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How Production Managers Can See Capacity Before Accepting an Order

| By Giles Johnston

Accepting orders without knowing whether the factory can meet the requested delivery date creates avoidable problems. Orders pile up, schedules become difficult to manage, and last-minute changes become routine.

For production managers, capacity visibility is essential. Before committing to an order, they need to see what work is already loaded into the factory and whether there is room to deliver on time.

Why is this so important?

Reliable on-time delivery matters because customers value suppliers they can depend on. Better delivery performance can strengthen customer relationships, increase sales, and improve profitability.

It is amazing, that in this current time we live in, reliability is still a great strategy to follow!

To the top of the supply chain league table!

One manufacturer we had worked with, had been accepting whatever lead time their customers requested. This was despite them not checking whether it was realistic. The result was a congested order book and constant scheduling pressure.

By putting simple rules in place to help their customers load their business more effectively, the manufacturer improved ‘on-time in-full’ delivery performance from the low 30% range to the mid-90s. That moved them to the top of their supply-chain league table.

Does your ERP system help you?

An ERP system can make this practical by providing a clear view of factory load. With capacity visible before an order is accepted, teams can set realistic delivery dates, protect scheduling, and improve on-time delivery.

So, what can you do in the first instance?

  • If you have an ERP system, see if you can configure it so that it reflects your factory’s constraints.

  • If you don’t have an ERP system, find a way to use your primary bottleneck to identify workload levels.

  • Whatever option you have, implement a form of contract review where you consider your capacity before you commit to a delivery date.

These simple tips can make a big difference to your on time delivery, customer satisfaction and profitability.

Enjoy!

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