LiftOrbitA spreadsheet is a starting point, not a mistake
A small workshop can begin with a spreadsheet that lists orders, quantities and promised dates. When the work follows a simple sequence and one person owns the plan, that can be a practical way to organise information. The question is not whether a spreadsheet is professional enough. It is whether the people using it can keep the resource assignments and timings correct as the work changes.
This checklist is a proposed data structure, not a downloadable Excel template or an automatic import specification for LiftOrbit. Keep a copy of your current sheet before experimenting with a new planning method.
Separate the information you are maintaining
| Table or sheet | Minimum information | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Orders | Order ID, product, quantity, release date, due date | Each ID is unique; dates use one convention. |
| Operations | Order ID, sequence, duration, eligible resource | A successor cannot start before its predecessor finishes. |
| Resources | Machine ID, shifts, unavailable periods | Two jobs do not occupy one machine at the same time. |
| Setups | Previous family, next family, occupied time | Starting state and same-family changes are explicit. |
| Materials | Item, available quantity, expected deliveries, consumption | An operation does not consume stock before it arrives. |
Choose one duration unit, such as minutes, and label it. Distinguish duration per unit from duration per batch. If three minutes is a per-unit processing time, 200 units require 600 processing minutes before setups. If a two-hour treatment handles the entire batch, multiplying that duration by every item would describe a different process.
Do not confuse a coloured bar with a checked schedule
A Gantt-style spreadsheet can communicate the intended sequence, but drawing a bar does not itself validate capacity. For every operation, ask whether the predecessor is finished, the machine is eligible and unoccupied, and the required people and materials are available. A total of 30 hours in a 40-hour week can still contain a Tuesday double booking.
Add a simple capacity check per work centre before reviewing exact start times. Keep setup demand separate so it is not forgotten or counted twice. For overlapping operations, inspect the timing rather than relying only on weekly totals.
Recognise the point where manual changes become risky
Consider a scheduling tool when a new order repeatedly forces you to move many later operations, when alternative machines create competing choices, or when product sequence changes setup time. Another useful signal is that you no longer know which copy contains the current plan.
These are evaluation triggers, not universal rules or proof that your spreadsheet cannot work. The cost to compare is the time and error risk of maintaining your particular process against the effort of setting up and checking another tool.
Run a controlled comparison
Choose a small, representative group of orders rather than your entire production history. Record the same orders, processing times, machine availability, materials and setup rules in both approaches. Save the input snapshot and identify any simplification. Do not compare an old spreadsheet with a planner that contains additional orders.
LiftOrbit lets you organise production data, build a visual plan and compare optimization results. Begin with the baseline schedule and inspect it before interpreting improvements. Test a changed quantity, one unavailable machine and a material delay separately; check that the resulting schedule reflects each change.
Define what a successful evaluation means
Use measures you can verify: time spent updating the plan, number of resource conflicts found during review, finishing times for the same set of orders and whether setup time is represented. Do not convert a simulated reduction into a customer success claim. Confirm operational results in your own production before relying on them.
Start with the free capacity calculator when you only need a rough load estimate, or read the worked changeover example when sequencing is the main difficulty.