Production Capacity and Burden
This article provides an overview of the Production Capacity and Burden feature. After setting up the Burden on manufactured products, and the Capacity on machines, the Production Capacity Dashboard provides an overview of how much work has been scheduled for the machines.
Machine Capacity Settings
Machine capacity settings are configured within the Machine List, accessible from the Production tab. This screen allows the user to define capacity values for each machine used in production. Each machine includes two primary fields: Standard Capacity and Material Change Burden.
- Standard Capacity defines the base daily capacity for the machine.
- Material Change Burden defines the additional capacity impact associated with material changes during production.
The Machine List also includes columns for each day of the week, allowing the user to enter override values for daily capacity. When a value is entered for a specific day, it replaces the Standard Capacity for that day. If no override is provided, the system uses the Standard Capacity value by default. These settings are used by Paradigm to calculate and track production capacity usage.
Inventory Production Details
The Burden Per Unit field is located on each Inventory Item within the Production tab, in the Production Steps table under the column labeled “Burden Per Unit.” The values can be set for each production step, which adds that step’s value to each machine’s burden for the day for each unit of the product being produced.
Order Production Details
Setting Production Dates
In the header of the Order window the Production tab has two tables that provide a read-only view of the manufactured products on the order. The table on the left shows a line for every manufactured product showing production dates, quantity, status, and other information. The table on the right shows all machines that will be affected by the manufactured products, the burden that the order will add, and the calculated total to which releasing the order will bring the machine. Any lines with red text indicate that the machine has already exceeded 100% capacity for the selected production date.
The first button to the right of the table, View Builds In List, opens Inventory Builds window and filters the contents to show the Inventory Builds for the current order.
The second button, Edit Production Dates, opens the edit window that allows choosing new production dates for the manufactured products on the order. Using this options allows editing the production dates for all builds that are assigned to one machine at the same time. For more information about options and limitations with setting production dates, see the article Edit Production Dates.
Alternatively, clicking the button to view the details for one of the order’s lines opens the Details Window. Within this window, clicking on the “Build / Assembly” button opens the build information for the selected line. Whether through the Inventory Builds window or through opening up the Build / Assembly window, this controls the Production Date for only the build that it currently selected.
Releasing the Order
If releasing the order causes a machine to exceed 100% capacity, an error message warns the user. Clicking “View Production Dates” cancels release, and instead opens the same Edit Production Dates window as previously described. Clicking “Ignore” continues with releasing the order, and adds the order’s builds to the calculated machine capacity.
Build Options
Within the Inventory Build window, users can view and override values the assigned machine and production date. This is also where a custom value can be chosen for the “Burden,” the amount of work that a particular piece will require. The values that were set on the inventory item’s Assembly are brought into the build by default. Adjusting the values here only affects the currently selected build for the inventory item.
Production Capacity Dashboard
The Production Capacity Dashboard is accessible from the Production ribbon tab. The Production Capacity Dashboard shows a visual summary of machine capacity vs. scheduled burden over a selected date range, with filters for date, warehouse, and days of the week. Each machine displays a daily bar chart where colors indicate capacity status and components like production burden and material changes. To see more details about a particular bar, hover the mouse pointer over it.
As the Key shows, the bar colors indicate capacity utilization levels.
- Green: Below 85% of capacity
- Orange: Between 85% and 100% of capacity
- Red: Above 100% of capacity
Show or Hide a Machine Graph
To show a machine’s graph in the dashboard, put a value into the machine’s Standard Capacity in the Machine List window. To hide a machine’s graph, delete the machine’s Standard Capacity value.
Material Changes
Paradigm adds in Material Change to the burden calculated for a specific date based on the components required for the builds that are scheduled for that date. If, for example, the Trims that are scheduled for the Trim Brake include 3 distinct Coils in the components across all the builds, 2 times the amount for Material Change will be added to the graph for that date.
Edit Daily Capacity
Clicking on a bar opens up a window titled “Edit Daily Capacity.” At the top, the View Orders and View Builds buttons allow viewing the orders or builds that are affecting the machine’s burden on the specified date. The two number editors allow adjusting maintenance and max capacity. The options for Save and Cancel allow closing the window. If values have been saved that are different than the machine’s default, the reset button will be enabled.
Set Max Capacity
Changing the value of Max Capacity will set the capacity for the selected machine on the specified date.
Scheduled Maintenance
Adding a value to the Scheduled Maintenance causes the machine’s graph to add a blue portion to the burden for the specified date.
User Permissions
The Production Capacity Dashboard respects the same User Security permissions as the Production windows.
Production Capacity Data Utilities
The Data Utilities section includes a button to Recalculate Unposted Builds, which updates burden values for builds that have not yet been completed by production. This utility is useful after making changes to Burden values on inventory item assemblies. It recreates builds that are not completed using the new values from the inventory items.
The Recalculate All Builds button applies the same recalculation process, but targets all builds, including those that have already been completed. This option is typically used less frequently, as it updates historical data as well. It can be helpful when reviewing or fine-tuning capacity planning by allowing users to see how updated settings affect past production days.