Production Planner
The Production Planner replaces spreadsheets and whiteboards with a visual, interactive planning screen. Drag and drop orders on a Gantt chart, see how busy each line is with a color-coded heat map, and assign workers to shifts – all in one place. It helps you use your production lines better, spread work evenly, and deliver orders on time.
Interactive Gantt Chart
The main part of the Production Planner is a Gantt chart. Think of it as a calendar where each bar is a work order. Bars are color-coded by status: scheduled, in progress, completed, or overdue. Each row is a production line. You can see right away what is happening on the factory floor – and what is coming next.
Four Time Scales
You can zoom in and out using four time scales. The hourly view shows each hour, great for planning within a single shift. The daily view is the most popular – each column is one day. The weekly view shows a full week so you can spot gaps or overloaded days. The monthly view gives a big-picture look, useful for planning around busy seasons.
Switching between scales takes one click. The chart redraws instantly and keeps your place. This is handy in meetings when you need to zoom in on one shift, then zoom out to check the whole week.
Drag-and-Drop Scheduling
You can drag and drop any work order on the chart. Just click a bar and move it to a new time or a different line. The system checks three things for you: Can that line make this product? Are the materials available? Will the line be overloaded? If there is a problem, you get a clear warning telling you exactly what is wrong.
This removes the need to update spreadsheets by hand or call the shop floor about changes. When you move an order on the chart, everything updates right away – the operator screen, the dashboard numbers, material needs, and capacity calculations.
An electronics factory gets an urgent order on Tuesday afternoon. The planner opens the daily view, finds a free slot on Line 3 on Wednesday, and drags the rush order into it. The system confirms materials are ready and the line can handle it. The order is scheduled in under 60 seconds. The operator on Line 3 sees it on their screen right away.
Backlog Counter
Above the chart, a backlog counter shows how many orders have not been scheduled yet. It keeps you from forgetting any orders. Click it to see a list of unscheduled orders with details like product, quantity, due date, and priority. You can drag orders straight from this list onto the Gantt chart.
Line Load Percentage
Each line on the chart shows a load percentage – how full it is with scheduled work. A line at 85% still has room for more. A line at 105% has too much and will probably fall behind unless you move some orders. This number takes into account maintenance breaks, changeovers, and shift patterns, so it shows real available time, not just clock time.
A snack factory sees Line 1 is at 110% for next week while Line 2 is only at 60%. The planner drags two orders from Line 1 to Line 2. Now both lines are around 85% – well-used but not overloaded. No overtime needed.
Schedule Capacity View
The Capacity View is another way to look at your schedule. Instead of bars, it uses a color-coded grid (a heat map) to show how busy each line is over time. Overloaded days, empty shifts, and bottleneck lines stand out immediately.
Lines run down the left side. Days or shifts run across the top. Each cell is colored by how full it is: green means healthy (60-85%), orange means getting close to the limit (85-100%), and red means overloaded (above 100%). Gray cells have no work scheduled, so you know where you can add more.
Hover over any cell to see details: which orders are there, how many hours are scheduled versus available, and the exact usage percentage. This helps you decide where to put new orders or which ones to move.
This view is especially useful in planning meetings. Teams can look weeks or months ahead to spot future problems. If a bottleneck is coming, they can add shifts, move work to other lines, or adjust delivery dates before it becomes an issue.
A candy factory uses the Capacity View to prepare for the holiday rush. The heat map shows Lines 1-3 are solid red from mid-November to late December, but Lines 4-5 are green. The manager switches Line 4 to holiday products and adds a Saturday shift on Line 5. The heat map goes from red to orange – a doable workload without hiring extra workers.
Employee Scheduling
Production is not just about machines – it is also about people. The Employee Scheduling module lets supervisors assign workers to shifts, lines, and roles. This makes sure every scheduled order has the right people to run it.
The interface shows workers on one side and shifts on the other. You can drag and drop assignments, just like on the Gantt chart. Each worker has a profile with their skills, certifications, and which lines they are trained on. If you try to assign someone to a line they are not trained for, the system warns you.
You can set up any shift pattern your factory uses – two shifts, three shifts, rotating schedules, or flexible hours. The system tracks hours worked and warns you if an assignment would break labor rules, like too many hours in a week or not enough rest time.
Employee scheduling is connected to the Gantt chart. When you schedule an order on a line during a certain shift, you can see right away if the right workers are assigned. If not, the system highlights the gap so you can either assign someone or move the order to a shift that already has enough staff.
A pharma company needs certified operators on its sterile fill line. The scheduler flags that two of the three workers on Tuesday night have expired certifications. The supervisor swaps in certified workers from another line and books the two for retraining. Production keeps running and the rules are followed.
Keep worker skills and certifications up to date in the HR module. The scheduling warnings only work if worker profiles are accurate. Review certifications and training records at least once a month.
How It Looks on the Operator Screen
Everything you schedule in the Production Planner goes straight to the Operator View – the touch-screen that workers use on the factory floor. Knowing what operators see helps planners make better decisions and avoid mix-ups.
Line Selection
When an operator logs in, they pick which line they are working on. The screen shows all available lines and how many orders each one has. Only lines set up in the Factory Structure with scheduled orders appear here. If you add orders to a line but no worker is assigned to it, the line shows up in the planner but not on the operator screen – so make sure to assign workers using Employee Scheduling.
Work Order Queue
After picking a line, the operator sees a queue of work orders sorted by priority and start time. Each card shows:
- Product name and SKU – what to make
- Target quantity – how many units to produce
- Planned start and end time – the time window from the Gantt chart
- Priority – Normal, High, or Urgent (color-coded)
- Status – Scheduled, In Progress, or Completed
The operator taps Start to begin an order. While working, they enter how many good parts and scrap they made, log any downtime with a reason, and flag quality problems. When done, they tap Complete.
Everything operators enter – quantities, times, downtime – updates the Gantt chart and capacity numbers right away. If an order falls behind, the planner sees the bar stretch on the chart and the heat map adjusts. This two-way connection between planning and the shop floor is what makes OpenMES better than simple scheduling tools.
A machine jam on Line 2 causes 45 minutes of downtime. The operator logs it, and the Gantt chart instantly shows the order running late. The next order on Line 2 shifts forward too. The planner sees this, drags the delayed order to Line 4 (which has room), and the Line 4 operator sees it in their queue within seconds – no phone calls or whiteboard updates needed.
For a full guide to the operator screen, including reporting, downtime logging, and quality checks, see the Operator View page.