Production & Procurement: guides, playbooks and tools.

By the Autowhat AI team · Updated 7 Oct 2026

• Blog posts

• What Counts as Firm Demand Is a Policy ChoiceEvery production plan starts from demand, but most plants never write down which orders count as firm. That unwritten rule causes planning arguments, wrong buys and meaningless plan-vs-actual gaps. We argue for an agreed rule by stage and channel, held as a setting, with exceptions made visibly.
• Why Your Production Plan Needs Frozen DaysA plan that changes every hour looks responsive on screen but causes chaos on a bakery floor, where flour, packaging, people and dispatch are already committed. We argue for frozen days near term, firming days after them and a fluid plan beyond, with every break of the freeze made deliberately and recorded.

• Guides

• Capacity Planning in Production: A Practical GuideCapacity planning in production converts open orders into hours on each line, machine and team, fills each day in priority order, pulls later orders ahead into spare hours, and flags any resource above 100% load as a bottleneck before the day arrives. Use real rates, include packing and manpower, and re-plan when orders change.
• Raw Material Planning: From Production Plan to Buy ListRaw material planning multiplies planned production by the quantity per unit from the recipe or packaging BOM, subtracts stock on hand and in transit, and times each purchase so it arrives before the bin runs low: order-by date equals the stock-out day minus real lead time and a safety margin. Rank shortages by what stops a line first.
• Production Plan vs Actual: Tracking Daily VarianceProduction plan vs actual compares, for every SKU and day, the frozen planned quantity with production lots from plant records, and records a reason for each significant gap. Reviewing the largest gaps daily and grouping reasons monthly shows the real constraint and which standard rates in the plan are wrong.

• Free calculators

• Raw Material Order-by Date CalculatorDays of cover = (stock on hand + in transit) ÷ planned daily use. Order within = days of cover − supplier lead time − safety margin. Order quantity covers lead time, safety and the chosen period at planned use, minus what you already have. This free calculator shows all three for one material.

• Playbooks

• Fixing the One-Person Production Planning WorkbookA plan that lives in one person’s workbook leaves the plant guessing when they are away. Map every sheet, separate masters from calculations, write down the firm-demand and priority rules, read orders and lots live, keep the same columns and colours with an Excel download, and give viewer, planner and admin roles with a change log.

• Comparisons

• Production Planning in Excel vs a Live Planning SystemExcel suits a single line with few SKUs and stable demand. When several lines share packing and materials, orders change daily and procurement acts on someone else’s plan, a live planning system that reads orders, checks capacity, plans materials and logs changes helps, as long as it keeps the planners’ columns, colours and Excel download.

The product behind these guides. Production & Procurement — Plan the line, buy on time. Book a 30-minute working session.

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