Playbook
When the production plan lives in one person’s workbook.
Dozens of linked sheets, formulas only the planner understands, and a plant that guesses when that person is on leave.
The problem
The production plan, the material buy and the capacity check all live in one workbook on one laptop. It works, because the planner is good. But nobody else can read it, a broken link goes unnoticed, and procurement sees the plan only after it is emailed.
The playbook
- Map the workbook. List every sheet, what it reads and what it feeds: orders, plan, actuals, projection, materials, packaging, capacity.
- Separate masters from calculations. SKUs, lines, rates, calendars and BOMs are masters; keep one copy of each.
- Write down the rules. Which order stages count as firm demand, how priority is decided, when pull-ahead is allowed.
- Read live data, do not retype it. Orders and production lots should come from the plant’s records.
- Keep what people trust. Same column order, same colour legend, and an Excel download on every screen.
- Give roles. Viewers read the plan, planners override and freeze, admins own masters.
- Log changes. Every override and master edit with who and when.
How to know it worked
- The plan is published on a day the main planner is away.
- Procurement acts on the plan the same morning, not days later.
- Fewer rush purchases and fewer days where a line is over 100% load unnoticed.
How Production & Procurement does it
Production & Procurement rebuilds the plant’s planning workbook as one live system. Firm orders, read from the plant’s own records, become a suggested plan: each working day, due SKUs take line capacity in priority order and pull-ahead fills the hours left. Planners can override any cell and freeze days already committed. The plan flows into a three-month projection, a raw-material plan net of stock and in-transit, a packaging plan from the packaging BOM, and a procurement list with what to order, how much and by when. Machine load and manpower are checked against the plan, red above 100% and amber above 85%. A digital twin of the site shows bins, lines and gates live, through the past month and seven days ahead, and says “not recorded” where data is missing. Every screen downloads to Excel, and plant systems are read, never written.
Questions
Why is a single planning workbook a risk?
Because the plant depends on one person to run and understand it. When they are away, nobody can publish or check the plan, and errors in linked formulas go unnoticed.
How do you move off a planning workbook without losing what works?
Map every sheet, separate masters from calculations, write down the rules, read data live, and keep the same columns, colours and an Excel download so planners still recognise their sheet.
See it on your own data. Production & Procurement — Plan the line, buy on time. Book a 30-minute working session with an engineer.