Tag
capacity
Production-planning notes filed under capacity.
- 01
Johnson's Rule: Sequence Your Mix-and-Pack Runs to Shrink Total Makespan
On a two-stage CPG line, finish time isn't the sum of run times — it's the makespan. Johnson's rule re-orders the same jobs to finish the whole set sooner, with zero new equipment. Here's the algorithm, a worked mix-to-pack example, and the CPG fine print.
Read post - 02
OTIF Starts on the Line: Scheduling to the Must-Arrive-By Date
OTIF is a retailer-compliance scorecard that grades whether you delivered the right product, in full, on the must-arrive-by date. It's a scheduling problem before it's a logistics one — here's how to build a schedule that survives it.
Read post - 03
SMED Changeover Reduction: Convert Internal Setup to External and Break the 10-Minute Barrier
Most schedulers optimize the order of changeovers. SMED shrinks the duration of each one. Here's how to measure a changeover correctly, separate internal from external setup, and convert the two into smaller, fresher production runs.
Read post - 04
Available-to-Promise for CPG Lines: Quote Ship Dates From Your Schedule, Not Your Gut
A buyer wants 40 pallets by Thursday. Available-to-promise (ATP) is the discipline that lets you answer from your master schedule instead of guessing — without double-booking a line or robbing the next customer's allocation.
Read post - 05
CONWIP: One Card Cap to Control Your CPG Line's WIP and Lead Time
CONWIP puts a hard ceiling on total work-in-process by circulating a fixed number of release cards. Learn how to size the cap, how it beats push and simplifies Kanban, and when to use it on a CPG line.
Read post - 06
The Variability Tax: Why Kingman's Equation Says Lumpy Demand Costs More Than a Busy Line
Utilization is only one of three dials that set queue time on a CPG line. Kingman's formula shows why demand lumpiness and erratic changeovers act as a pure multiplier on wait time — and how to attack it without adding capacity.
Read post - 07
The Bullwhip Effect on Your CPG Line: Why a 5% Shelf Wobble Becomes a Whipsawing Schedule
Your inbound order signal swings harder than consumers actually buy. That jumpiness is a structural amplification called the bullwhip effect. Here's how to name it, measure it, and dampen it from the plant floor.
Read post - 08
Little's Law for CPG Schedulers: Predict Line Lead Time from WIP and Throughput
The line is running at rate, yet orders keep shipping late. Little's Law explains why: lead time is WIP divided by throughput. Learn to predict flow time, cap queues, and quote promise dates you can keep.
Read post - 09
The 100% Utilization Trap: Why a Fully Booked CPG Line Is Your Slowest Line
Loading a line to 98% of available hours looks efficient, but queue time explodes as you approach 100% utilization. Here's the math behind the trap and where to set your utilization ceiling.
Read post - 10
Dynamic Lot-Sizing for Lumpy CPG Demand: When One Fixed Batch Size Stops Working
EOQ and EPQ assume steady demand. Real CPG demand is lumpy — promo spikes, seasonal resets, uneven retailer orders. Here's how lot-for-lot, POQ, Silver-Meal, and Wagner-Whitin size runs when net requirements change every week.
Read post - 11
Economic Production Quantity (EPQ): Sizing Batches When Your Line Makes and Ships at Once
Run long to dilute a painful changeover, or run short to avoid drowning in inventory? EPQ is the math for the sweet spot — built for a line that fills stock gradually while demand keeps pulling it down.
Read post - 12
Takt Time for CPG Schedulers: Turn Demand Into a Daily Run Plan
Takt time is the customer's drumbeat — the pace demand sets, not the pace your line can hit. Here's how to calculate it, reconcile it with run-rate, and turn it into a daily run plan that actually holds fill.
Read post - 13
Plan to Real Capacity, Not Nameplate: Turning OEE Into a Schedulable Run-Rate
Schedulers build the master plan against a line's nameplate rate, then watch it slip. OEE is the translation layer between theoretical speed and the number you can actually schedule against. Here is the arithmetic and the levers.
Read post