Production Scheduling Methods Overview

When you use the Routing and Demand Planning features to generate supply work orders, you choose the method NetSuite uses to calculate production requirements. These calculations assess the time, materials, and resources required to complete an order and set a start or end date for the production run.

Forward Scheduling

Forward scheduling lets you set a production start date. Then, NetSuite calculates the time, materials, and resources required to complete all necessary operations to finish the task. The production end date is determined based on these calculations.

When using the Forward Scheduling method on work orders, the Production Start Date field is required and defaults to the current date. The Production End Date field is dimmed because it will be calculated.

Backward Scheduling

When you use Backward Scheduling, you set the production end date, which is the date you need to have the completed items. Based on data from the associated routing and related work center calendar, NetSuite calculates the time, materials, and resources required to complete all operations. NetSuite determines the production start date based on these calculations.

When you use Backward Scheduling on work orders, the Production End Date field is required. The Production Start Date field is dimmed because it is automatically calculated.

Note:

This calculated start date may be a date in the past, prior to the current date.

When Backward Scheduling is set as the default scheduling method, different factors determine the production end date on generated work orders. For more information, see Backward Scheduling.

These scheduling methods can be used when generating individual work orders and by generating work orders using supply planning.

When a work order is saved, or generated, the supply planning engine calculates requirements and then generates necessary work orders. On the work order Operations subtab, click an operation name to view or edit details about the operation.

To choose a production scheduling method, you must first set these preferences:

Generate Work Orders in Supply Planning

To set production scheduling methods on work orders, you must first set the preference to Generate Work Orders in Supply Planning. For information about this preference, see Automatically Generating Planned Work Orders. After you set this preference, you select a scheduling method on orders and set a default scheduling method. When you this preference, the supply plan schedules work orders based on the default scheduling method.

Forward Scheduling

Backward Scheduling

Generate Work Orders in Supply Planning

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