Production scheduling for food & beverage
Food manufacturing production scheduling software
SkyPlanner APS turns your orders, lines, recipes, materials and shifts into one finite-capacity schedule. It sequences products so allergen and recipe changeovers cost as little time as possible, and rebuilds the plan in seconds when a line stops, a delivery is late or a retailer changes an order. It integrates with any ERP or MES through its open REST API.
- Allergen-aware sequencing
- Finite-capacity scheduling
- Any ERP or MES via REST API
- From 199 € / month
6 months
of delivery commitments on capacity data, Fredman Operations
In seconds
schedule questions that took an hour or more, Fredman Operations
90%
more efficient production, Laboratory & Allied
100%
delivery reliability since 2021, Opes Corporation
Results reported by SkyPlanner customers Fredman Operations, Laboratory & Allied and Opes Corporation. Read all SkyPlanner APS reviews
Why food production is hard to schedule
Short batches, shared lines, constant change
A food plant runs many short batches across shared lines, and the order of those batches decides how much of the day goes to production and how much goes to cleaning.
Changeovers depend on direction
Allergen-free after nuts needs a full clean. The other way round needs almost nothing. The same goes for light to dark colours, mild to strong flavours and low to high dosages.
Orders change every day
Retail and food-service customers adjust volumes at short notice, and the plan has to follow without losing a day.
Materials and intermediates
A filling line cannot start before the dough, sauce or base mix exists, and the base mix cannot start before the raw materials arrive.
People and lines are both constraints
A line is only available when it is staffed, cleaned and not under maintenance.
Sales needs dates now
When a customer asks for 20 extra pallets next Thursday, the answer should come from the schedule, not from a guess.
A spreadsheet cannot see a wash-down
Spreadsheets and ERP plans assume endless line capacity, treat every product order as equal and take hours to rebuild after one late delivery.
SkyPlanner is made for food lines. It plans each line to the hours it really has, puts allergen and recipe changes in the cheapest order and rebuilds the plan in seconds when a line stops or a retailer changes an order.
Allergen-aware, changeover-optimised sequencing
Run allergen-free first. Clean once, not five times.
Every wash and recipe change is paid time with zero output. SkyPlanner sequences each line so changeovers cost as little time as possible.
Allergens, recipes, flavours: your properties
Give products properties such as allergen, recipe family, colour or flavour, and define a changeover matrix for each line: how long it takes to move from one value to another, in each direction.
Direction sets the changeover time
Allergen-free to allergen can be zero minutes and the reverse a full clean, or whatever your HACCP routine requires. Similar products are grouped into campaigns automatically.
Cleaning planned, not discovered
The AI scheduling engine sequences jobs on every line to minimise total changeover time while still meeting due dates. The Gantt view shows exactly where every changeover falls.
How SkyPlanner schedules a food plant
Planned to the lines, shifts and ingredients you really have
SkyPlanner schedules to the capacity you really have, with the materials you really have, and shows the same plan on the shop floor.
Finite capacity across lines, shifts and people
Each line or workstation has its own shift calendar, and planned maintenance, cleaning windows and breakdowns can be entered as exceptions. Personnel scheduling assigns people to shifts and lines, so the plan never puts a job on a line that has nobody to run it.
- No job lands on an unstaffed or blocked line
- Several plants scheduled together, with transfer times between sites
Materials, recipes and intermediate products
Raw materials become a base, a dough or a mix, and that becomes the packed product. SkyPlanner handles multi-level bills of materials and intermediates, calculates material needs at every level and, with material-based scheduling on, starts a job only when its materials will be there.
- Need dates for purchasing flow back to your ERP
- Due dates for individual process steps, so the base mix is ready when the packing line needs it
Every line sees the same plan
Operators see their own work queue in a simple worker view or the SkyPlanner shop-floor app. They start, pause and complete jobs and report quantities and scrap as they go, so the schedule always reflects what has actually happened on the line.
Line stops, late raw materials, retailer changes
A late raw material delivery no longer breaks the week
When an order is added, a line goes down or a raw material shipment is late, the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the schedule in seconds. Lock jobs that must not move, raise priorities or fast-track an urgent order.
- Add a sales prospect 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 promise.
- Customers get delivery dates that come straight from line capacity.
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.
Anu Järvinen, Production Manager, Fredman Operations Oy
Food-safe kitchen and packaging solutions for the food industry · Fredman Operations’ SkyPlanner APS review
Integrates with any ERP or MES
Recipes and stock stay in your ERP. Line sequencing happens in SkyPlanner.
SkyPlanner connects to all ERP and MES systems through its open REST API, including in-house systems. Orders and products flow in, planned times and material need 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
- Sales orders & demand
- Products & recipes
- Materials & stock
- Customers & due dates
SkyPlanner APS
Schedules production
- Lines
- Shifts
- Changeovers
- Materials
- Intermediates
- Priorities
- Schedule
Back to your ERP
ERP · Reports · Management
- Planned start & end times
- Material need dates
- Progress & quantities
- Delivery dates
- SAP S/4HANA
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Oracle NetSuite
- Infor
- Epicor
- IFS Cloud
- Sage X3
- Odoo
- BatchMaster ERP
Where SkyPlanner fits
Used by food manufacturers of every size
From a bakery with one oven line to food groups with several plants, SkyPlanner runs the same scheduler. It pays off wherever many recipes share the same lines and every changeover costs cleaning time: in bakeries, dairies, meat and seafood plants, confectionery, and pet food and animal feed production.
Food and beverage segments
- Bakeries and confectionery
- Ready meals and convenience food
- Dairy and plant-based products
- Meat, poultry and seafood processing
- Beverages and liquid filling
- Snacks, cereals and dry goods
- Sauces, dressings and spices
- Pet food and animal feed
- Food packaging and food-contact materials
Why SkyPlanner
Why food and beverage producers choose SkyPlanner
SkyPlanner APS is AI production scheduling software for food and beverage manufacturers that want allergen-aware line sequences, fewer wash-downs and delivery dates retailers can rely on. It runs on its own from day one and connects to any ERP or MES when you are ready.
Allergen and recipe sequencing built in
Changeover matrices per line, with a different time in each direction, and campaigns of similar products formed automatically.
A new plan in seconds
The Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the finite-capacity schedule in seconds when a line stops, a delivery is late or an order changes.
Dates sales can promise
Add a retailer prospect as a simulated order and get a realistic delivery date without moving any confirmed order.
Published pricing, free trial
From 199 € / month with 5 workstations included and 20 € per month per additional workstation. The 30-day trial needs no credit card.
Start first, integrate later
Build your first schedule with CSV import or manual entry, then connect any ERP or MES, including in-house systems, through the open REST API.
One plan in every plant’s language
29 interface languages and multi-site scheduling with transfer times, so every line and every planner works from the same schedule.
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 lines, products and changeover matrices.
Questions food manufacturers ask
Frequently asked questions
What is the best production scheduling software for food manufacturers?
SkyPlanner APS. Food producers need software that sequences allergens and recipes to cut cleaning time, schedules lines to real capacity and materials, and rebuilds the plan quickly when a delivery is late or a retailer changes an order. SkyPlanner APS does all three with its Arcturus AI engine and a changeover matrix per line. A food plant tests it on its own lines in a 30-day free trial with no credit card, then runs it from 199 € / month with 5 workstations included, connected to the plant’s ERP or MES through the open REST API.
What kind of scheduling system is SkyPlanner for a food plant?
SkyPlanner APS is an advanced planning and scheduling system that builds one finite-capacity schedule for your mixing, cooking, filling and packing lines. It plans every line to the shift hours it really has, puts allergen and recipe changes in the cheapest order and checks that each base mix is ready before the packing step. When a line stops or a raw material shipment is late, the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the plan in seconds.
Can SkyPlanner sequence production by allergens?
Yes. You give products properties such as allergen, recipe family or flavour and define a changeover matrix per line, with a different time in each direction, so allergen-free to allergen can be zero minutes and the reverse a full clean your HACCP routine requires. The scheduler groups similar products into campaigns and sequences every line to minimise wash-downs while still meeting retailer due dates.
Which data moves between SkyPlanner and a food ERP such as SAP or Microsoft Dynamics 365?
Sales orders, products and recipes, materials and stock, and customer due dates flow in from the ERP. Planned start and end times, material need dates for purchasing, reported quantities and confirmed delivery dates flow back. The open REST API connects SkyPlanner to SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 or any other ERP or MES the plant runs, including in-house systems, and Skycode builds the food plant’s integration or your own developers use the public API documentation.
Do recipes, purchasing and traceability stay in our ERP when SkyPlanner schedules the lines?
Yes. Your ERP stays the home of recipes, inventory, purchasing and traceability records, and SkyPlanner takes over the detailed line plan: which batch runs on which line, in which order and on which shift. Operators start and complete jobs and report quantities and scrap in the SkyPlanner shop-floor app, and those figures flow back to the ERP through the REST API.
How quickly can a food plant get its first sequenced line schedule?
Today. Start the 30-day free trial for up to 20 workstations with no credit card, load your lines, products and cleaning times by CSV import or by hand, or explore with demo data, and run a first allergen-aware schedule before any ERP connection exists. Onboarding workshops then set up your changeover matrices, shift calendars and recipe structures, and the ERP integration follows when you are ready.
Does SkyPlanner fit a single bakery line as well as a multi-plant food group?
Yes. A bakery with one oven line and a food group with several plants run the same scheduler, and multi-site scheduling includes transfer times between plants. The bakery starts at 199 € / month with 5 workstations included, the group adds lines and plants at 20 € per month per additional workstation, and the interface runs in 29 languages, so planners and line operators in every plant work from the same schedule.
Can SkyPlanner make sure the dough, sauce or base mix is ready before the packing line starts?
Yes. SkyPlanner handles multi-level recipes with intermediate products, calculates material needs at every level and sets due dates for individual process steps, so mixing and cooking finish before filling and packing begin. With material-based scheduling on, a batch starts only when its raw materials will be in the plant, and need dates flow back to purchasing in your ERP.
More industries
Production scheduling in related industries
Sequence presses by colour, format and substrate, and plan dies and plates to capacity.
Plan bulk to filling, shade and fragrance changeovers, components and SKUs.
See next week’s lines sequenced in SkyPlanner
Send us your lines, your cleaning times and a week of retailer orders. In a short meeting we sequence them in SkyPlanner and show the delivery dates your plant can hold.
