I’m kind of new at the scheduling aspect in Epicor. Is there a proper way to approach this scenario:
We have multiple truck installation bays. We float labor between different bays… specifically, one installer will default to a certain bay but when that bay is slower, he will rotate to a different one. Typically, the BOM is setup so there are two scheduled resources (the installers) but I recognize that for times I want to flex one out, I just want the operation to take twice as long and only require one resource. Is that achievable or is that something we’d have to manually flex when locking down the schedule?
I am using capabilities on the Operation and so I have them setup so this guy has multiple capabilities. I don’t know if that changes anything.
There are usually 2 operations. Each operation requires a different bay and different people (teams of 2). They don’t have to be specific teams of 2, just 2 from a pool of people. We have 9 bays total and about 25 people who share in different capabilities. And the goal of this is to try to let Epicor layout our schedule and see if we can follow it “better” than we have been doing it manually outside of the system. Part of it is because we are looking on taking on a bunch more work but before we do, leadership wanted to be sure we’re making the most efficient use of our existing resources and wanted to be able to more accurately say how many more we can do and by when… etc. Depending on the type of work, it will slot into certain bays with certain people… and it becomes fairly complex because of the combinations. I’m sure this is “normal” to most manufacturing environments, but we have been pretty rudimentary with how we schedule things… and it’s kind of new territory for me.
So, have you read the Scheduling Tech Ref yet? If not, you are going to have to.
What you are going to have to figure out is how long would it take for 1 employee in 1 bay to complete the operation. Then you are going to have to use scheduling blocks so that each employee that is added to the operation reduces the time. I have not done much with Scheduling Blocks, so I am struggling to give more direction.
That’s actually what I’m testing right now. The way I understand it, that’s the right lever to pull. If I schedule 2 people as resources, it’s locked in stone as 2 people and then I have to halve the production standard… but I don’t think that’s what i want to do.
They are all in the same resource group (for now).
I read about Scheduling Blocks but what I am unclear about is if they are mandatory or if they represent an “optional” way to schedule… as in, with a completely unloaded schedule, there are no constraints - so why break them into smaller blocks when you can meet the due date without doing so? But the system may break them into blocks if necessary up to the number you specify? Is that right?
What I think you want to do is set the bay resource group to 1 scheduling block (because you can’t split a vehicle between 2 bays) and for the employee resource group you want the scheduling blocks to equal the number or resources. When creating the MOM, add the bay resource group as the primary and then add the employee resource group as an additional.
I would not set the scheduling blocks on the actual operation in the MOM.
I think that would work… but before I get too far ahead of myself, will that take into account at all the Capabilities? They seem to only let me load a resource into the capability (not a resource group). If I had to go this route, it would not account for the people who are able to work in multiple capabilities and to allow the system to make the best use of their time, then?
I tested like you described and it still only used one resource even though the resource group was set to 2 blocks. I wonder if the same thing is happening - there is ample time for one resource to do it and meet the due date so it does not require a second resource to “speed it up”.
All the schedule job does on a job is schedule that job without consideration of anything else. Global Scheduling is what looks at everything and schedules it based off of all the various jobs and parameters
Oh, ok. I hadn’t gotten that far yet. I have been letting MRP do my scheduling thus far. Maybe that’s not what I want. I should try the Global Scheduling and see if that gives different results. I understand we will want to use this to regenerate the schedule without touching MRP. And I am aware that it has prioritization and stuff worked into it.
I must be missing something basic. I can’t get it to use scheduling blocks at all. I’ve got it boiled down to a single operation, a single scheduled resource, blocks set to 2 on the operation and the resource group. What else do I need to do to tell this thing to add a second resource so it can get done twice as fast?
