4. The Schedule board: the order each centre runs

Who this is for: the planner and the leading hand of each centre.

What the board is

Find a time (lesson 3) says which days; the Schedule board says in what order within a centre. Operators take the first Ready card on their centre, so this order is what the shop actually does next.

The default order

Without your touch, a centre's queue runs Urgent and High orders first, then by due date, then order number and step. For many shops that is enough.

Setting your own order

On the centre's tab, use the arrows on a row: up, down, to the top. The new order is saved at once and the floor terminal shows it on its next refresh. Your order sits under priority: an Urgent order still jumps the queue.

Back to priority and due date clears your order for that centre.

What the board won't do

• It won't start a step whose earlier step isn't finished, wherever you put it: the card still says Waiting on earlier step.
• It won't move a step to another centre: that is the routing, on the BOM.
• It doesn't book days: that is Find a time.

A Monday routine

Open each centre's tab in turn. Put today's must-ships at the top, group steps that share a setup (the same material and thickness on the laser, the same colour at the coater's pickup), and leave the rest to due date. Five minutes a centre.