99.2% delivery reliability with AI-powered production scheduling

Piristeel Oy has manufactured roof safety products in Kauhava since 1974 — the Pisko family of roof safety products, rainwater systems, ladders, snow guards, and solar panel brackets. The company employs around 100 people and operates as part of the Ruukki Construction group. When human safety is at stake there is no room for compromise, and the same standard extends to production: customers expect precise deliveries, day after day.

Before SkyPlanner: spreadsheets, printed work orders, invisible capacity

Production management relied on spreadsheets and PDF printouts; each order became a paper work order carried to the floor by hand. Large batches and big buffer stocks created an appearance of smooth operations, but the trade-off was high inventory values and poor adaptability. Information did not flow between departments, there was no view of capacity load at all, and keeping the schedule current across three departments consumed one person’s full working time.

ERP compatibility made the decision

SkyPlanner came up through Piristeel’s ERP vendor, Rauhala Group. Competing products were evaluated, but seamless integration with Visma Nova — the heart of Piristeel’s financial management for some 20 years — was the deciding factor. Data flows between the systems automatically: no manual transfer, real-time planning, and reliable reporting directly from ERP data.

AI takes control of detailed scheduling

Implementation proceeded in phases over roughly a year, alongside concurrent ERP development. Adoption on the floor exceeded expectations — when one department got access, the next asked when their turn would come. Today SkyPlanner’s AI handles detailed scheduling automatically: the Gantt timeline shows the optimized load across all three departments, and planners see for the first time how far ahead work is scheduled and when it will complete.

SkyPlanner has brought visibility to identifying bottlenecks and clarified production management. Identifying problems early has significantly improved our internal delivery reliability as well. SkyPlanner’s role in production management is significant.

Toni Tuori · Production Manager, Piristeel Oy

Reported results

• Up to four hours of working time saved per day on scheduling
• Delivery reliability above 99% — 99.2% this year
• Capacity shortfalls addressed proactively, before they escalate
• Improved inventory accuracy; buffer stocks no longer a prerequisite
• Pallet labels, batches and stock events flow to Visma Nova in real time

All production documentation is managed in SkyPlanner — work time, production batches, and durations. Stock balance events transfer to the ERP in real time rather than as a batch run the next day, which has had a profound impact on inventory accuracy.

SkyPlanner has improved real-time visibility into production and has largely reduced the working time lost to work logging and reporting on the production floor. SkyPlanner has also significantly improved our inventory accuracy and eliminated the possibility of human error in production management.

Jussi Yli-Renko · Production Planning Manager, Piristeel Oy