Our Production Planning Solution for Folding Carton Printers

One of the biggest problems with inadequate production planning in printing companies is the lack of transparency regarding capacity utilisation. This leads management to tend to build up more printing than is economically viable. Planners are unable to convince them that it would be better to reject a deadline request. The order is accepted with the motto ‘We have to do it!’. During the execution of the order, a few ‘unforeseeable’ problems arise and the workflow becomes increasingly hectic. As a result, the printers work a little faster than they should, and some of the commission for the pharmaceutical customer has blurred printing. Now the order has to be sorted out and re-produced, and it is finished significantly late. Anyone who has a post-calculation will see the order as a margin killer. And a follow-up order has too little cardboard because a pallet was diverted for re-production. Anyone familiar with the industry knows what happens next.

All this happens much less frequently when forecasting capabilities in planning are significantly better and everyone in the company can understand the forecast at a glance. MCP consultants can also help you with this change process.

You solve the scheduling problems of customers who deliver their layouts/designs/approvals too late: You plan with a strong focus on short production lead times and thus make up for lost time. At the same time, you can see exactly how tight the buffers between work steps are, even with overlapping production, without any additional effort.

You also deliver orders on time, even those that the customer places with you late: thanks to the option of sequencing with weighted target criteria, you can strike a healthy balance between adherence to deadlines and setup optimisation. Let the ‘power of scheduling’ of Opcenter APS (formerly Preactor APS) work for you.

Short-term quantity changes: Change the quantity of the affected order during the phone call (what-if scenario) and see immediately whether this will jeopardise or even delay other orders. You and your customer save time and hassle with emails containing endless questions.

Overview: You can inform your customers at any time about the planned completion date for each individual order. It is up to you to decide how much buffer time to add.