Production plan informs a baker what products and in what sequence he/she needs to bake. The amount of produced items is calculated in real time mode. Accurate production plan requires minimum correction in the future, solving business problems effectively: write-off reduction, revenue growth.
Creating a production plan
For a production plan to be reflected on a tablet it needs to be created and linked to a location. First go to Planning section -> Production:
Newly created production plan is not shown on a tablet yet. You can take your time filling it in and when it is finished link it to the location:
Steps and step sequence
Depending on your production type a step in the system may have a different meaning:
- if you mix the dough, then a step is a dough mixing operation
- if you use frozen goods, then a step is an oven operating cycle
Possibly, working with paper production plans you did not have such a detailed breakdown. In this case we recommend writing down the order of these actions first:
Steps can be included into the Production plan in the section Steps order.
| Information | Comment |
| Name | Step name which a baker will see on a tablet. The name should contain the information relevant for an employee or dough mixing sequence. Examples:«KTN: **» – step for a kitchen worker«** 1» – number of dough production operation |
| Beginning time | This is the time when an employee goes to a dough mixer or an oven and starts performing a chosen step. Admissible deviation from the recommended time can be configured in the system. |
| Completion time | This is the time when an employee takes the goods out of the oven or completes packing. We assume that at this moment the goods are ready to be sold. |
| Automatic write-off | With a tick active the entire previous balance will be written off and set to 0 as soon as production is completed. |
| Products | How many product types will be produced during this step. |
| Actions | To add a new step after the chosen one. To change the step order. To delete a step. |
The steps are reflected on a tablet in the following manner:
Filling in product steps
It is very important that bakers see the benefits of using production plans at every stage of their work with a tablet. Even if you help decide “in what sequence and what to bake” it is already a great help for a baker.
We must add items which are baked of this particular dough, or with a chosen production program to each step. To add an item it is enough to press Add product button within the step and enter the product name in the new field:
If you don’t indicate the amount of goods to be produced, then the system will ask the baker how many items he has baked.
The next chapter is about quantity calculation.
Quantity calculation for production
To configure calculation of the amount to be produced is the most difficult part of production plan creation.
Let’s check the first field Version to be filled in:
| Value | Comment |
| 0 | If you leave the field blank a baker will be suggested to enter the value manually when pressing the tab. |
| 50 | A baker will see the value which you indicated, e.g. 50 pcs or kgs depending on the basic unit. |
| 50% | The system calculates average sales over a required period and will suggest producing 50% of this amount. |
If Auto is ticked (active) then at the moment the baker starts a step, the recommended production figure will be calculated using the following formula:
Recommendation = Left to sell – Current balance – Future production
Also the following additional settings can be made:
| Setting | Comment |
| Requests | To take into account requests from locations or not. If you indicate 0 production and tick Request, production will be planned only when there is a request. |
| Leave out balances | Functions only if Auto is ticked. The current balance will be excluded from the formula. |
| Range, from and to | Recommended production amount, it will be within this rangeif specified in % or using the Auto tick |
| Quantum | Production multiplicity. If 6, then the calculated production figure will be multiple of 6. |
| Rounding | Rounding upward or downward if the value is fractional. 5,1 will be rounded to 6 by the system in case of upward rounding. 6.9 can be rounded to 6 in case of downward rounding. |
Calculation period
The first thing we can configure in the calculations tab is the shift open time. If the employees start work earlier than 00:00, this setting needs to be configured. Otherwise at 22:00 on Tuesday those workers who are preparing products for Wednesday will get Tuesday calculations.
Calculation period can be set both for the entire plan in the Calculations tab and individually for each step in the Steps tab.
Parameter names correspond to their application:
| Omission | Days calculated | Description |
| 0 | 1 | We do not omit anything starting today. I.e. Tuesday calculation will be performed on Tuesday. We make a calculation for one day. E.g. fresh baking goods. |
| 1 | 1 | Calculation is made for tomorrow. E.g., if today is Tuesday the system will make calculations for Wednesday. E.g., semi products for Wednesday. |
| 1 | 3 | Calculation for 3 days is made. If today is Tuesday, calculations are made for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. E.g. confectionery products |
The tick Do not generate Release document in steps settings should be mentioned separately. With this tick active a baker will see what she needs to make, but the document will not be generated during production. It is relevant for kitchen workers when they need to see how much filling to prepare or for bakers when they prepare semiproducts for the next day, but it is not a production operation yet.
Average sales by the day of the week
For each stock item average sales differ depending on the day of the week. It is possible to check the current value in the tab Consumption in the product card:
Clicking ‘+’ dropdown list opens and sales data for the last 4 weeks can be seen. These figures are used in production plan calculation.
