Turn demand into a production plan you can actually run.
Plan volumes, ingredients, lines, machines and people in one system. INVO connects orders, forecasts, inventory and what the plant can actually do, and Factory Brain helps build a schedule that can be finished on time.
What the module does
Plan production against real dataand real constraints.
INVO connects customer orders, demand forecasts, finished goods inventory, recipes, ingredient availability and production capacity. From that it works out what to produce, how much, where and when. The plan respects what the lines can really do, delivery dates, labor availability, minimum batch sizes, changeovers, sanitation and quality requirements.
Module capabilities
- Planning from orders and forecasts
- Production requirement calculated automatically
- Ingredient and packaging availability checked
- Capacity planning
- Scheduling of lines, machines and shifts
- Optimization and dynamic replanning by Factory Brain
Data flow
- Orders and forecasts
- Inventory
- Recipes
- Ingredients
- Capacity
- Production plan
- MES orders
The whole plan, the load and the risks in one view.
The dashboard shows planned volume, capacity utilization, material availability and the risk of missing an order. A planner sees overloaded lines, missing ingredients and the orders that may not finish on time.
- Demand covered by the production plan
- Line and capacity utilization
- Ingredient and packaging shortages
- Orders with no line assigned
- Expected delays
- Effect of the plan on inventory and cost
- Demand covered by plan
- 96.4%
- Scheduled orders
- 186
- Capacity utilization
- 87%
- Material shortages
- 8
Chicken tikka masala
Raise a requisitionDue 18.09 · 14 kg short
Coconut milk shortage
Teriyaki bowl
Move to Line 05Due 18.09 · Line 03
Line loaded to 108%
Premium salad
Assign a resourceDue 19.09 · no line
No line assigned
Bolognese pasta
Check a substituteDue 19.09 · Line 02
Ingredient arrives 19.09
Combine orders, forecasts and inventory into one requirement.
INVO takes confirmed orders, forecast demand and the inventory levels you want to hold. It then subtracts finished goods on hand and work in progress to arrive at the quantity that actually has to be produced. The plan updates as new orders, customer changes or forecast revisions come in.
- Confirmed customer orders
- Sales and demand forecasts
- Finished goods on hand
- Production already in progress
- Safety stock
- Shelf life and planned product freshness
- Confirmed orders12,400 units
- Forecast additional demand1,600 units
- Safety stock800 units
- Inventory on hand−2,100 units
- Work in progress−1,000 units
Building the plan automatically
Turn the requirementinto ready production orders.
The system breaks the required volumes down into products, sub-assemblies, batches and production operations, then fits them to the available dates, lines and shifts.
- Stage 1
Volume calculated
INVO establishes how much of each product has to be made and when it has to be ready.
- Stage 2
Recipes exploded
The system works out the sub-assemblies, ingredients, consumables and packaging required.
- Stage 3
Resources assigned
Orders are matched to lines, machines, stations and production shifts.
- Stage 4
Schedule created
The finished plan sets the order sequence, start times and expected completion dates.
From order to production order
- Order
- Finished product
- Sub-assemblies
- Ingredients
- Operations
- Line
- MES order
Check ingredient availability before you approve the plan.
INVO runs every planned batch through the right recipe version. It compares the requirement against inventory, reservations, inbound deliveries and expiry dates. The planner sees which ingredients are on hand, which will arrive in time, and which need an extra order or an approved substitute.
- Requirement derived from recipes
- Available and reserved balances
- Inbound deliveries and lead times
- Lots and expiry dates
- Shortages and availability risk
- Suggested purchases and substitutes
| Required | On hand | Inbound | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast Available in time | 168 kg | 120 kg | 80 kg |
| Basmati rice Available | 92 kg | 140 kg | — |
| Coconut milk 14 kg short | 38 kg | 24 kg | — |
| Spice blend Available | 6.4 kg | 8 kg | — |
Build a plan that fits what the plant can really do.
INVO accounts for the availability of lines, machines, stations, people and shifts. Every order occupies specific resources for the time the production process and historical throughput say it needs. Overloads and free capacity show up before the plan is released.
- Plant and line working calendars
- Machine and station availability
- Shifts and labor availability
- Operation, sanitation and changeover times
- Minimum and maximum batch sizes
- Planned downtime and equipment service
- Line 0192%
- Line 0276%
- Line 03108%
- Line 0461%
Overloaded
Sequence the orders against every constraint.
INVO places orders on a timeline and assigns them to the right resources. The schedule respects order priorities, required dates, material availability and dependencies between operations. In food production it can also account for product groups, allergens, sanitation times, changeovers and required product freshness.
- Order due dates
- Ingredient and packaging availability
- Line and machine capability
- Sequence of sub-assemblies and finished goods
- Sanitation, changeovers and product switches
- Allergens and quality requirements
Line 01
On timePO-4811 · PO-4812 · sanitation
Line 02
On timePO-4813 · changeover · PO-4815
Line 03
Will miss the due datePO-4814 · PO-4816 · PO-4818
Line 04
Free capacityPO-4817 · sanitation
Synchronize sub-assemblies, production and packing.
Many products need sub-assemblies prepared in advance, chilling, maturing, or operations on several different lines. INVO plans those dependencies as one process and keeps each element ready at the right time.
- Production of ingredients and sub-assemblies
- Preparation operations
- Production lines
- Waiting and chilling times
- Production of the finished product
- Packing and transfer to inventory
Sauce preparation
06:00Kettle K-04 · in parallel
Meat processing
06:00Prep station · in parallel
Rice cooking
06:40Kettle K-02 · in parallel
Combining
07:30Line L-03 · after the three above
Chilling
08:20Blast chiller S-02 · to 4°C
Portioning and packing
09:10Packing line P-04
Cut changeovers, inventory, waste and overtime.
A good plan has to account for the cost of running it, not just the due date. INVO compares the possible variants and helps find the sequence that uses the available capacity and avoids unnecessary operations.
- On-time order completion
- Fewest sanitation cycles and changeovers
- Less waste and overproduction
- Use of short-dated ingredients
- Less overtime
- Better use of lines and people
| Baseline | Optimized | |
|---|---|---|
| Orders on time | 91% | 98% |
| Changeovers | 18 | 12 |
| Sanitation time | 7 h 40 min | 5 h 10 min |
| Overtime | 24 h | 8 h |
| Estimated waste | 3.8% | 2.4% |
Test the consequences of a decision before you change the live plan.
A planner can build alternative scenarios and compare their effect on dates, costs, resource use and material availability. That makes it possible to weigh a change without touching the approved schedule.
- A key customer increases an order
- An ingredient delivery runs late
- A production line breaks down
- Part of the crew is unavailable
- Production moves to another plant
- An extra shift is opened
| On time | Extra cost | Capacity use | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline plan | 91% | $0 | 87% |
| Extra shift | 99% | $4,600 | 94% |
| Move to Line 05 | 97% | $1,550 | 90% |
Approve as a new plan version
Let AI build the best plan the available resources allow.
Factory Brain works through thousands of dependencies between orders, recipes, ingredients, lines, people and dates. It then produces a schedule that can be run, and points out the risks a planner may miss when planning by hand.
- Plan proposals generated automatically
- Conflicts and bottlenecks detected
- Delays and material shortages predicted
- Order sequence optimized
- Use of free capacity recommended
- The effect of every change explained
Risk detected
Line 03 is loaded to 108%. Three orders will not finish before their shipping date.
Recommendation
Move order PO-4814 to Line 05 and start the sub-assembly 90 minutes earlier.
Expected effect
- On-time plan completion: up from 91% to 98%
- Line 03 load: down to 94%
- No extra shift required
- Extra cost: $295
Update the schedule when the floor changes under it.
INVO takes live data from the MES, inventory, purchasing and machines. When an order runs late, a delivery misses its slot or a line stops, Factory Brain recalculates what the event does to the whole plan. It prepares a new schedule variant, updates the dates and pushes the changes to supervisors and operators.
- Plan updated from MES execution
- Completion dates recalculated
- Sequence and priorities changed
- Orders moved between lines
- Substitutes and new deliveries accounted for
- Shift plans updated automatically
Line 02 stops
EventMES signal · 07:42
Orders put at risk
Detected4 orders · 2 shipping dates
Factory Brain proposes a new layout
ProposalMoved to Line 01 and 04
The change is approved
DecisionEffect on dates and cost shown before the decision
MES schedule updated
DoneOperator tasks refreshed
Use the production capacity of the whole organization.
INVO can plan production across several plants, sites and external co-packers. It compares available capacity, materials, costs and dates to help choose the best place to run an order.
- One shared view of demand
- Production capacity of each plant
- Material availability by site
- Orders moved between plants
- Transport and production cost
- One plan for the whole organization
- Warsaw96%
Order PO-4814 assigned
- Lodz72%
Move proposed
- Poznan84%
Unchanged
Effect of moving to Lodz
- Due date
- Unchanged
- Production cost
- −$1,025
- Transport
- +$475
Integrations
Connect planningto the whole operational flow.
INVO works from order, forecast, recipe, purchasing, inventory and actual production data. Once approved, the plan feeds the operational processes downstream of it.
- CRM, ERP and orders
- Demand forecasting
- Recipes and production processes
- Purchasing and inventory
- Production MES and packing
- Finance and reporting
- Orders
- Forecast
- Recipes
- Purchasing
- WMS
- MES
- Packing
- Finance
One source of truth for what, when and where to produce.
Every order, forecast, recipe, inventory balance, constraint and production event feeds one current plan. Purchasing knows what to order, inventory knows what to stage, and production knows what to run and when.
Connect demand to what the plant can do, and let Factory Brain keep optimizing the plan.