Glossary · MES and ISA-95
Operations schedule
German: Betriebsplan
In ISA-95 / IEC 62264, an operations schedule is a collection of requests for manufacturing operations to be performed, specifying what, how much and when, together with the required resources. Production schedule is its production-specific form.
- MES
- Standards
In one sentence
In ISA-95, an operations schedule is a collection of requests for operations, stating what to do, how much and when, with required resources.
Example
The weekly operations schedule for quality operations lists the lab tests requested for each incoming raw material lot.
How it applies
- Planning: Level 4 systems send schedules to Level 3; detailed scheduling at Level 3 turns them into sequences and dispatch lists for specific resources.
- Operation: Changes in the schedule have to be communicated quickly to the shop floor, and deviations reported back.
- Engineering: The interface defines how schedule changes, cancellations and priorities are handled.
- Documentation: Specifications should describe the life cycle of a schedule request (created, released, started, completed, canceled). User documentation should tell operators where they see their schedule and how to report problems with it.
Operations schedule vs. detailed schedule
The operations schedule from the business level is usually coarse. The detailed schedule at Level 3 assigns work to specific equipment and times. ISA-95 treats detailed scheduling as a separate Level 3 activity.