How do I know how much of each product to make this month?
| Intagya ERP
Put in one table, for each product, what you expect to sell each month, the stock you have, the open manufacturing orders and the safety stock you do not want to go under; the gap is what you make. In Intagya ERP the Production plan inside Manufacturing works this out per product and per month or week, suggests the quantity and the start date, and creates the manufacturing order in one click.
The manager of a juice plant walks into the monthly meeting with one sheet of paper. It has two numbers for each item: what sold last month and what is in the warehouse today. He looks at it for a minute and decides: same orange as last month, a little more mango.
Three weeks later a salesman calls. A big customer wants orange juice, and the warehouse holds half of it. In the same corner sits enough mango for two months.
The decision was not bad. It was a decision without a table.
Why is it not enough to make what I made last month?
Because next month is not always like the last one. There is a season, a promotion, a new customer, or an old manufacturing order still running. The number that matters is not what you sold but what you will need, less what you have and what is on its way.
Write that down for every product and every month in one table and the answer shows itself: here you need 500 packs, there you need nothing because an open order already covers it.
What numbers do I need to work out how much to make?
Four numbers per product and per period:
- Expected demand: what you expect to sell, typed by you or suggested from your past sales.
- Stock at the start: what is left from the previous period.
- Open orders: confirmed manufacturing orders that will reach the warehouse in the period.
- Safety stock: the least stock you accept at the end of the period.
The suggested quantity is safety stock plus demand, less the stock at the start and the open orders. If your line will not run a batch under 500 packs, or cannot do more than 3,000 a month, you set those two limits and the plan never suggests a number you cannot make.
How do I see all of this per product on one screen?
In Intagya ERP open Manufacturing, then Planning, then Production plan. A manufacturing manager adds the products the plant makes, and their components can join from the bill of materials. Each product gets a card, each month a column.
Type the expected demand in its cell and the suggested quantity and the expected stock change for that month and every month after it. Below it sits Confirmed sales: sales orders due for delivery in the month. When they are larger than your figure the plan uses them, because a customer who already ordered does not wait for your forecast.
When must I start making so I am not late?
Under every suggested quantity is a date, such as Make by 26/11. It is the start of the month less the manufacturing time in the bill of materials. Once that date passes it turns red: Make today.
That red is the most useful thing on the screen. Do not start the day by checking every number; start with whatever turned red.
Do I then create the manufacturing orders by hand?
No. Press the date itself and the manufacturing order is created with the bill of materials and the date it is needed. Or press Create the orders of this period to see everything suggested this month in one list: manufacturing orders, and requests for quotation for materials grouped per vendor.
The manufacturing order is created confirmed and the request for quotation as a draft you check before sending. The quantity then shows under Open orders and the cell reads Ordered, so nobody orders the same thing twice.
What if the product already has a minimum stock rule?
If it has an automatic reordering rule in the same warehouse, the plan pauses it when you add the product. Two tools ordering for the same need means two orders. Pick one per product: the plan suits items you make in quantities that move with the seasons, a minimum rule is enough for a small item used at a steady pace.
How do I set the safety stock and the minimum and maximum order?
From Settings on the product card. Start with a safety stock that covers a week of sales, then watch. If every month ends with stock far above it, lower it.
The same settings choose how orders are created: manual with a button, or automatic every morning on the order date. Keep it manual in the first month, until you trust the numbers.
Do not forecast every product on day one. Start with your five best sellers: they are the ones that cost you when they run out.
Tomorrow morning add your best seller to the plan, type what you expect for the next three months, and look: is there a red cell this month?
Read the production plan guide step by step
FAQ
Where is the production plan?
In the Manufacturing app: Planning, then Production plan. It shows in every workspace that has Manufacturing.
Do I plan by month or by week?
Either. Switch between Monthly and Weekly; a week takes its share of the monthly figure when you type none for it.
Does the plan create orders by itself?
Only for products you set to Automatic, every morning on their order date. The rest wait for your click.
Do I need the Purchase app?
For materials you buy, yes, since the request for quotation is made in Purchase. Planning what you make works with Manufacturing alone.
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