such as OPC-UA or MQTT connect through a site adapter. Nothing writes to a control system.
Bring us the decision behind this problem
In two weeks: the decision mapped, where money leaks, a baseline agreed in writing and a ninety-day plan with one target.
Read-only on day one. Your people approve every action. If the number does not move, you do not scale.