The Production Planner module addresses the challenge of scheduling manufacturing operations on the shop floor. In pharmaceutical and batch manufacturing environments, production planning involves coordinating equipment, materials, personnel, and regulatory constraints while meeting delivery commitments.
PLAIO’s Production Planner provides visual, constraint-aware scheduling that gives planners direct control over production sequencing while maintaining visibility into the downstream effects of scheduling decisions.
Production Campaigns
Production campaigns are groupings of similar production jobs scheduled consecutively on the same manufacturing line to minimize changeovers, reduce setup and cleaning time, and improve efficiency.
Key characteristics:
Grouped by similarity: Jobs in a campaign typically share the same molecule, product family, strength, or formulation to reduce cleaning and changeover requirements
Sequential execution: Orders are placed and sequenced within a defined campaign window on a specific resource
Efficiency driver: Campaigns reduce downtime between jobs by batching similar products together, minimizing the need for extensive line cleaning or equipment reconfiguration.
Visual Interactive Scheduling
Production schedules are displayed through interactive Gantt charts where planners can see operations, resource assignments, and timing across production lines. The visual interface supports:
Drag-and-drop scheduling: Move production jobs between time slots and resources.
Duration adjustment: Extend or compress job durations based on actual conditions.
Sequence modification: Reorder jobs to optimize changeover times or meet priority requirements.
Resource visualization: See equipment availability, maintenance windows, and capacity utilization.
Real-Time Impact Awareness
When planners make scheduling changes, PLAIO immediately calculates and displays the impact on inventory levels, service commitments, and downstream operations. This real-time feedback helps planners understand the consequences of their decisions before committing to changes.
The system highlights conflicts such as resource overallocation, material shortages, or delivery risks, allowing planners to resolve issues proactively rather than discovering problems during execution.
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Support
The Production Planner is built to support pharmaceutical manufacturing requirements including batch production processes, campaign planning for similar products, equipment qualification and validation constraints, and documentation requirements for regulatory compliance.