Production scheduling for pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceutical manufacturing production scheduling software
SkyPlanner APS turns your orders, equipment, batches, materials and shifts into one finite-capacity schedule. It groups products into campaigns so cleaning between products costs as little time as possible, respects waiting times between process steps, and rebuilds the plan in seconds when demand shifts or a machine stops. It integrates with any ERP or MES through its open REST API.
- Campaign and cleaning sequencing
- Finite-capacity scheduling
- Any ERP or MES via REST API
- From 199 € / month
90%
production efficiency increase, Laboratory & Allied
50%
more on-time deliverables and customer reporting, Laboratory & Allied
Under 30 min
to a three-month optimized plan across all workstations, Laboratory & Allied
100%
delivery reliability since 2021, Opes Corporation
Results reported by SkyPlanner customers Laboratory & Allied, a generic medicines manufacturer, and Opes Corporation. Read all SkyPlanner APS reviews
Why pharmaceutical production is hard to schedule
Batches, cleaning and waiting, on shared equipment
A pharmaceutical plant moves many products through the same granulators, blenders, presses and fillers. The order of those batches decides how much time goes to production and how much goes to cleaning and waiting.
Cleaning depends on what came before
Moving from a low-potency product to a high-potency one often needs only a short clean. The other way round can mean a full clean of the whole equipment train. The order of batches decides which one you pay for.
Waiting is part of the process
Granulate rests, bulk waits for QC release, finished goods sit in quarantine. The next step cannot start early, but the equipment should not sit idle in the meantime.
Intermediates feed the final product
Blending cannot start before the granulate exists, compression cannot start before the blend, and packing waits for the tablets. Each level depends on the materials below it.
Shared equipment and tooling
Several product families compete for the same blender, the same press and the same punch sets. A tool used on one machine cannot be on another at the same time.
Demand moves faster than the plan
Tenders, distributor orders and stock-outs change priorities at short notice, and sales needs a delivery date it can trust before it promises one.
Batch sheets on a spreadsheet stop scaling
A spreadsheet or ERP planning screen sees neither the cleaning matrix nor the QC hold, and the real batch sequence lives in one planner’s head.
SkyPlanner sequences batches the way a pharmaceutical planner thinks. It loads every granulator, blender and press to real capacity, groups campaigns around cleaning and rebuilds the plan in seconds when a tender lands or a machine stops.
Campaign planning and cleaning-aware sequencing
Group the campaign. Clean once, not after every batch.
Every clean between products is paid time with zero output. SkyPlanner sequences each machine so product changeovers and cleaning cost as little time as possible, while due dates still hold.
Your products, your cleaning matrix
Give products properties such as active ingredient, potency, strength, product family or format, and define a changeover matrix for each workstation: how long it takes to move from one value to another, in each direction.
Potency order decides the clean
A lower strength after a higher one can need a full clean and the reverse almost nothing, or whatever your validated cleaning procedure requires. Batches that share a property are grouped into campaigns automatically.
Cleaning planned, not discovered
The Arcturus AI engine weighs the saved cleaning time against due dates and customer priorities, so a campaign never quietly delays an urgent order. The Gantt view shows exactly where every changeover falls.
How SkyPlanner schedules a pharmaceutical plant
From active ingredient to packed product, within real equipment capacity
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 equipment, shifts and people
Each machine or room has its own shift calendar, and planned maintenance, cleaning windows and breakdowns can be entered as exceptions. Alternative workstations let a batch run on whichever suitable machine is free. A waiting time after a process step, such as drying, QC release or quarantine, keeps the next step from starting too early while the equipment stays free for other batches.
Personnel scheduling assigns people to shifts and workstations, so the plan never puts a batch on equipment that has nobody to run it.
- No batch lands on an unstaffed or blocked machine
- Tools such as punch sets cannot be in two places at once
- Several plants scheduled together, with transfer times between sites
Materials, formulas and intermediate products
Active ingredients and excipients become a granulate, the granulate becomes a blend, and the blend becomes tablets that are packed. SkyPlanner handles multi-level bills of materials and sub-products, 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 blend is ready when the press needs it
- If a material delivery slips, the affected batch moves to when the material is available
Every suite sees the same plan
Operators see their own work queue in a simple worker view or the SkyPlanner shop-floor app, and machine views can be limited to the equipment each department runs. Operators start, pause and complete jobs and report quantities and scrap as they go, so the schedule always reflects what has actually happened in production.
Tenders, stock-outs and breakdowns, replanned in seconds
A won tender reshuffles the plan, not your week
When a tender is won, a machine goes down or an excipient delivery is late, the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the schedule in seconds. Lock batches that must not move, freeze the next shifts, raise priorities or fast-track an urgent order.
- Add a tender or distributor order 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.
- Sales follows each order through its process steps to expected delivery, without calling production.
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%.
Abdul Rucyinga, Head of IT, Laboratory & Allied Limited
Generic medicines manufacturer with a WHO-GMP compliant plant · Laboratory & Allied’s SkyPlanner APS review
Integrates with any ERP or MES
Formulas and batch records stay in your ERP. The batch sequence comes from 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 & formulas
- Materials & stock
- Customers & due dates
SkyPlanner APS
Schedules production
- Equipment
- Shifts
- Cleaning
- Waiting times
- 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
- SAP Business One
Where SkyPlanner fits
Used by pharmaceutical manufacturers of every size
From a single production suite to multi-site groups, in every dosage form, including biotech and nutraceutical production. SkyPlanner fits wherever many products queue for the same equipment and the batch order decides how much time goes to cleaning.
Pharmaceutical segments
- Generic medicines
- Tablets and capsules
- Sterile injectables
- Syrups and oral liquids
- Creams, ointments and topicals
- Contract manufacturing (CMO and CDMO)
- Biotech manufacturing
- Nutraceuticals and dietary supplements
- Veterinary medicines
Why pharmaceutical plants pick SkyPlanner
What pharmaceutical producers get with SkyPlanner
SkyPlanner APS is AI production scheduling software for pharmaceutical manufacturers that want cleaning-aware campaigns, QC waits and multi-level formulas in one finite-capacity schedule, without replacing their ERP. It is built for every plant where many products share the same equipment.
Campaigns built around cleaning
Your changeover matrix, in both directions, drives the sequence. Batches that share an active ingredient or potency run together, and due dates still hold.
QC holds in the schedule
Drying, QC release and quarantine are waiting times on the process step. The next step starts on time and the equipment runs other batches meanwhile.
Replanning in seconds
The Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the whole finite-capacity schedule in seconds when a tender is won, an excipient is late or a press goes down.
Delivery dates sales can trust
A tender entered as a simulated order shows a realistic delivery date before anyone commits, without touching confirmed orders.
Any ERP or MES, or none yet
Start scheduling on its own from day one. The open REST API connects to any ERP or MES, built by Skycode or by your own developers.
Published pricing and a free trial
From 199 € / month with 5 workstations included. Try it for 30 days with up to 20 workstations, no credit card, in any of 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 equipment, products, process steps and changeover matrices.
Questions pharmaceutical manufacturers ask
Frequently asked questions
What is the best production scheduling software for pharmaceutical manufacturers?
Pick software that sequences batches into campaigns around a direction-dependent cleaning matrix, holds the next step until drying, QC release or quarantine is over, and plans multi-level formulas from granulate to packed product. SkyPlanner APS does all of this on a finite-capacity schedule that the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds in seconds. Pricing is published, from 199 € / month with 5 workstations included, there is a 30-day free trial with no credit card, and the open REST API integrates with any ERP or MES.
What kind of system is SkyPlanner for a pharmaceutical plant?
SkyPlanner APS is an advanced planning and scheduling system that builds one finite-capacity schedule across your granulators, blenders, presses, fillers and packing lines. It works from your orders, formulas, materials and shift calendars, and the Arcturus AI engine optimises the batch sequence, so production planning and detailed batch scheduling run on the same data.
Which data moves between SAP S/4HANA and SkyPlanner in a pharmaceutical plant?
Sales orders, products and formulas, materials and stock, and customer due dates flow in from SAP S/4HANA, Microsoft Dynamics 365 or any other ERP or MES, including in-house systems, through the open REST API. Planned start and end times, material need dates, progress and quantities, and delivery dates flow back. Skycode builds the integration, or your own developers use the public API documentation. At Laboratory & Allied, the in-house IT team mapped the data tables and set up the data flows to SAP Business One on HANA and Power BI.
Do formulas and batch records stay in our ERP when SkyPlanner sequences the batches?
Yes. Your ERP keeps formulas, inventory, purchasing and batch records, and SkyPlanner owns the batch sequence on each piece of equipment: campaigns, cleaning, QC waits and intermediate timing. Material need dates for active ingredients and excipients go back to the ERP, so purchasing works from the same plan the suites run.
How quickly can a pharmaceutical plant run its first campaign schedule in SkyPlanner?
Today. Start the 30-day free trial with up to 20 workstations and no credit card, and set up your equipment, products, process steps and changeover matrices first, from demo data or your own products via CSV import or manual entry. Your first campaign schedule needs no integration, and assisted onboarding workshops configure SkyPlanner to your plant before the ERP connection is built.
Does SkyPlanner suit a single tablet suite as well as a multi-site pharmaceutical group?
Yes. Pricing starts at 199 € per month with 5 workstations included and 20 € per month for each additional workstation, so one production suite and a multi-site group run the same scheduling engine. Several plants are scheduled together with transfer times between sites, and the user interface comes in 29 languages for operators in every country.
Can SkyPlanner plan QC release and quarantine waiting times?
Yes. Each process step can carry a waiting time after it finishes, before the next step for the same batch starts, for example drying, QC release or quarantine. The equipment that finished the step stays available for other batches during that time. Defaults can be set once on the product’s process steps.
How does SkyPlanner sequence high-potency and low-potency batches to cut cleaning time?
You give products properties such as active ingredient, potency or strength, and define a changeover matrix for each workstation with a time for every direction of change. SkyPlanner groups batches that share a property into campaigns and runs lower strengths ahead of higher ones, so most changeovers need only a short clean and a full clean comes as rarely as possible. The Arcturus AI engine weighs that saved cleaning time against due dates, and the Gantt view shows exactly where every changeover falls.
More industries
Production scheduling in related industries
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Sequence allergens and changeovers, plan lines to real capacity and promise reliable delivery dates.
Bring a few weeks of batches. See them grouped into campaigns.
Share your equipment list, cleaning rules and a few weeks of orders. In a short meeting we will show them scheduled in SkyPlanner, with campaigns grouped, QC waits respected and delivery dates sales can promise.
