Module 1: INTRODUCTION TO PLANNING Module 1 introduces the basics of planning within Fastreact and demonstrates how to plan so that

100% on-time delivery is achieved. The objectives for this module are: 1. To describe the various planning board components used within this module.

2. To create a product record as well as an order for this product. The new order will be planned onto the board. 3. 4. 5. To load a series of pre-defined orders onto the planning board. To see how re-planning orders and moving strips is achieved. To determine how well the student can plan orders so that 100% on-time delivery is achieved.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FASTREACT PLANNING BOARD Click on the Menu Planning. Across the top of the planning board there is a toolbar containing the planning board icons and just below this toolbar a date scale. Down the left side is the row list and across the bottom are the status lines. The area in the centre is the planning board onto which orders are loaded. Each of these areas can be investigated by clicking on the links above. The planning board gives a visual picture of the business. Think about the layout of the factory and see how the board represents the making up area of the factory. Each of the 8 horizontal lines (Blouse Team, Jackets Team) represents a separate production line within the factory. When planning it helps to continue visualising the planning board as the making-up area of the business. Customers place orders for specific quantities of a product with an expected delivery date. Each order has one or more delivery dates and appears on the planning board as coloured strips. More detail is provided about strip colours when the first order is loaded onto the board. Some of the planning board main features: The date scale The date scale runs across the top of the planning board underneath the tool bar. The visible period covered by this scale ranges from 2 days to over 1 year, although the full planning board can cover a much longer period. Scroll the planning board to the left and right. Click on the scroll bar at the bottom of the screen or use the cursor keys on the keyboard.

The start point for the date scale changes from module to module to reflect the passage of time. The first module starts on week ending 27/01/2008. Move the mouse over the board to see the date, day and time of the mouse cursor position that is displayed to the left of the date scale. Time line Beneath the date scale look for a thin vertical line that runs the length of the planning board. This vertical line is the time line and marks the current date and time. Fastreact also marks holidays with a pale blue cross hatch behind the strips. The planning board icons The toolbar contains a number of small buttons that can be clicked to change the appearance of the planning board or to provide other functionality, such as finding a particular strip or launching bar charts. Find the buttons that change the planning board row height; adjust it to the maximum possible height. Find the buttons that change the date scale; change it so that you can see the different display options--weeks vs. days vs. months. Reset the date scale to its original view. The row list The row list runs down the left hand side of the planning board and displays the production lines in the factory (Blouse Team, Jackets Team). The production lines are defined in the description of the factory within the previous section 'Your Business'. The thin column on the left side of the row provides basic information against each row. This list shows, among other things, the number of days late for each row. This indicator confirms the total number of late days for all orders on each planning board row.

The Row List also shows if there are any pre-production problems on that particular row of the planning board (Pre-production is covered in Module 5.). This column will be blank until there are orders planned on the board. Each production line has its own capacity and is shown in red to the right of the capacity name. The capacity is shown in minutes/hours. The calculations for capacity are shown in the description of the factory. The status lines Across the bottom of the board there are two status lines. These show data relevant to orders under the mouse cursor. Status lines are discussed when orders are loaded onto the board. The elements of the status lines are filled when the mouse is moved over a strip on the planning board. When the planning board has orders, move the mouse over an order to see information about the order displayed

in the status line. If the mouse is placed over a blank space on the board then Fastreact displays (as a pop-up) the meaning of each element as a reminder. Change the strip display: Fastreact can display up to nine different pieces of information on the strips. The strip display options are: Orders Product details/order colours Products Product type Customers Delivery Colour Materials User defined

Look at the bottom, left (top) status line. Click on the rotate display button. Note the change to the strips.

THE TASKS This module is presented as a number of related tasks all designed to introduce planning and Fastreact functionality. The tasks are: Load orders in the load list (to achieve 100% on-time delivery) Create a product Create an order Load the order onto the planning board Evaluate the Plan Dont forget that you can exit Fastreact at any time by clicking on the Exit Menu and answering the question presented.

LOAD ORDERS IN THE LOAD LIST Module 1 is pre-loaded with customer orders for planning. All orders have a reasonable delivery date and with careful planning 100% on time delivery performance can be achieved. Correct planning also means the business will be (very) profitable. The beginning date for this module is 21 January 2008. Planning orders prior to this date is not meaningful. All orders must start at the beginning date. Click on the Planning Menu and find the vertical time line on the board. Loading orders: In the centre of the planning board icons there is a hand pointing downwards. This is the Load List button through which new orders are loaded onto the board. Click on the Load List button to see the orders that are available to load. Note the column headers--product code, product type code, customer code, order delivery date, order quantity and order description. The load list screen can be re-sized for easier reading. Move the mouse over the load list to see the description shown at the bottom. Click on the column headings to sort the list in different sequences. What to do:Click on the first order to load; click on the Load Orders button at the top of the screen. The load list automatically closes. The mouse cursor has changed to a hand and the hand is holding a strip for the selected order. Do not depress the mouse button while moving strips around the board. Place the mouse where the order is going on the board and click the mouse again. The order is now loaded onto the planning board. Orders can be moved after they are loaded. See the sections for moving and re-planning orders at the end of this section. Continue this process until all orders are loaded onto the board, positioning them to achieve their delivery dates. For simplicity it is permissible to load any order on any production line irrespective of the type of product. This will not be allowed in later modules nor would you expect to have this luxury in a real factory environment. When placing one order after another, do so without spaces. The way to achieve this is to place the order being planned just on top of the previous order, at the right end of the strip. Fastreact automatically places the new order just behind the previous one. Prior to loading any order make sure that the bottom left entry on the status line says 'Order'. If not, change the order display.

As the main aim of planning is to achieve the customers delivery date it is easier to plan if the orders (strips) show the planned status. The colours of the strips indicate the status of the order: Grey The order is loaded on time. Light Blue The order is loaded too late but within an acceptable tolerance level. Dark Blue The order is late for delivery. REMEMBER: The main goal is to achieve 100% on time delivery performance. When all orders are loaded click on the save plan button. Moving orders: Click on an order, move the mouse around the planning board and watch the strip. A variety of things happen:

The length of the strip changes as it is moved around the board. The actual length of the strip, both in production days and in calendar days is shown in the rightmost box on the top of the status line.

The strip length also changes as it is moved forwards and backwards in time on the same row. This is because each day on the board may have a different number of working hours. For example normal working days, Monday to Saturday are 8 hour days while the factory is closed on Sunday. Moving the strip into a week end will lengthen it by 1 calendar day; the production days will not change.

The colour of the strip changes to reflect the state of loading of that order. If the order is planned to meet its delivery date then the strip colour is grey. If it is planned to miss its delivery date the strip is light blue. If the order is very late it is dark blue.

If an order is moved off the bottom of the planning board or if it is placed on a holding row the order is placed back into the load list.

Re-planning: Picking up the strip: To move the strip just click and release the mouse button anywhere on the strip. Do not hold down the button as this is not necessary and will hinder planning. When the strip is picked up the cross cursor changes to a hand and the cursor moves to the front of the strip.

Putting the strip down: To put the strip down click the mouse button again. There is no need to create a space to insert a strip. Fastreact pushes later strips to the right to make room for the new strip. Moving off the visible board: The strips can be moved anywhere on the visible board and they can be moved further than the edge of the planning board in any direction. To move the strips further than the visible board keep moving the mouse in the desired direction. The board scrolls as the mouse is moved. Alternatively, the date scale can be contracted so that both the start and destination positions for the strip are visible. Unloading the strip: Strips can be unloaded and put back into the load list by right-clicking on the strip and choosing Unload this strip Splitting strips: To split the strip between production lines (rows) put the mouse over the strip at the point where you want to cut it and right-click with the mouse. Choose Split strip at xxx + xxx where xxx = the quantity to split. The split position can be gauged by looking at the Quantity box on the lower status line. Alternatively, the quantity to split can be defined by right-clicking on the strip then choosing Specify quantity to split.

CREATE A PRODUCT

From the main menu select Product | Add/amend. The add/amend dialog presents.

General Tab:

Product Reference: A unique reference number for each product is required. Examples of product references:

BL-1608 Blouse JK-4472 Jacket

PA-2913 SK-3102

Pants Skirt

In the product reference field type BL-1000.

Description:

Enter descriptive text about the product. (For example, Basic short sleeved blouse.)

Product type:

Choose the product type that most closely matches the product that is being entered. Blouse is already showing in the drop-down list because this is the first product type (sorted alphabetically) in the list. If this was not the case the product type would be chosen from the drop-down list.

Accept the default.

Work content by operation (right side of screen):

Enter the work content in standard minutes for each operation as shown.

Cutting Embroidery Print Sewing

4.3 0 0 8.5

Press

2.0

Examine/pack 4.3 As you can see the planned work content is less than the total work content. This is because the cutting operation isnt actually planned on the planning board so only the standard minutes in the making up of the garment are included in the plan work content. The standard minutes for the cutting operation are entered here so as they can be used to calculate the individual operation loading shown in the bar charts. We will go into further detail about operation loading in Module 4.

Financial Tab:Financial values can be entered so that Fastreact calculates weekly production costs and, in conjunction with selling prices, calculate profit margins. Selling price: Enter 7.95. Material cost:Enter 3.18. Labour cost: Enter 1.43. Other costs: Enter 0.10. Click on the Insert button at the bottom, left.

CREATE AN ORDER

Product reference BL-1000 has just been created. Now an order will be generated for this product. From the Main Menu select Orders | Add/amend. The add/amend dialog presents. Order Reference (Required): Each order reference must be unique. Input order reference WO-1000. General Tab: Description:If the description is left blank Fastreact enters the product description as soon as the product code has been typed and the cursor leaves this field. Product (Required):Enter the product code BL-1000. Customer (Required):Enter Lana Ashford.

Timetable: (Timetables are reviewed in Module 5.) Accept the default value. Order Set:Accept the default value. Sales Year:Accept the default value. Season:Accept the default value (blank). Efficiency:Accept the default value. Delivery details (Required):Enter 14/02/2008 as the delivery date and 1000 as the quantity required. Financial Tab: Selling Price: Accept the default. This figure is carried over from the product created above. Selling Cost:Enter 0.33. Click on the Insert button at the bottom, left.

LOAD THE ORDER ONTO THE PLANNING BOARD All of the orders that were in the load list should now be planned on the planning board. The planning board should be full, with on-time delivery being achieved for every order. If all new orders coming into the factory had delivery dates after the last orders planned, the job of the planner would be very simple. In reality, things are rarely this easy. Orders often come in with delivery dates that fall into the middle of a plan, requiring careful re-planning. Plan the newly created order onto the best position on the planning board. The knock-on effect of this action is quickly seen and requires some orders to be planned again. Re-plan any order that has been pushed out too far, causing a late or missed delivery date. Save the plan.

REVIEW AND EVALUATE THE PLAN The on-time delivery performance and the profitability of the business are demonstrated by running a couple of reports within the Fastreact application. The only reports discussed are those applicable to this section as the range of reports within Fastreact is too extensive to address one by one. Value of Output: Go to Reports | Financial (Report Group) | Value of Output and click on Weekly by Factory. Click on the Preview/Print button. This report shows how the sales value and production costs build over time. The business has a fixed overhead cost and the factory needs to be filled in order to recover these overheads. Direct sales (SVP) - direct or variable costs (labour, materials and other) = Gross Profit. Gross profit fixed costs (overhead) = Net Profit. The report numbers, of course, will show differently depending upon how the orders have been planned. Note that all monetary units are in USD. Value Late Orders: Go to Reports | Financial (Report Group) | Value Late Orders and click on Late Value by Factory. Click on the Preview/Print button. This report provides a guide to determine the on-time delivery performance of all orders planned on the board. If orders have delivery problems the column Late contains the number of late pieces. The column next to this one Late Value shows the value of these late pieces. It is not unusual for a customer to impose a financial penalty on a supplier for any quantity of its orders that is delivered late or even cancel the whole or part order. The late value therefore shows the potential risk to the business if the customer should decide to impose a penalty (not pay for late pieces) or cancel that quantity.

TIPS Load orders in delivery date sequence. It is a good idea to sort the order delivery date column within the load list so that orders are shown in delivery date sequence. It is best if the earliest date (soonest to deliver) is first in the list. Load orders as near to their delivery dates as possible. If loading orders in delivery date sequence then there is the best chance of fitting new orders on to the end of the previously loaded orders.

When re-planning strips, it might be easier to find the optimum sequence for orders by changing the strip display to Delivery. Watch the delivery performance indicator down the left side of the board. As new strips are inserted other strips may be pushed back into late delivery. If these are off the right hand side of the screen (not visible) then they may be missed and could result in a penalty against the profitability. Any red numbers in this column are a sure sign of late deliveries. Dont forget the undo button. This button reverses changes to the strips on the board and puts orders back into the load list. Are you still unhappy about the plan? If after trying the above tips you are completely dissatisfied, re-start the module and try again. When finished loading the orders, the planning board should not have any late deliveries.

COMPLETING THE MODULE When finished with this module there should be a better understanding about how to plan orders to achieve on-time delivery. In Module 2 we begin to build on the knowledge learned thus far. Instead of planning orders onto any production line on the planning board, the orders will have to be planned onto a production line for a particular garment. For example, skirts on the skirt line, blouse on the blouse line and jackets on the jacket line. When planning is done in this manner the planner takes advantage of the various operators (with different machines) and their skills which are suited to specific product types. Save the current plan and leave Fastreact.

REVIEW These are the tasks completed within Module 1: 1. 2. 3. A complete series of orders was planned onto the factory. Product record (BL-1000) was created and an order for that product (WO-1000) was generated. This new order was planned on the board.

4. Re-planning orders, moving orders on the planning board was required because of the new order added to an already full planning board.

5. Reports were viewed to review the on time delivery performance of the plan as well as the business profit.

Lessons learned 1. We understand the difficulty filling the planning board to capacity and the impact of new orders on the execution of the plan. 2. We observed how splitting orders across production lines is sometimes the only way to achieve on-time delivery. 3. We realize the value of on-time delivery and how profitable the business can be when this is achievedvalue of on-time performance. 4. Because unexpected problems arise daily (new orders, cancellations, changed order quantities) a planner has to think quickly and always be able to re-plan for optimum efficiency. 5. We grasp how important it is to keep a watch on the bottom line.