nMetric 4C Provides Event-based, Dynamic Shop Floor Scheduling -- Traditional Scheduling Software Delays Production and Relies Too Heavily on Standards

nMetric announced that production scheduling software must provide dynamic scheduling for two reasons.

COSTA MESA, CALIF. -- March 26, 2003 -- nMetric today announced that production scheduling software must provide dynamic scheduling for two reasons. First of all, it should not hinder. Every second a process is delayed affects the start of other processes. When that happens, conventional scheduling systems, such as Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS), Forward Scheduling, Backward Scheduling, Finite Scheduling and Infinite Scheduling, usually recalculate the entire schedule. This takes time, leading to vicious cycles of creating production schedules with time lines that are close, but not real.

Secondly, traditional scheduling software is based on standard rates rather than real-time, live production data. "Standards" often do not accurately reflect actual rates and capacities. Standard lead times are not competitive--and may be wrong--when trying to win business in build-to-order business environments. Worse, actual real-time production anomalies may fall outside "standard" conditions, making moot any window into manufacturing.

Current software systems don't deliver manufacturing visibility and live scheduling," explains Tom Carpenter, nMetric CEO. Finite capacity scheduling (FCS) systems are deterministic; they schedule orders on the shop floor based on applicable resource constraints, but they do not respond to or interact with the dynamic nature of the production environment. Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems focus on materials, but dont address required manufacturing resources, such as equipment, tooling, and labor needed to manufacture product.

None of these approaches provide accurate, timely, and comprehensive information to make responsible real-time commitments for Build to Order," emphasizes Carpenter. Without real-time scheduling, decisions are made about delivering on time, without knowing what can be manufactured on time. Shop floor schedulers adapt. They anticipate and prepare for production problems by building in buffers in time, tooling, capacity and inventory. The result is costly inventory buffers, inefficient production, missed order dates, lost customers and low profit margins with little visibility to upper management.

According to Carpenter, nMetrics 4C is a real-time, always-on, probabilistic scheduling system. It schedules, monitors, tracks and optimizes shop floor and related activities based on production data. The scheduling engine continuously monitors shop floor processes and events that have occurred on time, plus those both ahead and behind schedule. As events progress, 4C reschedules production loads as new customer orders come in.

4C also supports collaboration through user-configurable event messaging, which alerts appropriate people when shop floor processes are not progressing as expected or planned so management can respond to production events in time to make a difference. It analyzes production data by running a virtual production operation into the future to see where scheduling conflicts may arise. Coupled with user access through wireless or network devices, 4C provides capable-to-build information that highlights whether the production process is capable of delivering a new order by a specific date.

About nMetric

nMetrics 4C system is the only software that provides mid-sized and smaller manufacturers with live scheduling, monitoring and tracking, messaging updates and analyses so that they can completely oversee all steps of their manufacturing process and proactively supervise the dynamics of their supply chain in real time to accurately predict what will happen. Company headquarters are at 3070 South Bristol Avenue, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626. Phone is 888-561-9700. Website is www.nmetric.com.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION-
Tom Carpenter         
nMETRIC
714-424-4400
tom.carpenter@nmetric.com

Tom Brigham            
BRIGHAM SCULLY            
818-716-9021         
tbrigham@brighamscully.com

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