free trial  log in

From constant fire-fighting to smooth operations with production scheduling

Executive summary

PK-30 was using in-house designed excel spreadsheets, multiple sheets for different aspects of their production process. The company eventually outgrew its spreadsheets and searched for a solution to better manage its production scheduling, hoping for a solution that would coordinate production time frames within each department. After exhaustive research PK-30 decided on the just plan it software system.

The results were:

  • PK-30 achieves a significantly higher closing rate on its quotations by having the ability to give clients accurate and timely delivery dates.
  • just plan it takes a fraction of the time to schedule multiple projects.
  • just plan it estimated production timeframes are much more accurate.
  • just plan it production efficiency improvements increased production capacity.

About PK-30

PK-30 System is a meticulously designed and engineered aluminum demountable wall system providing a flexible, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective way to divide interior space. The System can be used in widely varying configurations including sliding doors, swing doors, fixed panels, folding, and sliding/stacking walls, all utilizing the same narrow aluminum profiles. Continuity of multi-functional architectural elements; a systematic, modern, precise design language from a single source manufacturer.

About job shop scheduling

Have look at our ultimate guide to visual job shop scheduling if you want to take a deep dive into this topic.

The challenge & resulting requirements

Manual rescheduling was time-consuming (costly) and inaccurate. Using Excel spreadsheets lacked the level of detail needed to support effective decision-making. A software system using a scheduling engine to coordinate production steps and resources enabled quick and accurate production planning. By using the just plan it Gantt chart-based approach, with its visualization strengths, PK-30 could see project individual steps and how each change impacted the production schedule per department as well as the resulting impact on project completion dates.

Integrating and using just plan it

The just plan it onboarding process and support implementation was fast. In several one-on-one sessions, all the required data was prepared for import into the system. The PK-30 team was trained on building daily routines around just plan it. Planning methods were discussed and set up according to specific manufacturing processes. Questions were answered quickly and reliably, even beyond the onboarding phase. Ruben Suare, Partner:

The onboarding process was excellent. It was a step-by-step learning approach. The just plan it team really surprised us with the degree to which they took the time to understand our business operations. This enabled us at PK-30 to bring customized aspects into the software. At the two-week mark we had the system operational” 

To further optimize PK-30’s manufacturing just plan it’s next step was to start analyzing historical data to gain more detailed information about projects, the manufacturing process, and resource usage.

In summary, just plan it enabled PK-30 improvements in three key areas:

jpi scheduling efficiency gains. What was a one-day project, making manual changes to an in-house designed Excel system, was transformed into a 45-minute daily routine task.

Increased Sales. PK-30 achieved a significantly higher closing rate on its quotations by having the ability to give clients accurate and timely delivery dates.

The visualization aspects of just plan it identifies bottlenecks quickly making corrective actions a quick and simple process.