Flex: Flexible Spreadsheet Scheduling Toolkit

  Would you like answers to questions such as:
Where are our capacity bottlenecks today?
When can we finish this new job?
Where is the best place to work overtime?

The Flex toolkit with Microsoft’s Excel can provide quick and simple answers to questions like these, using data you probably have already.
The role of Flex
Flex helps in two ways.
* Linking to other systems
* Building Blocks for Scheduling
Building Blocks for Scheduling
Some examples…
* Schedule Explorer
* Bottleneck Finder more
* Capacity Allocator more
* Priority Sequencer
* Estimate Analyser more
* Material Chaser
--- and more
If you already have a working operation, then there could be valuable data in existing spreadsheets. With Flex, you can keep using the same familiar spreadsheets. All the investment in building the spreadsheets and training users is retained. Integration of the new functions is really easy
or
we can integrate Flex into your spreadsheet for you.
Flex in Use
When Flex is active, you have a Flex Toolbar on your spreadsheet and extra sheets in your workbook.
The toolkit functions operate invisibly.
You only need to learn the functions you are interested in. Online help is included and full telephone, fax and email support is provided as part of the service.
More About Flex

Linking to other systems.
Nearly all modern software has some sort of interface to Excel. Our tools help on the Spreadsheet side. We have tools to handle even the most recalcitrant software, and can get raw data into Excel from nearly anything.
Building Blocks for Scheduling
Rather than saying that we have the perfect product, which is a solution for every problem, we are offering a toolbox. Our tools fit in with Excel. The assumption is that Flex users are comfortable with Excel, but could use some help with specific “tricky bits”.
How is Flex Delivered?
Our basic idea is that we work with you to improve your own spreadsheet
“Flex” is offered as a service. You pay a small amount per month.
We work with you using “PC Anywhere” or Windows “Remote Assist” functions. Or we will gladly come on site and work with you in your factory.
Why use spreadsheet software such as Excel in production scheduling?
Many companies have installed ERP/MRP systems with good results in Accounting, Stock Control, Purchasing and related functions. On the other hand, you can visit any factory in Australia and you often find planners, supervisors, managers and engineers working with spreadsheets. Looked at closely, many of these spreadsheets have been built by the actual user, or a co-worker, to help with scheduling problems.
The ERP/MRP software works well on the commercial side, but Excel is preferred on the production side.
Are production and ‘commercial’ functions so different from each other?
There are two basic differences.
*The work is different
*The data is different.
Production work vs. commercial work
Production people need quick answers related to their work, and they don’t see office work as their basic mission.
Production data vs Commercial data
A very basic difference is that production is inherently more complex and unpredictable than commercial office work. Even if you run the factory with military discipline, you find things changing. The raw data for factory planning is less precise. On the commercial side, a price is exact, a quantity is exact. In detailed production scheduling you are working with slippery data. Is a setup time exact? Can the yield be predicted exactly?
So we have busy people, who need specific solutions, coping with slippery data. Rather than trying to learn a complex system, which will probably need a lot of data, with results that are difficult to interpret and largely irrelevant, they want a specific solution for the problem at hand. Excel, in particular, is so powerful and easy to customise that it is the ideal basis for planning tools for use in a factory. Excel with Flex and interfacing to the office system gives you the best of both worlds.

for more information
Contact: Assured Systems Tel: 03 9555 7222
email: info@assuredsystems.com.au

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