Plan production for the October delivery peak

What is going on

October is the heaviest month of the year. The St Aidan's College blazers, the Harbourline front of house shirts, the Pinnacle Rail high visibility shirts and the Bassline boom covers are all due, the reflective tape for Pinnacle is still on order, one band knife is out of service, and the Merriwa aprons are on hold for fabric. The General Manager has approved a voluntary afternoon overtime crew from 5 October. She wants a two-week production plan that sequences the work orders through cutting, sewing and finishing, sets daily output targets, shows where the afternoon crew is needed and flags every material and machine constraint, for the leadership meeting on 15 September.

Your brief

Produce a two-week production plan for the cutting room and sewing floor that sequences the open work orders to meet their due dates, sets daily targets by section, allocates the afternoon crew, identifies material and machine constraints with actions, and is summarised on one page for the leadership team.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the Quality Policy section on the specification chain and the Lay-up, Marking and Cutting Procedure, then list every open work order from Production Work Orders with quantity, status, due date and tech pack version.
• Check each work order's tech pack in the Tech Pack Register is at Approved and note any that cannot be cut yet.
• Check Materials and Trims Stock for the fabric and trims each work order needs and record every shortage, on-order item and quarantined item as a constraint.
• Estimate cutting and sewing time per unit for each style from the construction sequence and standard minute values, and calculate the daily capacity of the cutting room with one band knife and of the sewing floor with and without the afternoon crew.
• Sequence the work orders across the two weeks in a plan that shows daily output targets by section and meets each due date, or shows clearly where a date cannot be met and why.
• Allocate the afternoon crew to the days and operations where it lifts output most, and note the supervision and first aid cover the notice requires.
• Consult the Production Manager and the Supply and Dispatch Coordinator on the constraints and record the actions agreed, owners and dates.
• Prepare a one-page summary for the leadership meeting with the plan, the risks to each delivery and the decisions the General Manager needs to make.
• Update the notes on each work order in Production Work Orders with its planned cut and sew dates.

What someone in this role would produce

• Open work order and constraint schedule
• Capacity calculation for cutting and sewing
• Two-week production plan with daily targets and crew allocation
• One-page leadership summary
• Updated work order notes