In this guide 6 sections
Collect the day’s orders at a fixed cut-off. Subtract finished stock, round the balance up to whole batches, then check each batch against raw material and packing stock. Shortages show up the evening before, while there is still time to buy or reschedule.
Fix a cut-off for orders
Pick one cut-off time after which orders count for the next day, and send late calls from stockists to the following day unless the plant manager agrees. Without a cut-off, hours vanish.
Gather orders from every channel into one list, covering phone notes, chat messages, the field team’s sheets and the standing weekly indents from hotels and canteens. One list, one version, one owner. Whoever edits it signs the change.
Slow products set the pace. A sweet on a long cooling rack or a drink in a settling tank holds the line for hours, so put those first and fit quick runs around them.
- Cut-off time agreed with sales
- One list for all channels
- Rush orders flagged with the manager’s name
- Standing orders added automatically
Net the orders against finished stock
For each product, total the ordered cases. Subtract what is already packed and unreserved in the finished goods store, and what remains is the quantity you must make today, whatever the sales team hoped.
Reserve stock against orders line by line. Then the store never shows the same cartons twice, and two salesmen promising the same twenty cases of biscuits stop turning a healthy plan into a failed dispatch.
Watch for orders that share a batch. Ten stockists each asking for a few cases of the same sauce make one kettle run, not ten, so total the quantities before you divide them into batches.
Round up to batch sizes
A kettle holds a fixed mix, a filler runs a fixed tray count, and nobody cooks two thirds of a batch, so round up to whole batches. Note the surplus that goes to stock.
Sequence batches to cut changeovers. Run light flavours before strong ones, plain before nut, and short shelf life first, so the products that must leave the plant earliest are made earliest.
Keep a small buffer for walk-in demand. Leave one short slot on the line for rush orders, so the manager is not tempted to disturb a batch already under way and spoil its yield.
- Batch size per product and per vessel
- Surplus noted as finished stock
- Sequence by flavour, allergen and shelf life
- Line and shift assigned to each batch
Check materials before the line starts
For every planned batch, multiply the recipe by the batch count and compare the result with stores, listing flour, sugar, edible oil, jars, caps, cartons and labels. The gaps form your shortage list, and each one is marked buy, borrow from another line, or swap for an approved substitute.
Do this the evening before. A purchase call at four in the afternoon can still land a delivery, but the same call after the shift has started cannot.
Allergens and wash-downs belong on this sheet. If a nut product runs before a plain one, the plan must show the cleaning time, or the day will overrun and nobody will know why.
- Recipe quantities multiplied by batch count
- Raw materials and packing checked together
- Shortage list sent to purchase the same evening
- Substitute materials approved by quality
Close the loop after the shift
When the shift closes, compare planned batches with batches made and note why any gap appeared, since a breakdown, a missing carton and a late worker read differently.
Review the gaps weekly. If the same material is short every Thursday, the reorder point is wrong, not the plan, so raise the reorder level and watch four weeks of shortage lists first.
Post the plan on the shop floor. When operators see why one batch comes first, they stop swapping the order by habit, and the sheet becomes the working document of the line.
Daily batch plan sheet
Two tables sit on one page. Orders: stockist, product, cases, priority. Plan: product, finished stock, balance to make, batches, line, shift. Beneath is a material check grid with ingredient, needed, in stores, shortfall and purchase owner, and a footer for planned against made.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
How many days ahead should we plan?
Start with next day. Add a rolling three-day view once the daily plan runs without surprises, especially for materials with long lead times such as printed cartons, imported flavours or glass jars. Review it each Friday. Do not start with a week.
What if orders arrive after the cut-off?
Treat them as next-day by default. Allow exceptions only with the plant manager’s sign-off, and record how often it happens, because a pile of exceptions means the cut-off sits at the wrong hour for stockists. Count every exception. Review the count monthly.
Can a spreadsheet do this?
For a few products, yes. Once reserved stock across many orders and multi-level recipes enter the picture, a spreadsheet struggles, and software that links orders, recipes and stores lets the shortage list build itself. Start there if you must. It costs nothing.
How do we handle seasonal spikes?
Use last year’s same-week orders as a guide for purchase of sugar, packing film and cartons, then let the daily plan correct the guess as real orders come in. Festival weeks need more line hours. Check them early. Book packing film first.