Production Scheduling Software That Drives Productivity & Profitability

Protected Flow Manufacturing™ resolves on-time delivery challenges in high-mix manufacturing environments, turning due dates from guesses to solid commitments. Now, manufacturers can capture more business, charge a premium for shorter lead times, and reduce the time between paying for materials and collecting from customers.

PFM provides the visibility and control to achieve 90-100% OTD without added capacity or heroic efforts.

icon Protect Commitments to Customers

Protect Commitments to Customers

PFM lets you make due date promises with confidence. With real-time visibility on changing threat levels (the risk of jobs being late), your team can pivot to keep jobs on track.

icon Make Shop Floor Scheduling Easy

Make Shop Floor Scheduling Easy

PFM provides a clear priority for each operation, without complex finite scheduling. Rather than trying to plan (or guess) the use of each resource into future time periods, PFM dynamically prioritizes every work order in real time for optimal productivity and on-time delivery.

icon Bring Scheduling and Visibility to Any ERP

Bring Scheduling and Visibility to Any ERP

PFM seamlessly integrates with your existing ERP, providing complete transparency between financial performance and production.

icon Increase Profitability for Manufacturing

Increase Profitability for Manufacturing

By giving you a competitive edge with shorter lead times and consistent OTD, PFM helps you sell more to existing and new customers at prices that improve your profit margins.

Pattern
Pattern
PFM provides the visibility and control you need to meet all of your commitments.
icon  Get Answers for Shop Floor Execution

Get Answers for Shop Floor Execution

With PFM, you will always know the answers to critical questions like, “What should we work on now?” and “What should we work on next?” Even more important, you will be able to tell customers with confidence when they will get their orders, knowing the delivery dates are solid.

icon Anticipate Issues and Adjust Accordingly

Anticipate Issues and Adjust Accordingly

Other manufacturing scheduling tools assume that everything will go as planned. These plans quickly become out-of-date when “stuff” happens. PFM knows the unexpected will occur and dynamically adjusts resource assignments in real time to head off problems. The most current, accurate information is always in the hands of the people that need it. Job assignments are understood, trusted, and completed in the right order.

icon Optimize Large & Small Jobs

Optimize Large & Small Jobs

The traditional approach scheduling prioritizes work orders by due date. PFM looks at due date and job duration to ensure that longer jobs are started at the right time (even if that means starting before shorter jobs that are due sooner). This approach optimizes resources across all jobs to avoid lateness.

icon Stop the Constant Crisis of Rush Jobs

Stop the Constant Crisis of Rush Jobs

Expediting jobs is time consuming, costly, disruptive, and stressful for your team. PFM reduces the amount of “hot jobs” by monitoring work completed across all jobs in real time and reprioritizing automatically to keep all jobs on track for OTD.

icon Connect with Your Manufacturing ERP

Connect with Your Manufacturing ERP

PFM can seamlessly be integrated or embedded directly into your existing manufacturing ERP system to augment and extend its functionality. If you don’t yet have an ERP, PFM can serve as a standalone scheduling platform.

icon Enjoy Easy Setup and Maintenance

Enjoy Easy Setup and Maintenance

Traditional planning and scheduling software requires extremely high data accuracy and constant data maintenance to work. PFM makes things much simpler, allowing you to gain visibility on the status of every job and begin improving on-time delivery in a matter of days.

Solve the Late Problem in Manufacturing…for Good!

Our on-demand webinar series reveals the game-changing method and tools that solve the hard problem of achieving consistent On Time Delivery.
CTA Image
Why our customers refer us.
Video Poster

We implemented Protected Flow Manufacturing (PFM) to help manage our busy production floor by prioritizing jobs and directing the flow of WIP from department to department. Our implementation took only three months and both our management team and employees immediately saw results. It was like a light switch was turned on - overnight our 13 separate departments became one unified factory, working in unison and harmony to achieve our end goals! PFM is the exact tool we needed to ensure everything is done on time while eliminating any human error. Once PFM was implemented, we saw 100% improvement in our work environment.

Travis Flanagan, General Manager
Shallow Sport Boats
Video Poster

We implemented Protected Flow Manufacturing (PFM) in 2017 for its Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (DDMRP) functionality and the surrounding features of LillyWorks. PFM suited our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) needs. PFM is a great all-around fit for our company. Our biggest concern was our raw material supply chain management and as a mature startup, we are aggressively growing which means things change for us rapidly. The DDMRP component and the way that PFM handles the order points and buffers in real-time, on the fly, is exactly what we need. We import our customer forecasts and utilize the historical demand which resizes our buffers automatically; order points are magically moved as needed and safety stock is handled perfectly by PFM every time without issues. PFM supports our rapidly growing company and is worth it! My advice to any manufacturer looking at PFM would be to get educated on DDMRP, compare it to traditional MRP, and once you have determined it is the right fit for your company, go with LillyWorks PFM.

Thomas Roberts, CEO
Rational Packaging

Since implementing Protected Flow Manufacturing, our Throughput is up by about 250% and I can account that to the ability to get the data and make the right decisions.

David Marette, Executive Director
GAI
Video Poster

The results were immediate. We went from four weeks late to three weeks late to two weeks late to one week late. And now, I can look out one month and see that we’re going to be one day, two days late on this job, but on time for that job.

Val Zanchuk, President
Graphicast
Video Poster

We don’t "kick" all of the jobs to the shop floor at once like we used to. Putting too many jobs onto the shop floor prematurely burns up machine time. You utilize capacity before it needs to be used by putting all the jobs out on the shop floor at once.

Jeff Cederstrom, President
Arch Global Precision
Video Poster

In the first couple months using PFM, our concentration was to just get rid of the backlog of late orders. Now, since February 2018, we’ve run four months in a row where we’ve been 90% or better on time with all of the orders coming through the door. That’s a dramatic turnaround!

Rory Lee, Business Development Manager
Saturn Industries
Video Poster

Our team has been wanting something like PFM for a long time. Our production scheduler, in particular, was tired of just winging it. We fought with on-time-delivery for most of last year. Now we’re exactly where we want to be, operating much more efficiently and consistently getting jobs out the door on time.

Derek Segura, Project Manager
Streamline Industries, LLC
What to Expect with Production Scheduling using PFM
81%
decrease in lead time from 16 weeks to 3 weeks
3 Weeks
average time it takes to set up and implement PFM
66.7%
decrease in backlog in a few weeks

PFM's Uses the 3 Performance Principles of the Dynamic Production Method

Pragmatic Planning with Flexible Time Protection

Nothing ever goes exactly as planned in Production. Now, you don’t have to recreate a production schedule when that happens. Appropriate buffers are built into each job to provide an early warning and room for adjustment. As the buffer is used up and the risk of lateness increases, PFM automatically reprioritizes tasks in real time to support OTD across all jobs.

Proper Pacing to Prevent Bottlenecks

Putting materials into WIP too soon causes more problems than it solves. Instead of speeding up production, excessive WIP causes traffic jams in workflows and increases the risk of lateness. PFM keeps WIP at “just right” levels to keep things flowing smoothly and boost OTD. Users typically reduce WIP at least 20-30% in the first 6-8 weeks.

Predictive Prioritization with Proprietary Analytics

Traditional production scheduling software assigns future capacity to jobs. It must be re-run over and over as unplanned events happen. PFM simulates the use of your capacity and shows you what jobs are predicted to have problems and where these problems may occur. With a clear picture of the future, you can implement an action plan to deliver ALL jobs on time.

Designed for your industry.
Image Poster
Aerospace & Defense

Aerospace & Defense

The aerospace, defense, space and security (A&D) industries are major contributors to our economy. They thrive if supported by scalable, industry specific applications. Synergy Resources’ applications and modules aid scientific and engineering talent in cutting-edge A&D industries. Synergy Resources helps you meet your goals faster-even while confronting escalating costs and market complexity.
Learn More
Highlights
  • Engineering with CAD integration
  • Engineering change control
  • Specifications and data "flow down" for ITAR, DFAR, etc.
  • Actual job costing
  • Project Management with Earned Value Management and milestone reporting
Image Poster
Automotive Manufacturing

Automotive Manufacturing

As a manufacturer in the specialty vehicle industry, such as boats or emergency vehicles, you need a solution that can quickly respond to unique product configurations and accurately budget and manage actual costs associated with these jobs or projects. Infor ERP is it!
Learn More
Highlights
  • Configuration management
  • Serial and lot control
  • Design and engineering
  • Capacity planning & scheduling (Lean, TOC, JIT)
  • Actual costing
Image Poster
Electronics & High-Tech

Electronics & High-Tech

As a high tech or electronic manufacturer, you need control over component and finished goods inventory at the revision and tracking number level to efficiently and effectively service customers. Infor VISUAL ERP delivers the supply chain visibility to meet these demands and also offers comprehensive material and capacity planning functionality, which maximizes productivity.
Learn More
Highlights
  • Alternate item on bill of materials (BOM)
  • Item cross reference (supplier and manufacturer)
  • Approved vendors and manufacturer lists
  • Supply chain visibility with Web based portals
  • Reference designators
Image Poster
Oil & Gas

Oil & Gas

Synergy has a track record of implementing the right software, deploying efficient business processes, and developing the right metrics. This provides you with the insight and visibility you need into business operations and drives desired behaviors.
Learn More
Optimize People, Processes, & Technology.
  • Strengthen Your Supply Chain
  • Sophisticated Project Management
  • Connect Service Efforts to Operations
  • Localization & Financial Accounting Visibility
Image Poster
Field Service, Maintenance & Repair

Field Service, Maintenance & Repair

Revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and strategic goals around competitive differentiation are requiring field service and MRO organizations to rapidly transform. Manufacturing companies that once outsourced field service are seeing the growth and profit potential of an "insourced" aftermarket service team. Staying competitive with solutions that allow you to track costs, improve inventory availability, and take advantage of digital technologies such as IIoT, GPS, and predictive AI is not only advantageous, but necessary.
Learn More
Highlights
  • Improve Customer Satisfaction & First Time Fix Rate
  • Reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)
  • Optimize Routing of Field Service Techs
  • Support for Depot Repair, Break-Fix & More
  • Offer Managed Service Contracts
Image Poster
Furniture & Fixtures

Furniture & Fixtures

Today's customers demand that furniture and fixture manufacturers offer new product lines and custom options for existing products on demand. We can help you build speed and flexibility into your engineering and production processes so you can meet expectations.
Learn More
Highlights
  • Industry Expert Partners
  • Increase Quote Win Rate
  • Improve Planning & Scheduling
  • Cut Operational Costs
  • Shorten Product Development Lifecycles
Image Poster
Industrial Machinery & Equipment

Industrial Machinery & Equipment

If you're like most of our equipment manufacturer customers, you compete by selling a complete solution that includes aftermarket services, countless configuration options, and available spare parts. Our solutions have a broad set of capabilities to meet your unique challenges. You'll have the control and visibility you need throughout the entire product lifecycle.
Learn More
Gain a competitive edge and extend your aftermarket offerings.
  • Win More Business
  • Meet Customer Delivery Expectations
  • Increase Velocity of Spare Part Sales
  • Collaborate With Suppliers & Customers
  • Leave Your Competitors Behind
Image Poster
Industrial Manufacturing

Industrial Manufacturing

Learn More
Highlights
  • End-to-end customer relationship, sales, purchasing, performance, and financial management
  • Estimating with multiple quantity breaks
  • Integrated capacity planning (Lean, TOC, JIT) with unlimited "what-if" scenarios
  • Material planning with real-time visibility of demand and supply
  • Cost control (actual, average, standard)
Image Poster
Medical Device Manufacturing

Medical Device Manufacturing

WM Synergy's Continuous Improvement teams have helped medical device manufacturers to increase productivity both in the office and on the shop floor. Our ERP products enable employees to complete assigned tasks faster and make more products without increasing costs.
Learn More
Highlights
  • End-to-end customer relationship, sales, purchasing, performance, and financial management
  • Estimating with multiple quantity breaks
  • Integrated capacity planning (Lean, TOC, JIT) with unlimited "what-if" scenarios
  • Material planning with real-time visibility of demand and supply
  • Cost control (actual, average, standard)
Image Poster
Metal, Glass, & Plastic Fabrication

Metal, Glass, & Plastic Fabrication

Our ERPs are purpose-built for MTO, ETO, CTO/ATO, MTS, and mixed-mode manufacturing companies. The end-to-end solutions helps manufacturers like you increase efficiency, accurately manage cost position, meet and exceed customer expectations, and accelerate growth.
Learn More
Highlights
  • Purpose-Built ERP
  • Estimate with Confidence
  • Improve Delivery Performance
  • Paperless Real-Time Shop Floor Data Collection
  • The Right Materials at the Right Time
Image Poster
Process Manufacturing

Process Manufacturing

As a process manufacturer, you have specific requirements when it comes to your manufacturing operations. Our ERP solutions make it easy to adjust formulas based on exacting manufacturing specifications and to monitor and respond to the evolving regulatory environments.
Learn More
Highlights
  • Tailor-make your formulations for maximum efficiency
  • QC activities management with industry-aligned compliance labeling & reports
  • Precision control over batch production, including by-products
  • Define and monitor losses at each stage
  • Dynamic ingredient adjustment to meet product objectives