Transparency,
on-time delivery & efficiency

Why do many companies fail despite intensive efforts?

High and reliable on-time delivery is increasingly becoming the measure of all things. Your customers expect this from you. Being able to make realistic delivery promises quickly and reliably meet them later is becoming an important competitive advantage. There are many approaches that attempt to achieve this. As a rule, too little attention is paid to the requirements and special features of customer order-related production or projects with fluctuating work content and competing resources.

Lean approaches help to streamline processes, become more flexible and increase the flow rate. However, these approaches reach their limits in many cases. "Just organize yourselves so that you don't need any planning at all." This motto is not very helpful. Conventional planning systems, on the other hand, try to predict the future with minute-by-minute planning, but here too there are massive limits. "No matter how complex your production is, we plan everything. If necessary, right down to the tool, to the minute of course!" Who would think of trying to predict the future?


With PiT®- Produzieren im Takt, complex processes can be handled easily and kept flowing at all times

The production system  PiT®- Produzieren im Takt makes it possible for the first time to exploit the advantages of flow orientation for productions with different work content and complex material flows. The focus of takt-oriented planning is on the synchronization and timing of work packages across the relevant resources of the company. In higher-level planning, key dates are specified on the basis of the defined cycles, within which the teams carry out their sequence planning and processing of the orders independently.

The organizational approach is supported by the use of 3Liter-PPS®, the ingeniously simple planning software that was specially developed for the cycle-oriented planning approach. It enables  capacity-tested scheduling, makes the processing status within the cycles transparent and supports decentralized detailed planning within the cycles.


Planning in fixed time intervals - resource cycle

Planning takes place in fixed time frames. All work steps within a time frame have identical start and end dates. This creates freedom of action for processing. An order / project usually runs through many time frames, depending on the complexity of the added value. Compliance with WIP limits, i.e. limiting the worklist to what is feasible, through capacity-checked planning. This regulates the stock level and therefore also the flow rate. Planning in time grids, taking into account all capacity limits, creates the necessary room for maneuver at the operational level.


Coarsening of the planning

As coarse as possible, only as fine as necessary! By forming resource groups, teams and machine groups, planning can be coarsened as required. This leads to a very efficient determination of delivery dates with great robustness and, on the other hand, creates the absolutely necessary room for maneuver for execution. It must be possible to react flexibly and independently to disruptions, deviations, etc. This creates acceptance and is the key to high adherence to delivery dates.


Flexible capacity model

Use flexibility, do not commit to nonsensical dates!

Unlike traditional planning systems, our innovative planning approach makes it possible to fill the cycles against flexible capacity limits. The PiT® traffic light model already takes into account the degree of flexibility possible in the company when simulating orders. As a result, it is already clear at the rough planning stage whether overtime, additional shifts or other flexibility measures need to be introduced in order to achieve the highest possible delivery capacity.

The visualization of the traffic light status creates the necessary transparency for everyone to initiate appropriate measures in advance. This creates acceptance, reduces disruptions and brings calm to the execution level.


Separation of draft and detailed planning

The central draft planning allows orders or complex projects to be scheduled quickly and with little effort at the click of a mouse. This means that all key dates are set. The cycles are filled via the rough planning. Processing within the cycles is decentralized at the execution level. This is where it is determined within the cycle who carries out which task and when, or on which machine an order is executed. This has the advantage that detailed planning can be carried out decoupled for each area, depending on set-up restrictions, sequence criteria, faults, etc., without jeopardizing the order throughput as a whole.


Processes and organization

Decentralized forms of organization, agile teams, scrum teams, but also the classic department or foreman's office in a production facility need room for manoeuvre to process their orders efficiently. This is the only way to tap into the great potential within the organization for the benefit of the company. The tried-and-tested solution modules developed by LF enable a structured and sustainable implementation of PiT®- Produce in time in your company.



PiT®- Produzieren im Takt

Waste-free, low-inventory and delivering what the customer actually needs in the shortest possible time - exactly when they need it.

Planning

Cycle-oriented planning is the central element of PiT®- Produzieren im Takt. The four principles shown in the diagram are essential. The approach can be used optimally in development, production, assembly and prototyping.

PiT® in production

The cycle creates a worklist with room for maneuver for the execution level. Detailed planning is decentralized there. The resource cycle fulfills two tasks: To create leeway for optimization, sequencing, reaction to disruptions as well as bindingness in execution and robustness of planning.

PiT® in projects

The tasks usually run over several cycles. Multi-project planning is online and capacity-checked. The task of the cycle is to coarsen the key dates, reduce multitasking and provide intelligent buffer management.


Das PiT®-Modell


PiT® is the consistent further development of the lean and agile philosophy

  • Fluctuating work content
  • Unreliability of equipment, suppliers, etc.

PiT® is the backbone that makes lean approaches fly properly and permanently

  • As little planning as possible but as much as necessary
  • No restriction of the organization but maximum support
  • Increased efficiency through consistency in IT
  • Forward-looking transparency for even better store floor management
  • Improvement of store floor management through rough planning

PiT® is suitable for the entire value chain

  • Development
  • Prototyping
  • Testing
  • Production
  • Assembly
  • Maintenance