FLAIR Finite Loader And Interactive Rescheduler
Outline
The Finite Loader And Interactive Rescheduler (FLAIR) is an easy to use planning tool for situations where work is to be loaded onto resources with finite capacity. Flair uses the familiar Loading Board approach, and supports manual or automatic loading, together with comprehensive job detailing functions, job data maintenance, capacity requirements planning, progress recording and reporting facilities.
Users of Flair report significant reductions in work in process inventory and increases in utilisation of capacity.
Reduction of average lead time and improvement of on-time delivery performance are normal.
Program Description
The user's view of FLAIR is a computer managed bar chart, or Gantt Chart shown on the screen, using colour and graphics for emphasis. Behind the bar chart is a powerful state-of- the-art rule-based scheduling system.
For any resource (work centre, crafts-person, machine, appliance etc.) the jobs pending are shown as colour-coded bars. Bar length is proportional to time required.
The bar chart shows the load day-by-day into the future, and can be 'zoomed' to hour-by- hour precision.
The mouse, menus and/or function keys are used by the planner to quickly unload/load jobs, reschedule plan, show job/resource details, progress reporting.
Tables of jobs and job/operation details can be displayed, with colour highlighting of problem jobs, e.g. jobs detected by the system as unlikely to meet due date.
The planner can change details interactively, and see the results graphically on the screen. A single job can be rescheduled on command, and all its operations will be reloaded, with the system checking for capacity availability and respecting overlaps and transport times.
On command, the planner can reschedule the entire job backlog with FLAIR, using advanced scheduling approaches to optimise use of capacity, and applying 'just-in-time' techniques in the right places to get a feasible production plan that takes into account planned shutdowns, vacation plans, and availability of resources.
FLAIR reports include: job status, tasks pending by resource, completions, and resource centre loading summaries (underloads, overloads by period, smoothed and unsmoothed).
FUNCTIONAL SUMMARY
FLAIR Base Package and Extensions
The following resource types are supported by FLAIR:
- Finite capacity schedulable resources.
- default production rate
- default set up time
- multiple changeover factors
- sequencing rules
- load balancing groups
- Unlimited capacity resources.
- Team resources, each member separately schedulable.
- Separate cost rates for each resource
- Resource Locations
- location-location transport times
Time Ranges, Calendar, Vacation features:
- 900 day calendar, for entire shop.
- Shop day/calendar day conversion.
- Shutdown plan-all resources.
- Shutdown detail-by day or shift, selected resources.
- Vacation plan-by team member.
- Working day length: 1 to 4 shifts.
- Shift length: 1 to 24 hours.
- Planning interval for capacity plan: 1 to 40 days.
- Schedule Freeze Day 0-74 days from current day.
- Scheduling Cut-Off day option. 0-74 days from current day.
- Internal time precision: better than nearest second
- Schedule time display options: shop day, day/month, hour:minute
- Resolution of 'clock' loader: sub-second
- Bucket size for team loader: 1 shift.
Jobs:
Job data supported by FLAIR includes:
- Job number/description.
- Due and start dates and times.
- User-set job priority.
- User-set job priority override level. (crash priority)
- Unlimited number of Operations per Job
- Operation number/description.
- Standard and actual times.
- Times in hours per piece, pieces per hour, or hours per lot
- Set-up time per run.
- Fixed set-up time.
- Calculated changeover time from previous job.
- Each operation can be in multiple setup families.
- User-designated resource.
- Multiple resources for one operation.
- User-designated crews for each operation.
- Resource selection by capacity available, capability, skill,,
- Unlimited number of materials per op
- Conversion from technical unit of measure to stock - keeping units
- Separate units for using and producing operations.
- Optional customer, customer order and/or part number data
- Job Networks.
- Up to 999 supply jobs to any one operation.
- One job can supply to multiple take up jobs.
- "Fan-in" and "Fan-out" networks supported.
Job data is maintained by interactive full-screen pageable panels, with direct access by Job Number, Part Number and/or Customer.
Job data entry
- Job templates.
- Splitting of master batches into customer specific sub-batches
- Job detailing
- work allocation to resources
- by process master, method or skill code
- preference or efficiency
- capacity available
Customer schedules
- automotive 'cum's
- EDI capture
- despatch progress reporting
Progress Recording:
Job tracking or progress recording is entered in full screen panels, or by bar code reader
Reporting:
- time worked.
- optional reporting of actual setup time
- quantity processed.
- actual resource (default, planned resource).
- completion of operation.
- optional completion of preceding operations, with 'back-posting' of quantities.
- quality reporting
- rework, scrap, fault reporting
When all operations are reported complete, the job is assumed complete.
Job Costs/Estimates:
FLAIR includes basic costing and estimating functions.
- estimates and costs calculated from hourly resource cost rates.
- estimated cost per operation.
- actual cost per operation.
- Job estimates/costs.
FLAIR offers several different scheduling approaches:
1. User loading assistance:
The user selects jobs for scheduling from the Loading Board, and FLAIR fits the job into available capacity slots. Existing schedules are left undisturbed.
2. User sequencing assistance:
The user can set a sequence number (or priority number) for a set of jobs on a particular resource, and they will be loaded in the set sequence on that resource, and a practical matching sequence on all other resources.
3. Automated Loading:
FLAIR offers a sophisticated event simulation forward/backward loading process, for 'hands- off' scheduling situations.
4: "Drag and Drop" Loading
Using the mouse, the user can select activities and then 'drag' the activity bar to a new resource and/or time slot. The system shows when capacity slots are already 'taken'
Scheduling features include:
- Overlapping.
- minimum sent-ahead by quantity or time
- Transport time allowance
- separate 'wait for transport' allowance
- Allowance for shop shutdowns and team member vacations.
- Forward loading to minimise resource idle time.
- Backward loading to minimise job idle time.
- Parallel resource loading
- loading to capacity of primary and multiple secondary resources on same operation.
- Multiple priority rules, including:
- "started op first"
- "shortest op first"
- "started job first"
- "job most nearly complete first"
- "job with least slack first"
- "op that has waited longest first"
- "job with most imminent due date first"
- Job network scheduling
- Forward loading of job networks.
- Scheduling with Freeze day
- Operation sequence prior to Freeze day is 'frozen'.
- Times adjusted to allow for progress within the 'frozen' zone.
- Sequence re-calculated for work beyond the 'frozen' zone.
- Sequencing to minimise setup or changeover time.
- Grouping of operations into setup families.
- Setup time calculated on factor change.
- Multiple setup factors per resource.
- Setup times are accumulative or complementary.
- Setup minimisation range up to 999 days.
- 'Look Ahead' up to four stages in selecting setup sequences
- Forced Loading of Jobs
- a job can be forced to load to due date and 'push' other jobs out.
- jobs delayed by the forced job are listed
- Allocation of work to resources during loading
- load balancing among identical resources
- work allocation with allocation priority rules
- preferred and non-preferred resources
- allocation by process (method, skill)
- location preference rule
- Stock buffer analysis
- predicted stock levels for produced and/or consumed materials
- optional scheduling to respect stock buffers
- delay operation until material available
- delay operation if material produced will overfill buffer
Planner Support Facilities:
FLAIR offers many useful functions to support the shop planner.
- The 'Interactive Loading Board':
'Drag and Drop' feature to help move work around the loading board.
One keystroke to load and unload a job and all operations that make up a job.
- Colour highlighting of exceptions and different job and operation types.
- Capacity Planning Facilities
- Load summary screens:
- Graphic load summaries by resource.
- Unsmoothed load (load in 5 day period, unscheduled).
- Smoothed (scheduled to available capacity)
- Unusable capacity (no work available)
- Work sequence screens:
- all work available by resource.
- all work available, showing work done.
- work in setup sequence, showing setups and delays
- Job Network screens:
- visual display of dependencies and delays
Reports:
- Job Summary Report:
- Summary of job status and estimate for all jobs in the system.
- Job Detail Report:
- Job/operation details for all jobs.
- Work-to list:
- Shows operations pending at resource.
- Sequenced by schedule start time.
- Sending and receiving location listed.
- Shop Calendar Report.
- Job Bar Charts
- Resource Load Bar Charts
- Capacity commitment summary
- Expanded capacity analysis
- hot-spots, overloads, underloads
- Schedule Profile
- Queue times, lead times
- Custom Reports can be provided by Adaptable Systems.
Interfaces:
FLAIR is designed to interface easily to external Accounting, ERP, MRP, Spreadsheet and Database systems.
FLAIR interface modules for external systems can be provided by Adaptable Systems.
Extensions:
Adaptable Systems can provide extensions of the basic FLAIR system to meet special requirements on a negotiated basis. Examples of the work done in this area include a specialised labour planning facility for a casual labour oriented site, and a special mold scheduling system for a building materials plant.
Environment
Pentium 500MHz or higher.
Colour screen, 128MB memory. (faster processor and additional memory recommended)
Package
The FLAIR software package includes user documentation, installation, and on-site training (by arrangement).
Contact
Assured Systems
Office 4
703 South Road Tel (03) 9555 7222
Moorabbin, Vic Fax (03) 9589 3220
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