3 ways using Excel for production planning is hurting your business
The use of Excel spreadsheets for production planning and scheduling is surprisingly widespread in the manufacturing environment.
The software is familiar to many planners, and it can be seen as a quick and easy option when it comes to production scheduling.
However, there are sophisticated software solutions available which could transform the way you manage production planning. Is it time to leave Excel behind?
In this blog, we discuss how Excel is holding you back and why advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software should be part of your future plans.
1. Inefficiencies and their impact on productivity
A production plan in Excel is a very complex document with thousands of rows and complex calculations. Producing and updating the document is time consuming and open to errors.
Spreadsheets can’t easily take equipment, labour, materials constraints into consideration, and when there are changes, what the effect on these constraints will be.
If your production plan spreadsheet is based on a template you’ve used for years, it may no longer be fit for purpose. Businesses change and systems need to evolve with them.
When using Excel, you are forced to rely on an individual and their expertise of the software. What happens when that person is not available, if they are on sick leave or they leave the company? You risk delays to production and a negative impact on your operations.
With advanced planning and scheduling software, you can cut planning time down from days or hours to as little as an hour.
Production planning software provides one version of the truth, a real-time production plan which includes all tasks, dependencies and constraints. Not only is equipment, labour and materials information part of the planning process, but satellite activities such as preventative maintenance, quality control and buffers and media planning are included also.
With manufacturing scheduling software, intuitive ‘drag and drop’ functionality allows changes to be made quickly, updating all activities automatically.
Modelling different production scenarios is easy and can be done in a matter of hours – in Excel it could take three or four days.
Better resource planning delivers greater efficiency from improved equipment and labour utilisation. APS software frees your planners to focus value added work such as identifying issues before they occur: bottlenecks, resource under / over utilisation, what-if analysis for example.
Advanced functionality in production scheduling software, including forwards and backwards scheduling, also helps to reduce Work In Progress (WIP). Materials can be scheduled as and when required, reducing stock and improving cashflow.
2. Poor communication and collaboration
Good communication is key to efficient operations. One negative that stands out for Excel is version control. There are no guarantees that everyone is working from the latest version of a production spreadsheet. This could lead to wasted time and resources, miscommunication, and confusion between teams.
One consequence of this would be less than smooth changeovers between shifts. Another example, provided by one of our customers, is of engineers turning up for planned maintenance, only to learn that the schedule has changed.
With advanced planning and scheduling software, you know that everyone is working from one central live plan, visible to the right people at the right time. Updates are shown immediately, and all teams understand what’s required and when, reducing downtime between shifts for batch handover.
APS software allows you to produce plans which are accurate to the minute. From a customer communication perspective, it means that you can provide dates and timescales to customers with the confidence that they will be met.
Your customers will be happier regardless – with production planning software, accurate scheduling means shorter lead times based on actual capacity rather than generic lead times.
3. Making decisions based on inaccurate data
Without the ability to easily take constraints and dependencies into consideration, Excel spreadsheets can only provide a high-level view of production and they don’t reflect reality on the shopfloor. Production plans are based on assumptions.
If you can’t easily understand resource utilisation, you can’t understand true capacity. What does this translate to for your business? It could mean missed revenue opportunities from not producing additional batches or turning down work.
Using APS systems, you can increase manufacturing capacity by understanding resource over- or under-utilisation in detail. You can identify how to expand production capacity whilst using the same resources. A faster throughput allows you to take on more profitable work for example.
Modelling these scenarios in Excel is not only significantly time consuming but once done, these models could quickly be out of date and inaccurate.
Advanced planning and scheduling software provides an accurate, holistic view of production. What-if analysis can be used to explore new initiatives, for example whether to invest in a new site. Business leaders have the data they need develop plans for the future direction of their business.
At one time, Excel spreadsheets met a need for teams looking to move to electronic production plans. However, technology has evolved significantly over the years and with the fast pace of change in manufacturing and ever complex production processes, a new approach to planning and scheduling is needed. The proven benefits delivered by advanced planning and scheduling systems cannot be ignored any longer.
Take a look at our advanced planning and scheduling software
