High-Mix / Low-Volume

200 open orders.
Every morning the same question:
What do we do first?

At high variance, sequence determines delivery reliability. RheoNet shows which order will blow the plan — and why — before it is too late.

Typical challenges in mechanical engineering

Six problems every production manager in high-mix manufacturing knows.

Critical

Delivery dates slip — without warning

The root cause is rarely where you expect it. Often it is a single purchased part, a machine that broke down three days earlier, or a reprioritization made two weeks ago. ERP does not show this.

Critical

Plan and reality drift apart daily

ERP knows the target state. The shop floor lives in the actual state. Between them lies a gap — bridged manually every morning by two experienced planners.

Daily impact

Firefighting as a permanent state

Express orders, reprioritizations, capacity crunches. The production manager plans with 3 Excel files. Every disruption costs hours of replanning, not minutes.

Daily impact

Variant diversity makes every order a special case

Every order has its own routing, times and resources. Planning cannot standardize — and is therefore as costly as the manufacturing itself.

Strategic

WIP grows with every new order

More orders in the system means more complexity, not more throughput. Releasing too much clogs the shop floor. But releasing too little wastes capacity.

Strategic

Capacity bottlenecks become visible too late

A critical workstation that becomes a bottleneck in 5 days — nobody sees this today. The reaction comes when the delay has already happened.

How RheoNet helps in mechanical engineering

01

Connect ERP + MES + shop-floor feedback

We connect your planning data (ERP) with shop-floor realities (MES, confirmations). No system change needed — standard exports suffice. Up and running in weeks, not months.

02

Plan-vs-actual comparison & drift detection in real time

See where the plan is deviating from reality — before the delay has occurred. Which order will be late? Which resource is today's bottleneck? Which will be in 3 days?

03

Daily prioritization recommendations

What should be released today? Where is a capacity intervention worthwhile? What can wait? Data-driven recommendations — every morning, in the context of all open orders.

Measurable results

8–15%

WIP reduction

Fewer orders in the system simultaneously. Focus on flow instead of open orders.

<6 mo.

Payback

Less rush costs, fewer overtime hours, shorter lead times. Calculated conservatively.

2–3 wks

First insights

Rapid Factory Assessment: top-5 delay drivers + quick wins — before the pilot starts.

"We had 200 open orders and every morning started with the question: what do we do first? That was no longer planning — it was intuition under pressure."

— Typical feedback from high-mix manufacturing

Does RheoNet fit your operation?

20 minutes is enough. We'll show you which orders are about to blow your plan today — and what you can do about it.

Schedule a call