Customer stories
Customer stories from manufacturers using SkyPlanner APS
Reported results from production teams that schedule with SkyPlanner: finite-capacity plans built and updated by AI, capacity visible ahead, and fast answers when production changes.
Featured stories
From roof safety to pharmaceuticals
Different production, the same need: a finite-capacity schedule the whole team can trust.
The challenge: spreadsheets and printed PDF work orders, no capacity visibility, and keeping three departments scheduled consumed one person’s full working day.
Read Piristeel’s story →“SkyPlanner has brought visibility to identifying bottlenecks and clarified production management. SkyPlanner’s role in production management is significant.”
The challenge: production planned in Excel and by intuition. Sales had to ask production for completion dates, and machine investments lacked consolidated utilization data.
- Production efficiency up 90%
- On-time deliverables and customer reporting up 50%
- Three-month plan across all workstations in under half an hour
The challenge: manual planning had become a growth bottleneck — urgent rescheduling could take an hour or more, with no shift-by-shift capacity picture behind delivery promises.
- Free capacity visible to sales up to six months ahead
- Schedule-change answers from the system in seconds
- Less overtime needed
The challenge: work queues organised largely by hand in an ageing system, and material shortages that surfaced too close to a job’s planned start.
- More accurate delivery dates for customers
- Fewer production stoppages caused by material shortages
- Clearer, more controlled daily scheduling
Operational proof
Before SkyPlanner — and what changed
Each result comes from the customer’s own story and production context.
Roof safety & rainwater systems · Kauhava, Finland
Before SkyPlanner
Spreadsheets and printed paper work orders carried to the floor. No view of capacity load across three departments; keeping the schedule current took one person’s full working time.
What changed
AI handles detailed scheduling automatically. The Gantt timeline shows optimized load across departments, and batches, pallet labels and stock events flow through the Visma Nova integration in real time.
Reported result
Up to four hours of working time saved per day, delivery reliability of 99.2% this year — and improved inventory accuracy.
Laboratory & Allied Limited
Pharmaceutical manufacturing · Nairobi, Kenya
Before SkyPlanner
Excel spreadsheets and the intuition of production managers. Sales asked production for completion dates, and machine investments leaned on experience rather than utilization data.
What changed
AI scheduling integrated with SAP Business One on HANA and Power BI produces an optimized plan in seconds. Sales follows orders through blending, production and quarantine without contacting production.
Reported result
Production efficiency up 90%, on-time deliverables and customer reporting up 50%, and investment decisions based on real utilization data.
Food packaging manufacturing · Rauma, Finland
Before SkyPlanner
Work cards transferred manually, jobs prioritised without visibility into machine release times or shift-by-shift capacity. Urgent rescheduling could take an hour or more.
What changed
All machines, booked and free capacity, shift schedules and job progress in one Gantt view. Need dates flow back to Visma L7 so procurement stays aligned.
Reported result
Capacity visible up to six months ahead, schedule-change answers in seconds, reduced overtime need, and delivery promises based on capacity data.
Contract machining · Turku, Finland
Before SkyPlanner
An older ERP and production control system with work queues organised largely by hand. Material availability was not visible in real time, so shortages surfaced too close to a job’s start.
What changed
Visual work queues and an AI-powered Gantt timeline show the optimized upcoming load. Material shortages are flagged clearly the moment an order is created.
Reported result
More accurate delivery dates, fewer stoppages caused by material shortages, and clearer, more controlled daily scheduling.
SkyPlanner creates the foundation and reliability for all production planning. You can trust the system to bring the data and the facts — all durations and the like. You don’t have to personally decide on things you don’t have precise information about.
“Delivery reliability — internal and external — has improved substantially since SkyPlanner was introduced. SkyPlanner has clarified the entire production in practically every respect.”
“Efficiency has gone up 90% in production. Inventory control has gone up, and sales deliverables, getting goods on time and reporting to customer on time, has actually gone up 50%.”
“The way I see it, SkyPlanner’s effectiveness comes from the fact that the system just works. There are no hiccups that eat up time to sort out.”
Lessons
What these stories mean for your production
When ERP alone is not enough
Every manufacturer in these stories already ran an ERP before SkyPlanner — Visma Nova, Visma L7 and SAP Business One among them. The ERP knew the orders and the stock; what was missing was a finite-capacity schedule connected to that data. And connecting doesn’t have to be a project: Laboratory & Allied’s own IT team set up the SAP Business One on HANA integration largely by itself — mapping the data tables was quick work.
How SkyPlanner connects to ERP →Finite capacity is what makes promises real
Fredman’s sales now sees free capacity up to six months ahead; Piristeel addresses capacity shortfalls before they escalate. When the schedule respects real machine and shift limits, delivery promises stop being guesses.
Solutions by production type →Material visibility protects the schedule
Eskomatic’s stoppages fell once shortages were flagged at order creation instead of at job start. Material-aware scheduling means the plan only promises what can actually be built.
See material-aware scheduling →AI scheduling earns its keep on change days
A rush order, a breakdown, a missing material: rescheduling used to take Fredman an hour or more and Lab & Allied had no baseline at all. With AI handling the recalculation, an updated optimized plan arrives in seconds — every day, not just on launch day.
Watch SkyPlanner in action →Questions & answers
Common questions
Where is SkyPlanner used?
Globally — with 29 UI languages and partners and experts in more than 30 countries. The stories here span roof safety manufacturing in Finland and pharmaceutical production in Kenya.
What do SkyPlanner customer stories show?
Reported proof points from the manufacturers we feature: improved capacity visibility, faster schedule updates after changes, reduced planner workload, and material-aware planning. Every outcome is attributed to the customer that reported it.
What outcomes do manufacturers report with APS software?
Results are specific to each manufacturer and its production. To give a sense of the range, among the stories featured here: up to four hours of daily planning time saved and 99.2% delivery reliability (Piristeel), capacity visible six months ahead (Fredman), production efficiency up 90% (Laboratory & Allied), and fewer material-shortage stoppages (Eskomatic).
How does SkyPlanner connect with ERP systems?
SkyPlanner connects with a wide range of ERP and production systems through integrations, APIs, and data flows matched to each customer’s environment — it is not limited to a fixed list. The manufacturers featured here run on Visma Nova, Visma L7 with LTR, and SAP Business One on HANA with Power BI, for example; production data flows both ways, so the schedule and the ERP stay in sync. The setup can be light: Laboratory & Allied’s in-house IT team did the SAP integration largely on its own, with SkyPlanner’s team helping only on the most complex cases.
What is AI production scheduling in practice?
Scheduling and optimization logic that builds and updates a finite-capacity plan from real constraints: machines, shifts, materials, and priorities. In practice it looks like the workflows in these stories — a live Gantt timeline, capacity load views, shortage flags at order entry, and an optimized plan recalculated in seconds when production changes.
Where can I see SkyPlanner itself?
The tutorial videos show the Gantt timeline, capacity views and shop-floor logging in the product, and a meeting walks through them with your own production in mind.
See how SkyPlanner would handle your production schedule
Bring your machines, shifts, and order book — in a short meeting we’ll show what finite-capacity AI scheduling looks like with your production, not a generic dataset.