Tag
cpg operations
Production-planning notes filed under cpg operations.
- 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
Why MAPE Lies About Your CPG Forecast: MAPE vs. WMAPE vs. MASE
MAPE is the default forecast accuracy metric on most CPG teams — and it quietly lies whenever demand is small or hits zero. Here's why, plus when to use WMAPE, MASE, and MAAPE instead.
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
Forecast Value Added: Is Your Demand Override Beating a Naive Guess?
Forecast Value Added audits your forecasting process step by step, proving whether each analyst override actually beats a dumb naive benchmark. Here's how to run FVA on a CPG line—and why a failed override is really a scheduling error.
Read post - 07
Continuous vs. Periodic Review: Why CPG Lines Reorder on a Clock, Not a Trigger
A continuous-review reorder point assumes you can produce the instant you cross it. A shared CPG line can't. Here's why periodic review and order-up-to targets model your floor honestly — and why the review gap quietly inflates your safety stock.
Read post - 08
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 - 09
Shelf-Life-Constrained Production Scheduling: Sizing Runs So Perishable SKUs Don't Expire
Classic lot-sizing math quietly assumes product lives forever. In food and beverage it doesn't. Here's how to cap production runs at the shelf-life-feasible quantity so perishable SKUs sell before they expire — without stocking out.
Read post - 10
Rough-Cut Capacity Planning for CPG: Pressure-Test the Master Schedule Before It Hits the Floor
RCCP is the fast feasibility check that sits between master scheduling and MRP. Learn how to load your MPS against real filler, tank, and labor capacity before you promise dates you can't build.
Read post - 11
Time Fences for CPG Schedulers: Where to Freeze, Where to Flex
Schedule nervousness thrashes the floor when every late change rebuilds the week. Learn how to divide your planning horizon into frozen, slushy, and liquid zones, size the freeze to your cumulative lead time, and enforce the rules that keep the plan stable.
Read post - 12
Run Order Matters: Sequencing SKUs to Slash Total Changeover Time
You can't always make each changeover shorter, but you can make fewer of them expensive. Here's how to build a changeover matrix and sequence your SKUs to cut total cleandown time across the whole run.
Read post - 13
ABC-XYZ Segmentation for CPG: Which SKUs Deserve Tight Scheduling and Safety Stock
You can't manage 400 SKUs the same way. Learn how ABC-XYZ segmentation ranks SKUs by dollar impact and demand variability, so you spend scheduling attention and safety stock where they actually pay off.
Read post - 14
Drum-Buffer-Rope: How to Schedule a CPG Line Around Its One True Bottleneck
Most CPG schedules fight the wrong machine. Learn how Drum-Buffer-Rope builds the production schedule around your line's real constraint to protect throughput and ship dates.
Read post - 15
Heijunka for CPG Lines: Turning Lumpy Demand Into a Schedule the Floor Can Run
Forecasting tells you how much to make. Heijunka tells you in what rhythm and sequence. Here's how production leveling smooths lumpy CPG demand into a repeatable schedule that protects fill rate and your changeover budget.
Read post - 16
Forecasting that survives contact with the floor
Tie par levels to how product actually moves — with the right window, the right buffer, and current data — and the Tuesday surprises mostly stop.
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