Production scheduling is among the most important components of the manufacturing process. For this reason, firms embarking on the enterprise resource planning implementation journey often devote considerable time to assessing the production scheduling capabilities of potential solutions. This is often easier said than done, as this particular shop floor function encompasses numerous operational variables, from asset maintenance to human capital management.

However, adopters in the manufacturing sector are not doomed to wade through extensive ERP documentation looking for elements that might support production scheduling. There are some must-have platform features that have been proven to bolster this essential activity.

Here are four of those salient ERP features:

Scheduling
The scheduling module is essential to production planning success. While most ERP solutions come equipped with these mission-critical components, functionality varies. As a result, firms should pinpoint platforms with particularly robust scheduling components – most notably, those that facilitate backward and forward shop floor planning, according to IT Toolbox. This functionality allows operational stakeholders to define start and completion times, and develop reliable projections from both ends.

Material requirement planning
This feature enables shop floor leaders to assess the supply and demand for inventoried assets of all kinds using recorded and forecasted sales figures. This information is critically important to personnel involved in production scheduling, which makes MRP an essential ERP feature for modern manufacturing organizations, ERP Focus reported.

Business intelligence
Business intelligence adoption is strong in the manufacturing arena, where around 30 percent of companies have data collection and analysis tools of some kind in place, according to research from Dresner Advisory Services published in Forbes. Production scheduling is among the many functional areas that these innovative solutions support.

With this in mind, manufacturing firms navigating the ERP implementation process should search for platforms that either offer built-in business intelligence tools or integrate with industry-standard third-party options, according to ERP Focus.

Routing
Sequencing is absolutely critical to production scheduling success. Stakeholders at every step in the supply chain must be able to coordinate their respective activities in a manner that keeps the entire organization moving.

Routing components support this sort of large-scale planning, giving personnel in every department the top-down transparency they need to collaborate and ultimately facilitate success, IT Toolbox reported.

Is your organization on the hunt for an ERP solution with these key production scheduling features? Consider connecting with Accent Software.

As a certified Microsoft Business Solutions partner, we provide vendor-vetted Microsoft Dynamics NAV implementation services, which allow companies across all sectors to adopt quality ERP software designed to facilitate optimal production scheduling practices.

Contact us today to learn more about our products and services.