The Catalyst Scheduler can be launched by selecting Planning > Generate Finite Schedule. The finite scheduling engine creates a finite capacity schedule based on the planned capacity reflected in the shop calendar for each work center. The Schedule Direction indicates whether the scheduler forward schedules from the shop order release date or backward schedules from the due date. When backward scheduling, the scheduler first attempts to schedule a shop order using backward sequencing. If the resulting scheduled start date is before the current date, the shop order is rescheduled using forward sequencing. For bottleneck scheduling, schedule the bottleneck operation manually using the Shop Order Master and select the Frozen flag. Then select the ‘Backward’ schedule direction to backward schedule preceding operations and forward schedule downstream operations from the frozen operation.

The shop orders are loaded into the schedule according to job selection rules. The shop orders can be sorted according to Due Date, Critical Ratio, or Priority job selection rules. These three job selection rules are defined below.

Due Date: shop orders are loaded onto the Production Scheduling Board beginning with the earliest shop order due date. The shop order number is used as secondary sort criteria in the event of a tie.

Critical Ratio: shop orders are loaded onto the Production Scheduling Board beginning with highest critical ratio. The critical ratio is calculated by dividing the hours remaining to be completed on the shop order operations by the shift hours remaining on the shop calendar before the due date. The due date and shop order number are used as secondary sort criteria in the event of a tie.

Priority: shop order priorities range from 1 to 50 with 1 being the highest priority and 50 the lowest priority. Shop orders are loaded onto the Production Scheduling Board beginning with highest priority (1) and ending with the lowest priority (50). The shop order priority defaults to 50 and can be changed either on the Shop Order Master or the Capacity Planning window. The due date and shop order number are used as secondary sort criteria in the event of a tie.

To apply campaign rules to the scheduling process, select the appropriate option under the Campaign Rules group. The application of campaign rules allows the scheduler to consider efficiencies in sequencing operations to minimize setup time and maximize resource capacity. The campaign rules are applied when sequencing operations of the same item or product family. The Catalyst Scheduler will apply campaign rules only to operations with the Campaign flag marked on the shop order route. When the ‘Apply to same product only’ option is selected, the setup hours for a shop order operation is assumed to be zero when the prior operation on the work center resource is the same item. When the ‘Use product family setup matrix’ option is selected, the setup hours for a shop order operation is obtained from the Product Family Setup Matrix. The setup hours used for the operation is based on the product family of the previously scheduled item and the product family of the current item. 

You can select whether to include only released shop orders or both open and released shop orders in the production schedule by marking the appropriate check box in the Order Status section. To calculate the scheduled start and finish dates for an individual shop order, select the shop order from the drop-down list in the CTP Calculation section. After the schedule is generated, the scheduled start and finish dates are displayed for review. The shop order start and finish dates can be frozen by clicking the Freeze button located in the section.

The Catalyst Scheduler only schedules unfrozen shop order operations. Prior to generating a new production schedule, the operations in the current schedule can be frozen to prevent them from being changed after they are released to the shop floor for production. The options in the Schedule Control section allow the scheduler to freeze all operations, scheduled operations, or started operations for both open and released shop orders operations. The same options are provided for unfreezing any frozen operations. To leave the frozen status of operations unchanged, use the default No Action option. The Late Shop Orders Report in the Production menu can be used to review shop orders with scheduled finish dates beyond the due date.