Master your production: The integratePRO capacity planning advantage

What if missing a single deadline cost you your biggest customer?

Headaches in your manufacturing and production are not always going to cause a crisis, but scheduling processes, accurately planning for production capacity, and efficiently managing timescales and staffing are familiar challenges if you’re in the window and door industry.

You’ll also know it doesn’t get any easier as you grow. The more successful you are and the more you take on, the more you’ll need to juggle timelines, different customer demands, and multiple jobs working to different deadlines.

And how many times do you want to explain delays to frustrated customers?

EndtoEnd’s integrate software lets you manage your production more easily by estimating production capacity, efficiently planning your staffing, setting realistic deadlines, and communicating progress clearly to customers.

Fewer headaches all round – read on to find out how you can benefit too.

Even more from integratePRO

integratePRO is the production module in EndtoEnd’s suite of window and door software. It’s your specific joinery production software, making sure you stay updated on progress in your workshop by smoothly managing multiple production schedules.

From purchasing components through to the finished product, integratePRO users save time and reduce wastage by accurately tracking each stage of their production process. But now, your production scheduling and job tracking have been made even more efficient and accurate. We’ve built new capacity planning tools into the system, with the Factory Loading Report.

These enhancements let companies know where each job has reached, what staffing is needed for each process, what staffing is available to meet that need, and whether you’re on course to hit each milestone on the way to the final deadline or ready by date (RBD).

How confident are you in currently pinpointing each of these in your production?

Starting at the end: Working back from the “ready by date”

Keeping the end in sight is more than a “nice to have.” Success in production and manufacturing relies on it – you need to be clear where you’re going and when you need to be there. Your customers need to know this as well.

The Factory Loading Report inside integratePRO starts with your job’s RBD and then works backwards.

From the moment a job is imported into the production schedule, the RBD is set based on the preset timings for each process in the production. Every process in the job schedule is given a completion date based on the number of days before the RBD, letting you project your production workload, scheduling and staffing.

You know exactly what should be completed in the job at any given stage. Hit each of these and you hit your deadline.

Make every minute count: Setting up your production “rules”

Here’s a challenge you’ll recognise.

One week, your team is stretched to its capacity, and you’re counting the cost of overtime to meet deadlines. The next week, parts of the factory are quieter as one process waits for the previous one to complete.

What’s the link? Your scheduling production processes and capacity planning.

You know your workflow and processes better than anyone, and integratePRO puts you in charge with the information you need to schedule accurately and precisely manage production. The system works by giving you access to the Estimated Labour Time Editor, where labour hours (or “rules”) are initially inputted.

As soon as any production job is imported, the Factory Loading Report in integratePRO will estimate the total number of labour hours required based on your settings. Beyond this, the system breaks the required hours down for each production process, linking this directly to your RBD and timescales for completion. You know exactly what is needed, and when.

Know your labour needs, and plan your capacity perfectly

Once you know the estimated labour hours for each production process, scheduling is dependent on your labour capacity. In short, what space does your team have to do the work?

Each of your team, including production workers and manufacturers, is included in the Capacity Planning feature in integratePRO. Their availability, their skill or area of expertise, and current work patterns are all incorporated. This information is powerful for your production management. You’re able to assign people directly to ongoing processes, comparing your labour needs directly to your labour capacity… making adjustments accordingly.

For example, you might need 15 hours of labour, plus another five for backlogged work. No problem. You can redeploy staff to balance the pressing needs set out at the start of the day or week.

Flexible for your factory and your processes

Remember, integrate is a start-to-finish window and door software system for your company. It’s built by the industry, for the industry. For you, this means your HR and personnel information is not only included, but it’s incorporated into your production management.

Things change, Bank Holidays exist, illnesses occur, and holidays are booked.

All of these things are included in the Capacity Planning feature, so when you compare your labour hours with labour needs, any absence or leave is factored in. You’re then able to make staffing adjustments to suit your ongoing processes, deadlines, and RBDs.

We also know our organisations (and the people in them) benefit from hybrid, part-time and flexible working arrangements. Where each worker is set to have a default 8-hour daily capacity, all of these important variations can be easily included for each member of your team. As soon as you make amendments, it appears on the Capacity Planning feature.

If you’re approaching a squeeze point, you can find efficient and economically viable solutions, such as redeploying team members, suggesting time in lieu, or if necessary, planning for overtime in advance. The point is, you’re in control – you’re managing the circumstances, not being managed by them.

Communicate with clarity and confidence: Your customers will thank you

Transparency (pun intended) is crucial in our industry. Customers need to know what’s happening, they need to feel their project is under control, and you need them to say at the end, “They did exactly what they said.”

The Factory Loading Report within integratePRO helps you confidently achieve that key aspect of customer service: clear communication. Realistic deadlines you can meet and explain are exactly what you and your customers need. This system gives them to you, and your customers will thank you for it.