Production scheduling for contract manufacturers
Contract manufacturing production scheduling software
SkyPlanner APS turns every customer’s orders, your workstations, materials and shifts into one finite-capacity schedule. It weighs customer priorities against due dates, plans outside processing as part of the routing and gives sales a realistic delivery date before the quote goes out. When a rush order lands, the plan is rebuilt in seconds. It integrates with any ERP or MES through its open REST API.
- Customer priorities on shared capacity
- Finite-capacity scheduling
- Any ERP or MES via REST API
- From 199 € / month
98%
delivery reliability, up from around 50%, KJH-Comp
2 → 1
supervisors needed for scheduling, KJH-Comp
Thousands
of work orders scheduled automatically, Mamec
Fewer
production stoppages caused by material shortages, Eskomatic
Results reported in KJH-Comp’s SkyPlanner APS review (sheet metal contract manufacturing of welded and assembled products), Eskomatic’s SkyPlanner APS review (contract machining of demanding metal components) and Mamec’s SkyPlanner APS review (mixing technology and high-tech contract manufacturing). Read all SkyPlanner APS reviews
Why a contract shop is hard to schedule
Many customers, one shop floor, no two orders alike
A contract manufacturer sells capacity. Every customer expects their order on time, every order brings its own drawing and routing, and the only machines, cells and people available are the ones you share between all of them.
Customers compete for the same machines
Several customers need the same laser, lathe or assembly bench in the same week. Whoever shouts loudest gets the slot unless the plan decides first.
Every order is a new routing
Different drawings, materials, quantities and steps arrive every day. A standard product plan does not exist, so each order has to be fitted in on its own terms.
Quotes need a date now
Customers ask for price and delivery date in the same request. A date guessed from memory either loses the deal or becomes a promise the shop cannot keep.
Rush orders jump the queue
An urgent call-off from a key customer pushes into a full week, and nobody sees which other promises it breaks until they are already late.
Outside processing adds days
Heat treatment, plating, powder coating or calibration at a partner takes days between your own operations, and the next step waits until the parts come back.
The customer’s material sets the start
Blanks, castings, components or packaging supplied by the customer arrive on their schedule, not yours. A job that starts before its material is in stops the machine it was booked on.
SkyPlanner gives every customer’s order a real slot on your real capacity. Each routing is loaded to finite capacity, customer priorities and due dates are weighed together, outside processing and incoming material are part of the plan, and a rush order is replanned through the whole shop in seconds.
Customer priorities and delivery dates
Every customer gets a date. Key accounts get first call on capacity.
In contract manufacturing the hard decision is who goes first. SkyPlanner turns that decision into rules the Arcturus AI engine applies to the whole schedule, instead of a daily negotiation at the planner’s desk.
Priorities per customer
Set a priority value for each customer, and the scheduler favours their orders while it still works to meet every other due date in the plan.
Job priorities and fast track
Raise the priority of a single job or fast-track an urgent order. Lock jobs that must not move, and the rest of the schedule is rebuilt around them.
On time for as many as possible
Dynamic priorities balance lead time, due dates and on-time completion across the whole plan, so one customer’s rush does not quietly make five others late.
How SkyPlanner schedules a contract manufacturer
One schedule for every customer’s work, from first operation to shipping
SkyPlanner plans each order on the workstations, materials and people you actually have, and shows the same plan to the planner, the shop floor and sales.
Real capacity for jobs that are all different
Each machine, cell and assembly bench has its own shift calendar, with maintenance, holidays and breakdowns entered as exceptions. Personnel scheduling assigns people to shifts and workstations, and tools management keeps a shared fixture or die from being planned in two places at once. With a changeover matrix by product properties, the AI engine groups jobs that share a material, thickness or tool, even when they come from different customers.
- No job lands on an unstaffed or blocked workstation
- Setups shared across customers’ orders, without losing sight of due dates
- Several plants scheduled together, with transfer times between sites
Customer material and outside processing in the routing
With material-based scheduling on, a job starts only when its material will be there, and materials can be set per order item when a customer supplies its own. A start eligibility date holds a job until the customer’s material is due in. Heat treatment, plating, coating or any other outside operation runs on a subcontract workstation, and teardown or wait times keep the next step waiting until the parts are back.
- Order-specific materials for customer-supplied blanks, castings and components
- Multi-level BOMs and sub-products for assemblies and box builds
Operators work the queue the plan gives them
Machinists, welders and assemblers see their own work queue in the worker view or the SkyPlanner shop-floor app. They start, pause and complete jobs and report progress as they go, so the schedule always shows what is really done for each customer. Logged hours also make future duration estimates more realistic.
Quotes, rush orders, changed priorities
Give the customer a date before you send the quote
When a new request comes in, a key customer sends a rush order or material from a customer arrives late, the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the schedule in seconds. Lock jobs that must not move, raise priorities or fast-track the urgent order.
- Enter a quote as a sales prospect scheduled as a simulated order and see the earliest realistic delivery date, without disturbing confirmed orders.
- See what accepting a rush order does to every other customer’s delivery date before you say yes.
- Turn the prospect into a production order with one change of status when the customer accepts the quote.
The value SkyPlanner brings us is that it is a tool that works in daily use, especially for setting delivery dates. There, I think, it works well.
Tommi Männistö, Production Planning Manager, Eskomatic Oy
Contract machining of demanding metal components · Eskomatic’s SkyPlanner APS review
Integrates with any ERP or MES
Quotes, customers and invoicing stay in your ERP. SkyPlanner books the capacity.
SkyPlanner connects to all ERP and MES systems through its open REST API, including in-house systems. Customer orders, routings and materials flow in, planned times, material need dates and delivery dates flow back. It also runs standalone, so you can start scheduling before an integration is in place.
From your ERP
ERP · MES · CSV · Manual
- Customer orders & quotes
- Products & routings
- Materials & customer-supplied stock
- Customers & due dates
SkyPlanner APS
Schedules production
- Workstations
- Shifts
- Customers
- Priorities
- Subcontractors
- Materials
- Schedule
Back to your ERP
ERP · Reports · Management
- Planned start & end times
- Material need dates
- Progress & logged hours
- Confirmed delivery dates
- SAP S/4HANA
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Oracle NetSuite
- Infor
- Epicor
- IFS Cloud
- Sage X3
- Odoo
- JobBOSS²
- Global Shop Solutions
Where SkyPlanner fits
Contract manufacturers of every size, from one shop to multi-site groups
Whether you machine parts, cut and weld sheet metal, build boxes or fill private label products for other brands, SkyPlanner plans any plant where many customers’ orders share the same machines, lines and people.
Contract manufacturing segments
- Contract machining and CNC subcontracting
- Sheet metal, laser cutting and welding subcontracting
- Electronics contract manufacturing
- Assembly and box build
- Appliance and sporting goods contract manufacturing
- Toy and jewelry contract manufacturing
- Private label food and beverages
- Private label cosmetics and personal care
Why SkyPlanner for contract manufacturing
Why contract manufacturers schedule their customers’ orders in SkyPlanner
SkyPlanner APS is AI production scheduling software for contract manufacturers that sell capacity to many customers and need every order planned to real capacity, with a delivery date they can quote the same day. It suits subcontractors, EMS providers and private label producers from a single shop to multi-site groups.
Customer priorities built in
Set a priority per customer, raise single jobs or fast-track an order, and the Arcturus AI engine balances them against every due date in the plan.
Delivery dates for quotes
Schedule a quote as a simulated order and see the earliest realistic delivery date from the real load, without moving a single confirmed order.
Rush orders in seconds
Add the urgent order and the finite-capacity schedule is rebuilt in seconds, with the effect on every other customer’s date in view.
Outside processing in the route
Heat treatment, plating and coating run on subcontract workstations with wait times, so the delivery date already includes them.
Customer material respected
Material-based scheduling and order-specific materials keep a job from starting before the customer’s blanks or components are in.
Published price, any ERP
From 199 € / month with 5 workstations included and a 30-day free trial with no credit card. The open REST API connects any ERP or MES, and the interface speaks 29 languages.
Security and data
SkyPlanner runs in the cloud on AWS. If your data needs to stay in a specific country, a dedicated server there is available by agreement. Data is backed up daily and backups are kept for 30 days. Users can sign in with Google or Microsoft accounts and two-factor authentication. A data processing agreement is available, and customer data is never used to train AI models.
Pricing
From 199 € / month
5 workstations included. Each additional workstation is 20 € per month. There is a free trial, and guided onboarding packages are available if you want help setting up workstations, customers, routings and priorities.
Questions contract manufacturers ask
Frequently asked questions
What is the best production scheduling software for contract manufacturers?
A contract manufacturer needs scheduling software that plans every one-off routing to finite capacity, weighs customer priorities against due dates and gives sales a delivery date from the real load before the quote goes out. SkyPlanner APS does all three, and the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the schedule in seconds when a rush order arrives. Pricing is published, from 199 € / month, there is a 30-day free trial, and SkyPlanner integrates with any ERP or MES through its open REST API.
What kind of scheduling system does a contract manufacturer get with SkyPlanner?
SkyPlanner APS is an advanced planning and scheduling system that loads every customer’s order, each with its own routing, onto the finite capacity of your machines, cells and assembly benches. It knows each workstation’s shift calendar, the people assigned to it and the material every job needs, so the schedule shows what the shop can actually deliver. The Arcturus AI engine optimises the whole plan across all customers and replans in seconds.
Can SkyPlanner prioritize customers and plan outside processing?
Yes. You give each customer a priority value, raise the priority of single jobs or fast-track an urgent order, and the AI engine weighs these against due dates across the whole plan. Outside operations such as heat treatment, plating or coating run on subcontract workstations in the routing, and wait times keep the next step from starting until the parts are back.
How does a contract manufacturer give a customer a delivery date before the quote is accepted?
Sales enters the quote as a sales prospect, SkyPlanner schedules it as a simulated order against the real load and shows the earliest realistic delivery date while every confirmed order stays where it is. The customer gets a date the shop can keep in the same reply as the price. When the quote is accepted, one change of status turns the prospect into a production order.
Which data moves between a contract manufacturer’s ERP and SkyPlanner?
Customer orders and quotes, products and routings, materials including customer-supplied stock, and due dates flow in from ERPs such as SAP or Microsoft Dynamics 365. Planned start and end times, material need dates, progress with logged hours and confirmed delivery dates flow back. SkyPlanner connects to any ERP or MES, in-house systems included, through its open REST API, built by Skycode or by your own developers with the public API documentation.
Does a contract shop keep quoting and invoicing in its ERP when it schedules with SkyPlanner?
Yes. Quotes, customer records, purchasing, inventory and invoicing stay in the ERP, and SkyPlanner books the capacity behind every order. The ERP receives the planned times and confirmed delivery dates, and sales, planners and the shop floor all work from the same schedule.
How quickly can a contract manufacturer have its first schedule running?
Today. Start the 30-day free trial with up to 20 workstations and no credit card, set up your machines, cells and shifts first, then import open customer orders by CSV or type them in and build the first schedule with no integration at all. Onboarding workshops then configure customer priorities, routings and subcontract workstations together with your planners, and the ERP connection follows when you are ready.
Does SkyPlanner fit a small subcontracting shop as well as a multi-site contract manufacturing group?
Yes, every size. Pricing starts at 199 € per month with 5 workstations included and 20 € per month for each additional workstation, so a shop with a few CNC machines runs the same engine as a group that schedules several plants together with transfer times between sites. The user interface comes in 29 languages, so operators at plants in different countries work in their own language.
More industries
Production scheduling in related industries
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Bring a week of customer orders. See who gets which slot, and when.
Bring a week of orders from several customers with your workstations and shifts. We will schedule them with you in SkyPlanner, set your customer priorities and show the delivery date you can quote on the next request.
