Product
A planning and reporting layer for modern factories
FactoryPlan.app connects your production schedule to live MES/OEE feedback so you can see what should be running, what is actually happening, what it is costing and what needs to change. It works alongside your MES, ERP and OEE systems rather than replacing them.
Live production schedule
A visual production plan by line, shift, product, order and customer, with planned and actual timings side by side.
- Planned start and finish against actual start and live estimated finish.
- Live status on every order: on plan, ahead, behind, stopped, changeover or at risk.
- Order management, amends, cancellations and moves between lines.
MES/OEE integration
Pull live performance feedback from your MES/OEE system and connect it directly to the production plan.
- Uses live line status, downtime, output, speed and OEE data.
- An integration-neutral adapter, built to support further MES/OEE platforms.
- Live feedback drives the schedule, the reports and the cost view.
Line 3
Packing
FP-1060 · Orange Juice 1L
Output/hr
6,750
Downtime
12m
Est. finish
12:55
Plan vs actual tracking
Compare planned output, actual output and expected completion so you can see which orders are drifting from plan.
- Highlight the lines, orders and shifts that are off track.
- Show the impact of downtime and speed loss on customer orders.
- Surface delivery commitments that are starting to look at risk.
Plan adherence
58%
7 of 12 orders on plan or ahead
Shift target 95%
Orders needing attention
4- Behind
FP-1042 · Chicken Soup 400g
Greenfield Retail · est. finish 22:40
- Stopped
FP-1048 · Lasagne Ready Meal 400g
Marshall & Co · est. finish 12:00
- At risk
FP-1052 · Pasta Sauce 500g
Harbour Foods · est. finish 19:20
- At risk
FP-1085 · Chicken Soup 400g
Greenfield Retail · est. finish 05:10
Advanced production costing
Estimate true cost-to-produce using live performance, labour, downtime and waste, then compare actual cost against standard.
- Includes labour, overheads, downtime, waste, changeovers and line efficiency.
- Standard cost versus live estimated actual cost, order by order.
- Highlights which orders, products or lines are eroding margin.
Cost variance (today)
Standard cost
£100,395
Live estimated
£104,900
Variance +£4,505 (+4.5%) against standard, driven by downtime and overrun.
Detailed labour capture and reporting
Capture direct and indirect labour by shift, line and order, cost it at real shift rates, and compare costed against planned and standard, so you finally see what production labour truly costs.
- Direct and indirect labour captured by shift and line, costed at real rates including night and overtime premiums.
- Costed vs planned vs actual labour, order by order, feeding straight into margin-risk flags.
- Headcount and crewing by shift feed both capacity planning and true cost to produce.
Labour cost — planned vs actual
Costed at shift rates including night and overtime premiums.
Advanced reporting
Automated production, plan-adherence, cost-to-produce and downtime-impact reports at shift, line, product and order level.
- Plan adherence, downtime impact, cost variance and shift performance.
- Shift, line, product and order-level breakdowns.
- Export-ready data for leadership reviews.
Plan adherence
58%
7 of 12 orders on plan or ahead
Shift target 95%
Cost variance (today)
Standard cost
£100,395
Live estimated
£104,900
Variance +£4,505 (+4.5%) against standard, driven by downtime and overrun.
Production routings and planning master data
The products, routings, run rates, lines, shifts and cost standards the schedule and costing run on, held in one place and built from the records you already have.
- Product and SKU master data: categories, run rates and standard cost per unit.
- Routings across process areas (mixing, filling, packing) mapped to lines and shift patterns.
- Populated from your existing spreadsheets by AI-assisted onboarding, and editable in plain English.
Master data behind the plan
| SKU | Rate/hr | Std cost |
|---|---|---|
| SOUP-TOM-400 | 4,200 | £0.62 |
| SOUP-CHK-400 | 4,000 | £0.68 |
| JUICE-OJ-1L | 6,800 | £0.54 |
| JUICE-AP-1L | 6,800 | £0.51 |
Run rates, routings and costs from your own records.
Single source of truth
Bring planning, live performance and cost reporting into one shared view, so teams spend less time arguing over numbers and more time deciding what to do.
- One shared view for planning, operations and finance.
- Role-based access so each team sees what it needs.
- Consistent figures across the schedule, reports and costing.
Plan adherence
58%
7 of 12 orders on plan or ahead
Shift target 95%
Cost variance (today)
Standard cost
£100,395
Live estimated
£104,900
Variance +£4,505 (+4.5%) against standard, driven by downtime and overrun.
Line 5
Mixing
FP-1080 · Tomato Soup 400g
Output/hr
4,520
Downtime
6m
Est. finish
13:10
Orders needing attention
4- Behind
FP-1042 · Chicken Soup 400g
Greenfield Retail · est. finish 22:40
- Stopped
FP-1048 · Lasagne Ready Meal 400g
Marshall & Co · est. finish 12:00
- At risk
FP-1052 · Pasta Sauce 500g
Harbour Foods · est. finish 19:20
- At risk
FP-1085 · Chicken Soup 400g
Greenfield Retail · est. finish 05:10
Multi-device support
One live plan that works wherever the work happens: planners on the desktop, supervisors on shop-floor tablets, managers on a phone, all reading the same data.
- Responsive across desktop, tablet and mobile, with no separate app to install.
- Planners run the full schedule; the floor reads live line status on large screens; managers check risk from a phone.
- Role-based access controls what each person can see and change, on any device.
One live plan, every screen
Desktop
Planner
Full schedule
Tablet
Shop floor
Line status
Phone
Manager
At-risk orders
Same live data, role-based access on any device.
AI-assisted replanning
When production falls behind, FactoryPlan.app will suggest practical schedule changes for your team to review, adjust and approve. Your team stays in control.
- Move an order to another line, extend a run or resequence jobs.
- Split an order across slots, and flag where delivery dates are at risk.
- Suggestions only: planner-controlled, not autonomous scheduling.
AI-assisted replanning
SuggestedLine 2 is stopped (filler fault, 52 min and counting). Order FP-1048 is forecast to finish 3h 20m late, putting the Marshall & Co chilled order at risk.
- Move FP-1048 to Line 4 after the current run (FP-1071 finishing ~11:50).
- Extend Line 1 by 45 minutes to recover the priority FP-1042 order.
- Hold FP-1052 and re-sequence behind the moved order.
Protects the chilled dispatch for Marshall & Co due tomorrow morning.
Suggestion only. Your planner stays in control.
Adaptive planning rules
Turn planner feedback into reusable scheduling logic, so the system learns which changes matter, which rules carry weight and how your team prefers to recover the plan.
- Planners write the reason for a change in plain language. No configuration needed.
- AI proposes a rule and the planner sets its weighting (from a one-off to 'apply every time').
- Rules feed the scheduling engine, so the software adapts to how your factory actually runs.
Planner’s reason
“Moved this glass-bottle order off Line 2 again. The capper keeps jamming on glass and we lose 30+ minutes every time.”
Learned rule
When a glass-bottle SKU is due on Line 2 and another capable line has capacity, prefer the other line.
Planner’s reason
“Always run the chilled dispatch order for Greenfield before 14:00 so it makes the evening distribution slot.”
Learned rule
Sequence Greenfield chilled dispatch orders to complete before 14:00.
Loss-risk alerts at planning
Flag planned orders that are likely to run at a loss before they reach the line. FactoryPlan.app will compare each order's standard cost against what it is realistically going to cost, using overtime premiums, achievable run rates and the line's real OEE history.
- Warns when overtime crewing, a run rate below standard or historic OEE on the chosen line pushes estimated cost above what the order was costed at.
- Shows the estimated loss per order at the point of planning, so the team can reschedule, re-crew, re-price or accept it knowingly.
- Gives finance managers, commercial managers and production directors the same margin picture the planner sees, before the order runs, not at month end.
Planned order margin check
Loss risk- Standard cost
- £8,540
- Estimated cost
- £9,215
- Estimated result
- -£675
- Overtime premium, Saturday night shift+£412
- Planned run rate 92% of standard+£178
- Line 3 OEE history 71% vs 78% costed+£85
Illustrative data. Flagged at planning, before the order is committed.
The switch from Excel, without the implementation nightmare
Planning teams rarely stay on old spreadsheets because they love them. They stay because replacing them usually means data clean-up, implementation resource, and a system that needs technical help every time the model changes.
Learn from the data you already have
FactoryPlan.app is built to remove that fear. Your factory model starts from your existing production order history and planning spreadsheets. AI helps map columns, flag outliers and highlight gaps for your team to review. The numbers come from your own records, and nothing is applied until your team confirms it. AI supports the setup, it does not decide how your factory runs.
Drop your production history here
ProductionSchedule_2024.xlsx · OrderHistory.xlsx · 18 months of records
No template needed; messy is fine.
Illustrative walkthrough with sample data; no real upload or AI.
AI as a helper, not a black box
- Maps spreadsheet columns onto the system, even when headings differ between files.
- Flags outliers such as unusual durations, rates or likely data-entry errors.
- Highlights gaps such as missing run rates, unknown lines or duplicate codes.
- Turns plain-English updates into suggested settings or rules.
- It does not invent your run rates or capacities. Those come from your records.
- It does not decide your planning rules. Your team reviews and approves them.
- It does not apply changes silently. Every figure is traceable and confirmed.
How implementation works, step by step
Bring your existing spreadsheets
Upload the production schedules and order history you already keep in Excel, however messy. No template to fill in first, no data warehouse project.
AI maps your columns
AI sits between your spreadsheet and the database, recognising your columns (works orders, SKUs, lines, quantities, dates) even when headers differ between files, and asking you to confirm anything it isn't sure about.
Your history populates the model
Products, lines and run rates come straight from your own records, calculated from what you actually produced, not guessed by AI. Your data is the source of truth.
AI flags gaps and outliers
AI highlights what needs a human eye: missing run rates, durations that look like data-entry errors, unknown line names, duplicate codes, so you can correct the source data before going live.
Your team confirms and fills the gaps
Nothing is applied without your confirmation. You review the flagged items, fill any gaps, and sign off a model built from your own data, not one a system invented for you.
Go live in shadow mode first
Run FactoryPlan.app alongside your current process for a short period, comparing its plan against reality, so the team builds confidence before switching over.
A different kind of implementation
Swipe the table sideways to compare →
Keep the model current without writing scripts
New requirements never stop arriving: a new line, a new product family, a changed shift pattern, a seasonal capacity limit. In many planning systems, each change means logic updates, consultant time and another small project.
With FactoryPlan.app, your team describes the change in plain English. AI suggests the rule, capacity update or scheduling adjustment, shows what it will affect, and asks for approval before anything changes. Over time, adaptive planning rules help the model reflect the everyday decisions your planners already make.
You type
“From January, Line 4 runs a third shift on Mondays and Tuesdays.”
Adds the extra shift to Line 4's available capacity on those days, so capacity and scenario planning update automatically.
You type
“All glass-bottle products need an extra 20 minutes changeover.”
Creates a suggested changeover rule for glass-bottle SKUs and shows where it will affect scheduling and capacity.
You type
“Treat the new yoghurt range like the existing yoghurts on Line 5.”
Suggests the closest matching run rates, routing and rules from existing yoghurt SKUs, ready for your team to review.
You type
“Cooling tunnel 2 is down for maintenance the first week of March.”
Suggests a temporary capacity reduction for cooling tunnel 2 and flags any orders, launches or promotions now at risk.
Built for the teams who run production
FactoryPlan.app is designed for the people who plan, run, cost and report on manufacturing, from the planning office to the boardroom.
Production planning
Keep the plan in sync with the factory floor
Build the schedule by line, shift and order, then watch live feedback flag drift as it happens, so you can adjust while there is still time.
- See planned vs actual progress on every production line without spreadsheets.
- Spot at-risk delivery dates before they become missed service.
- AI-assisted replanning suggestions when the schedule starts to drift.
Factory management
One live picture of the whole site
See every line's status, output and downtime in one place, and understand the knock-on effect on customer orders.
- Live line status and OEE at a glance.
- Understand which losses are hurting the schedule.
- Start the day with the same picture as the factory floor.
Cost control
See the cost impact before it happens
Link downtime, labour, waste and changeovers to cost, and compare live estimated actual cost against standard, order by order.
- Compare standard cost vs live estimated actual cost.
- Identify the products, orders and production lines eroding margin.
- Give finance teams numbers that match operations.
Continuous improvement
Turn losses into prioritised action
Use plan-adherence and downtime-impact reporting to focus improvement effort where it protects output and margin.
- Quantify the real cost of recurring losses.
- Prioritise the changes with the biggest schedule impact.
- Track adherence over shifts, lines and products.
Senior operations reporting
Leadership reviews without the spreadsheet scramble
Automated, export-ready reports give senior teams a consistent view of plan adherence, cost and performance across the site.
- Export-ready plan-adherence and cost reports without any manual collation.
- Use consistent figures across planning, operations and finance.
- Spend less time assembling numbers and more time taking action.
Ready to connect your plan to live production?
Book a demo and we will show you FactoryPlan.app with your kind of production in mind.