We are rolling out a new version of our job shop scheduling software to all customers and trial users. In this update, we enhanced the Execute Mode that we released a month ago. Operators can now also report the "remaining time from now" and leave a textual message on a task. In addition to this, we also added three features that increase the usability of our production scheduling software.
This was the most imminent feedback we received after releasing the Execute Mode a few weeks ago: "We have a task that is started. Now we know that it will run another 3 hours from now. How to implement this into the Execute Mode?".
You can now exactly do this: Set the remaining time from now.
Let's have a look at the screenshot: The selected (green) task is started, but not yet finished. It is planned to finish in approximately 20 minutes (the task's end is 20 minutes right of the green "time now" line). Now the operator can give the feedback that this task will run - starting from now - another 3 hours (he can do this in the red marked area).
Few explanations:
So, there is s "golden rule" for this new function:
When it comes to "remaining time from now", "now" means the moment that the operator reports this data. It is not the time/date when the scheduler approves this data.
Once the operator does so, the task will get flagged (in the Execute Mode) accordingly. This is done with a red rectangle: each task, that has new (i.e. not yet approved) textual messages is flagged.
Once the scheduler approves this information, the flag is removed from the bar. However, the operator note still appears (also in the Schedule Mode, i.e. in the "regular" Job/Resource View) in the tooltip text of the respective task.
So - these are the current enhancements for the Execute Mode. The next thing to do here is the release and introduction of the formal operator role (in addition to the planner and the viewer role). This is planned to happen next.
When you are in the Resource View, we show (many) tasks from a variety of jobs in one line that represents the respective resource. In general, this makes it hard to easily show job-related date information like the release date and the due date. When you now hover over a certain task in the Resource View, you will see the release data and the due date shown of the respective job as a vertical line. In case that the job is late, this vertical due date line is red.
If you click "Show Task In Job View" or "Show Task In Resource View", you are taken to the respective other view, the software scrolls to the task from which you triggered that action and this task is highlighted.
So, these are the changes as of today. There is more to come ... and as always: we are curious to hear your feedback. Please share it with us in the comments below, send us an email, reach out to us via the new support chat functionality we introduced last time or tweet us. We are happy to engage with you and to support you with your job shop scheduling challenges.
And by the way: if you are not yet using just plan it, why not giving it a try? Start exploring the capabilities with an exploratory meeting. It is just 30 minutes of your time - well invested!