Resource planning for mechanical engineering companies

In mechanical engineering, several resources often need to be available simultaneously to ensure that a job can be carried out as planned. Machinery, staff, tools, workstations, external services and deadlines all influence one another. Effective resource planning should make these interdependencies transparent and ensure that last-minute changes remain manageable.

Not every mechanical engineering company needs additional planning software for this. If the existing ERP or PPS solution already fully supports the planning process, it may be the more cost-effective solution.

Specialised resource planning becomes particularly relevant when operational planning becomes more complex, when several types of resources need to be coordinated together, or when planners frequently have to respond to changes.

What does resource planning mean in mechanical engineering?

Resource planning in mechanical engineering goes beyond simply allocating individual machines.

Depending on the production and organisational structure, different resources may be required simultaneously for a single order.

The challenge lies in not viewing these resources in isolation. For example, an unoccupied machining centre is of little use if the required staff member or a specialised tool is unavailable at the same time.

What planning problems commonly arise in mechanical engineering?

Mechanical engineering companies vary greatly. The manufacture of individual and specialised machines presents different challenges to mass production or contract manufacturing.

Nevertheless, certain planning problems occur regularly:

• Machines are being utilised more than expected,
• there is a shortage of qualified staff at the planned time,
• Orders are delayed due to missing parts,
• A machine breakdown affects several subsequent orders,
• Priorities can change at short notice,
• Work stages are taking longer than planned,
• External processing is being delayed,
• Planning information is stored in several systems or spreadsheets.

When is planning in the ERP or PPS system sufficient?

Many mechanical engineering companies already have an ERP or PPS system with functions for production planning, work processes and capacity.

If these functions can be utilised sufficiently in day-to-day operations, an additional planning board may not be necessary.

The existing ERP/PPS planning may be sufficient if:

• all relevant resources are already maintained in the system,
• so that work processes can be reliably scheduled,
• the graphical overview is sufficient for planners,
• so that rescheduling can be carried out easily,
• a few additional resources outside of production need to be taken into account,
• all those involved work with a shared, up-to-date planning status.

In this case, the first step should be to check whether the existing solution can be configured more effectively or utilised more consistently.

A detailed comparison of the two approaches can be found at Digital planning board or ERP/PPS planning board: which is more appropriate?

When might additional resource planning be useful?

Specialised resource planning becomes more relevant when operational scheduling goes beyond the capabilities or the desired operational logic of the existing ERP or PPS system.

Typical indicators include:

• Planners maintain additional Excel spreadsheets alongside the ERP system,
• Machines and staff are scheduled in separate overviews,
• Last-minute changes require a great deal of coordination,
• It is difficult to identify available capacity,
• Several departments require different views of the same orders,
• Planning information is entered multiple times,
• Planners need a more visual approach to their work.

In these situations, it should be assessed whether an additional planning level would simplify the process without creating unnecessary duplication of data.

1. Present machine utilisation clearly

A key function is providing an overview of machines and their allocation.

A planner should be able to recognise at a glance:

• which machine is currently in use,
• which orders are scheduled next,
• where there are free time slots,
• which orders are overdue,
• which machines are being serviced,
• which alternative machines are available.

Particularly when there are several machines with different capabilities, a simple calendar view is often not sufficient.

2. Take staff and qualifications into account

Machine capacity alone does not determine whether a job can actually be carried out.

Certain work steps may require qualified staff, certifications or specialist knowledge.

Planning should therefore take the following into account where appropriate:

• Working hours,
• Shift models,
• Holidays and absences,
• Qualifications,
• Compatibility with specific machines,
• Locations,
• Team membership.

The level of detail required for this information in the planning process depends on the specific manufacturing process.

3. Planning multi-stage work processes

A production order often consists of several consecutive work steps.

For example:

1. Provision of materials,
2. Machining,
3. Further processing,
4. Assembly,
5. Quality check,
6. Delivery or handover.

If an earlier task is delayed, subsequent deadlines may also be affected.

Resource planning should therefore be able to clarify which processes are interdependent and what the consequences of a change to a schedule are.

4. Identify bottlenecks at an early stage

Not every resource is equally critical.

In many companies, individual specialised machines, skilled workers or testing equipment determine the actual throughput.

Good planning should therefore not only show capacity utilisation, but also highlight bottlenecks.

Some interesting questions might include, for example:

• Which machine will be operating at full capacity in the coming weeks?
• Which orders are competing for the same resource?
• Which operations can be moved to alternative machines?
• Where is there a shortage of qualified staff?
• Which resources limit the possible delivery date?

5. Making short-term changes manageable

Even careful production planning is not immune to change.

Typical errors include:

• Machine breakdowns,
• Illness,
• missing material,
• Quality issues,
• urgent customer orders,
• delayed supplier parts,
• extended processing times.

In the event of such a change, it is not enough simply to reschedule the affected order.

The planning should help to identify which subsequent orders and resources are also affected.

6. Manage orders by priority

Not every order has the same level of urgency.

Priorities may arise, for example, from client appointments, contract terms, project milestones or material availability.

Planning software can highlight such priorities. However, the decision as to which order should actually be given priority remains an organisational task.

Software should support planning, not automatically anticipate operational decisions.

7. Take maintenance and machine downtime into account

Scheduled maintenance should be just as much a part of resource planning as unscheduled downtime.

If maintenance windows are taken into account at an early stage, production orders can be scheduled accordingly.

This may include:

• regular maintenance,
• Calibrations,
• Tool change,
• Cleaning times,
• technical tests,
• Conversion and set-up phases.

Not all of this information necessarily has to be generated directly within the resource planning software. It can also be imported from another system.

8. Take set-up times and sequences into account

In some manufacturing sectors, the order in which jobs are carried out has a significant impact on the workload.

A change of product, for example, may result in additional set-up, cleaning or adjustment times.

If such factors are relevant, it should be checked whether the software can adequately represent them or at least make them visible to the planner.

For fully automated sequence optimisation, however, specialised APS or production planning systems may be more suitable.

9. Transfer ERP and PPS data into the planning system

In a mechanical engineering company, a great deal of relevant data already exists in the ERP or PPS system.

These typically include:

• Orders,
• Customers,
• Article,
• Work steps,
• Planning times,
• Machines,
• Dates,
• Status information.

This data should not be manually updated a second time unless absolutely necessary.

Before any integration takes place, it should therefore be determined which application takes precedence for which information.

10. What information should be fed back into the ERP?

Not every planning change needs to be transferred back to the ERP or PPS system.

Relevant examples might include:

• new planned launch date,
• new deadline,
• assigned machine,
• Status of the work step,
• Confirmed production date.

The more clearly data ownership is defined, the lower the risk of conflicting information.

11. Integrating project planning and production

In specialised machine construction in particular, planning does not end at the production line.

A customer project, for example, may involve activities across several areas at the same time:

• Design,
• Procurement,
• Manufacturing,
• Assembly,
• Software or electrical systems,
• Acceptance,
• Installation at the customer’s premises.

If these areas are interdependent, joint visual planning can create additional transparency.

However, the decision as to whether all areas should actually be planned within the same solution must be made on the basis of the existing systems and processes.

12. Coordinating multiple sites or production areas

With multiple plants, halls or production areas, organisational complexity increases.

Centralised resource planning can help to provide an overview of capacities across the organisation.

For example, the following needs to be clarified:

• Can orders be moved between sites?
• Which machines have comparable capabilities?
• Which staff members can be deployed across different sites?
• What information are different departments permitted to view?
• Who has the final say on planning?

What data is required for resource planning in mechanical engineering?

The amount of data required should be kept as small as possible whilst being as comprehensive as necessary.

Typical master data includes:

• Machinery and plant,
• Staff and teams,
• Tools and test equipment,
• Workstations,
• Qualifications,
• Shifts and calendars,
• Locations.

Typical transaction and planning data include:

• Orders,
• Work steps,
• Start and end dates,
• Processing time,
• Priority,
• Status,
• Resource allocation.

Additional data should only be included if it is required for the specific planning process.

Which interfaces are typically relevant?

The most important integration is often the link to the ERP or PPS system.

Depending on the company, interfaces to the following may also be relevant:

• Time and attendance,
• Human resources,
• MES systems,
• Maintenance,
• Quality management,
• Project management,
• Business Intelligence.

Not all available systems should be integrated automatically. Every interface involves implementation and maintenance costs.

What are the limitations of graphical resource planning?

Visual resource planning is particularly well suited to operational scheduling, transparency and manual or rule-based rescheduling.

However, it does not automatically replace all the functions of specialised production systems.

Depending on requirements, the following may also be necessary:

• Material requirements planning,
• Bill of materials management,
• Production control,
• Operational data collection,
• complex automated sequence optimisation,
• Detailed planning using mathematical optimisation methods.

Such tasks may still be carried out in the ERP, PPS, MES or in a specialised APS solution.

Where does Visual Planning fit into the mechanical engineering sector?

Visual Planning may be of interest to mechanical engineering companies that require flexible graphical planning of machinery, staff, orders and other resources.

The solution can, for example, be used as a supplementary planning layer, whilst order and master data continue to be managed in the existing ERP or PPS system.

This can be particularly relevant when different resource types are planned together, different views are required, or operational changes need to be carried out visually.

However, Visual Planning is not necessarily the right solution for every machine manufacturer.

If the existing ERP/PPS planning system already fully meets the requirements, or if highly automated mathematical production optimisation is required, another solution may be more suitable.

How should a mechanical engineering company test a solution?

A product demonstration should not begin with a pre-prepared standard scenario provided by the supplier.

A typical real-life incident from our own operations would be more illustrative.

For example:

1. A production order comprises several work stages.
2. The scheduled machine has broken down at short notice.
3. An alternative machine must be found.
4. It must be checked whether a qualified member of staff is available.
5. The following orders need to be rescheduled.
6. An important delivery deadline must not be jeopardised if at all possible.
7. The new dates should once again be available to other systems.

This workflow makes it much easier to see whether a piece of software supports the actual planning process.

How much does it cost to set up?

The amount of work involved depends largely on the extent to which resource planning is to be integrated into existing systems.

A simple introduction can be limited to machines, staff, views and a few planning rules.

The project becomes more complex when:

• ERP or PPS interfaces can be set up,
• where several plants are integrated,
• numerous resource types can be planned,
• historical data is to be migrated,
• different roles and permissions are required,
• existing processes are changed at the same time.

A step-by-step approach with a clearly defined planning scope can help to limit the scope of the project.

Checklist for selecting a resource planning system in mechanical engineering

Conclusion: Resource planning in mechanical engineering must be tailored to the manufacturing process

In mechanical engineering, the benefits of resource planning are particularly evident when dependencies between machines, staff, orders and deadlines can be identified more quickly.

However, additional planning software is not automatically necessary. If an ERP or PPS system already offers suitable operational planning, this solution should be utilised or improved first.

Specialised resource planning becomes particularly useful when multiple resource types need to be planned together, frequent changes need to be processed, or different data sources need to be consolidated.

Visual Planning may be a possible solution for such scenarios. Whether it is actually suitable depends on the level of planning detail required, the existing systems, the interfaces and the desired degree of automation.

Frequently asked questions about resource planning in mechanical engineering

Which resources should be planned jointly in mechanical engineering?

This depends on the manufacturing process. Machines, staff, orders, tools, test equipment and deadlines are often relevant. Not every company needs to manage all types of resources within a single system.

Can the ERP system handle resource planning?

Yes. If the existing ERP or PPS system adequately supports the required capacities, work steps and rescheduling, an additional solution may not be necessary.

When is it advisable to use a separate planning board?

A separate planning board may be useful if operational planning in the ERP/PPS system is too complex or inflexible, if additional resources need to be taken into account, or if several planning lists are being drawn up in parallel.

Does resource planning need to be integrated with the ERP system?

Not essential. If only a small amount of data is required, manual entry may suffice. However, where there are a large number of orders and regular changes, an interface can help reduce duplicate data entry.

Can resource planning replace automatic production optimisation?

Not necessarily. Specialised APS or production planning systems may be required for complex automated sequencing and capacity optimisation.

Is Visual Planning suitable for mechanical engineering?

Visual Planning may be of interest if you need to plan machinery, staff, orders and other resources flexibly and visually. Whether the solution is suitable should be assessed on the basis of a real-world planning scenario and the required integrations.

Further guidance on resource planning

• A comparison of resource planning software: 12 selection criteria
• Digital planning board or ERP/PPS planning board
• How much does it cost to implement resource planning software?
• Cloud, hosting or on-premises: which deployment model is right for you?