Embroidery Machine Schedule
Purpose: To allocate production time in an
effort to complete jobs on time.
File Name: SCHEDULE
Format: Single Page, 1 Part
This simple form is used to create scheduling information for
multiple machines in embroidery shops.
Use:
In every company, one person should be responsible for scheduling, and that person
should take exclusive control of creating these forms. To use the form, you will probably
want to start by creating a 3-ring binder for scheduling, and place a number of these
forms in the binder. Date the forms from today's date to a point where production is open.
In most business-acceptable pricing systems, an estimate of
total job time is produced.(The Pricelist software products on this CD-ROM give this
information) You will want to make certain to retain that figure for for each order so the
person responsible for scheduling will not have to re-compute that figure for each job.
Each day, or as orders come in, go to the scheduler and look for an open area in the
schedule where there is an adequate amount of time on the proper type of machine to
accommodate the order. Denote the order in as in the example shown, showing the
anticipated time used from the start time to anticipated end time.
Tips: You will want to fit times as closely
as possible. If a six-hour slot is available on one day, and a 3 hour slot is available
the next, and you have a 2 3/4 hour job to schedule, fit it into the three hour slot
instead of breaking up the six hour slot. You may be thankful to have that six hour slot
later. However, if a large empty time slot is only a day or two away, you will probably
want to look for ways to fill it instead of letting a machine sit idle.
No scheduling system is perfect, and paper-based systems are
tedious. Because scheduling can change quickly, most people who use a paper-based system use
pencil so the system can change when conflicts arise. Also, unless you have
overtime hours freely available, leave some "slack time" in each days' schedule
to accommodate problems. If you schedule 6 hours in a 7 hour work day (typical 8 hour work
days only have 7 hours because of breaks and lunch) you usually won't find more than 15
minutes of unused time in a shift, and that time is easily used for cleaning and
maintenance.
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