Client Spotlight: Production Schedule

Client

A specialty food manufacturer needed a faster, cleaner way to build daily production forecasts that tied directly to inventory data and allergen controls. As order volume and private-label work grew, planners were juggling units (cases, pallets, individual units), shifts, and allergen visibility across multiple spreadsheets, creating friction, slowing decisions, and introducing risk.

ERP

The company was already running Sage 300 for items and inventory, with manufacturing and forecast tables that contained the right data: item masters, unit conversions, weights, and optional fields. But Sage lacked a purpose-built forecasting screen. Teams had the raw data but no efficient way to bring it all together for operations planning.

The Problem

Forecasting was spread across a patchwork of spreadsheets and lists. Planners had to calculate unit conversions manually, track allergens in separate files, and enter sides and shifts without a consistent standard. Updating even a single forecast line meant digging through tabs or emails, and remote employees had no way to check the latest schedule unless someone exported and sent a file.

The challenges showed up in several ways:

• Unit math (CASE ↔ PALLET ↔ UNIT) was manual and error-prone.
• Weight per line had to be calculated separately using external references.
• Allergen checks weren’t visible at the point of entry.
• Side/shift assignments (1–3) weren’t standardized, creating confusion on the floor.
• Remote employees lacked easy access to schedules in real time.

The Solution

To address these issues, I built a two-part system: a Windows desktop application for planners to create and manage forecasts, and a web application that provides view-only access for employees across the company.

Desktop Application (Data Entry & Management)
The desktop tool became the central hub for building and maintaining forecasts. It connects directly to ERP tables (FRCSTENT, PPFCASD) and validates entries in real time. Key features include:

• Live item lookup with descriptions auto-filled from ERP.
• Smart UOM handling: enter quantities in CASE or PALLET, with automatic conversion to UNIT and recalculated totals.
• Automated weight rollups, using ICITEM.UNITWGT × conversion factors.
• Allergen visibility: any item marked with the ALLERGEN optional field (ICITEMO) is highlighted immediately.
• Side/Shift fields with built-in validation, ensuring only values 1–3 are accepted.
• Inline editing for dates, items, quantities, sides, and shifts — validated against ERP records.
• Safe deletes that remove linked records together.
• Direct write-through to ERP, keeping forecasts synchronized across systems.

Web Application (Company-Wide Visibility)
Alongside the desktop tool, I built a lightweight web app that displays the live production schedule. Employees can access it from anywhere – desktops, tablets, or phones – without needing Sage. It provides:

• A clean, searchable grid showing dates, items, units, quantities, weights, sides, and shifts.
• Export options for CSV or print.
• Responsive design for easy use across devices.

With this addition, the shop floor, supervisors, and remote staff all gain immediate, read-only visibility into the production schedule.

Impact

The combined desktop and web applications replaced a fragmented, manual process with a unified forecasting system. Planning cycles are faster because unit conversions and weight rollups happen instantly. Errors have dropped thanks to live item validation and allergen flags. Standardized Side/Shift fields improve communication with the floor, while the web app ensures that anyone in the company can view the production schedule in real time. Most importantly, forecasts are now written back to the ERP, providing a single source of truth that both planners and operators can rely on.