Epifor has lean manufacturing principles in its core. It automatically shows the lean priority to every work center based on customer's demand, displaying the job availabilitywith simple color codes and pushes production to deliver.
Epifor's Lean Scheduling algorythms are desinegned to drive production execution in a lean way. That's why planners can only plan the whole manufacturing order and not each work center separately. It automatically suggests corrections to work centers that deviate from the lean sequence and might cause a waterfall to various customer orders. Even in case of semi finished that are produces from the factory, Epifor links semi finished with finished orders in collaboration with ERPs. When this link happened all semi finished orders inherite all the behaviour or the finished orders.
Semi Finished - Multi Level BOM
Map the whole build, top to bottom.
In collaboration with ERPs or designing software Epifor can handle the whole Tree of what must be manufactured. It sets priorities based and provides job availability to the work center based on the tree structure.
Parent and child relationship
Orders are linked with each other with a parent and child relation. Childs inderit priority, status and completion dates automatically.
Prioritization based on the parent
When you plan the parent order the child order inherits the priority rule automatically and is displayed to every work center as you command.
Job availability to work centers
The parent order is flagged available to work at specific work centers, when a child is ready. The same can be done with purchased materials and the promised dates from vendors.
AI Powered Lean Scheduling
Your shop floor, in coordination to customer demand.
Epifor schedules each work center job one after the other in the sequence of the customer demand. Adding factory rules and way of working result in lead times drop, just in time process and a floor that keeps flowing.
Jobs one after the other with suggested grouping
A job is scheduled to finish just before the work center that needs it. Operators can filter and create groups based on factory's logic for higher efficiency or see the suggested grouping that AI provides and apply.
Display of the correct sequence deviation
Operators can see the correct sequence, and in combination with job availability they understand if what they are going to start will ruin the correct sequence. AI algorythms make suggestion to improve efficiency.
Schedule your bottleneck
Over time changes of operators or machines affect your cycle times.
Material Availability & Consumptions
Use materials you actually have start jobs you can do
Epifor receives material availability from the ERPs. If a material is not available it can also receive the expected delivey date of the material. If the material is not available or is expected, the job cannot be started from operators and flags are displayed to administrators. Moreover, in case operators pick another material, Epifor communicates with the ERP asking for confirmation about operators' intent.
Material availability from ERP
Epifor receives the material availability from ERP and if is not available it receives the material expected delivery date to handle the scheduling.
Communication with ERP for material validation and availability
Operators can scan SNs or Batches and communicate live with ERP in case they want to validate that the material the picked is available and not reserved, or request a material change.
Consumption send to ERP
Epifor can trigger automated consumption to ERPs keeping the warehouse and material availability for new orders updated all the time, while saving tons of hours from manual imput.
Frequently asked questions
Q.01What is a multi-level BOM?
A multi-level BOM is a product structure with more than one stage: a finished good made from semi-finished subassemblies, which are made from raw materials. In Epifor, that structure inside the shop floor management system tells the schedule which stages exist and what each one consumes, so the whole build is planned, not just the final step.
Q.02What is a semi-finished item?
A semi-finished item is an intermediate product: the output of one stage and the input to the next. In Epifor, each one is scheduled and tracked as its own step, so you can see when it will be ready and make sure the stage that needs it is not left waiting.
Q.03What makes the scheduling "lean"?
Epifor sequences each stage so a semi-finished item finishes just as the next stage needs it, which keeps work in progress and idle time low. It uses your resources for the least availability loss against the target date and the stage before, so lead times drop without extra intermediate stock sitting on the floor.
Q.04How does Epifor handle material availability?
Epifor communicates with your inventory and ERP to check whether the materials a stage needs are on hand before it commits that stage to the floor. If a material is short, you see it early and can act on it, rather than starting a job that will stall.
Q.05Does Epifor connect to my ERP or WMS for stock?
Yes. Epifor exchanges data both ways with your ERP or WMS: it can pull stock and order information, and it sends production information and actual consumption back, so inventory reflects what the floor actually used.
Q.06Can I schedule a semi-finished item on its own?
Yes. Because each stage in the BOM is its own scheduled step, you can plan, sequence, and track semi-finished production independently, whether it feeds one finished good or several.
Q.07Doesn't my ERP already handle BOMs and inventory?
Your ERP holds the master BOM and stock for planning and purchasing, which is its job. Epifor adds the shop floor layer on top: it schedules each stage against real capacity and times, checks material availability, and reports actual consumption back. It complements your ERP rather than replacing it.
Q.08What happens to my lead times when I schedule stage by stage?
Because Epifor lines up each stage just before the one that needs it and only starts stages whose materials are available, work spends less time waiting as intermediate stock. Tighter flow from stage to stage shortens the total time from raw material to finished good.
Free online presentation
See it built in stages
Book a short presentation and see how Epifor plans multi-level BOMs, schedules every semi-finished stage lean, and checks material availability against your inventory, all inside one shop floor management system.
