From a customer order to the factory floor, on one plan.
Foreman is a production-planning system for manufacturers. It brings sales requests, the weekly plan and the machines on the floor into one place, checks every order against real capacity, and keeps the company’s ERP in step.
- Product
- 1 litre bottle, bronze
- Quantity
- A full production run
- Needed by
- Friday next week
- In stock
- Checked against the ERP
One request, from sales to shipment
Every order follows the same five steps, so sales, planning and the floor see the same picture.
- Sales
A request is raised
Sales enters what the customer needs and by when.
- Foreman
Capacity is checked
The request is compared with each machine’s capacity and the current plan.
- Planning
The request is approved
A planner approves it, with stock levels and deadlines in view.
- Foreman
It joins the weekly plan
The job is allocated to a machine and a day.
- The floor
Output is recorded
Each station works from its own sheet and records what was made.
Every machine, every day, at a glance
Planners see how full each machine is across the week, where there is room, and where a day is asking for more than a machine can give.
- 1 litre bottle, bronze Recorded
- 1 litre bottle, silver Recorded
- 4 litre can In progress
Each station prints the sheet for its own machine, and records output as it goes.
In step with the ERP, in both directions
Foreman works alongside the ERP the business already runs. Items, customers and stock flow in. Work orders and completed production flow back. Nobody types the same thing twice.
- Items
- Customers
- Stock levels
- Work orders
- Completed production
- Stock transfers
What sales, planning and the floor each see
Sales, planning and the floor work from one plan, each with the view their job needs.
Sales: an answer before a promise
Sales raises a request with what the customer needs and by when. Foreman shows which machine and which days it fits on, given that machine’s capacity and what is already planned, before anyone commits to a date.
Planning: the whole week by machine
Planners approve requests with stock levels and deadlines in view, and see how full every machine is each day. A day that asks more of a machine than it can give is marked over capacity, for a planner to resolve.
The floor: one sheet per station
Each station prints the sheet for its own machine and records output as it goes. Completed production flows back to the ERP, so nobody types it in twice.
Everyone: a record of every change
Every edit to the plan is kept with who made it and when, so a changed date or a moved job can be traced back.
Foreman keeps the plan. Your people run the plant.
Foreman takes care of
- Checking each request against capacity
- Keeping the weekly plan current
- Reminders when something is waiting
- Keeping the ERP and the plan in step
Your team looks after
- Approving requests and setting priorities
- Deciding what runs on which machine
- Running the machines and recording output
- Customer commitments
Rules Foreman follows with the plan and the ERP
Foreman never puts a job on the plan without a planner’s approval, and never keeps its own version of items, customers or stock.
Approval before production
A request joins the plan only once the right person has approved it.
The ERP is the source of truth
Stock, items and customers come from the ERP, so both systems agree.
A history of every change
Every edit to the plan is recorded, with who made it and when.
Alerts when something stalls
The team is alerted when a sync with the ERP falls behind or a request has waited too long for approval.
Foreman stays in step with the ERP you already run, so items, customers, stock and work orders match on both sides.
Bring us last week’s production plan.
We will look at how requests reach the floor today and how your ERP is kept current, and tell you what Foreman would change.
- You walk us through the process and the system behind it.
- We tell you plainly whether an agent is the right fix.
- If it is, we outline what we would build and what it would take from your team.