Shift planning in production is not just about distributing employee names into morning, evening and night columns. A workable plan; It considers open order load, machine capacity, employee competencies, leave and absences, break patterns and shift handover. If one of this information is missing, production may be disrupted even if the schedule appears full.
To evaluate the shift decision together with the order order and capacity production planning and scheduling program and review it.
First Determine How Many Shifts Are Needed
Instead of writing three shifts as per current habit, compare the confirmed order load with the actual available capacity.
Planning staff without knowing the operation times of open orders can cause bottlenecks in some departments while leaving idle capacity in others. To determine the required work time in the production capacity calculation guide Use the available time approach.
How to Prepare a Shift Plan in 6 Steps?
Convert order load to hours
Multiply the confirmed order quantity by the operation times. Also take into account preparation, mold replacement, cleaning, quality and expected normal losses.
Identify critical machines and tasks
Not every department needs the same number of employees. Flag the bottleneck machine, quality approval, and tasks that only certain employees can do.
Distribute competencies across shifts
Ensure that there are sufficient roles on each shift who can set up the machine, control quality and make decisions in extraordinary situations.
Add leave, breaks and backup
Make planned leaves, training, breaks and substitute employees who can take over in case of unexpected absence visible in the chart.
Plan handover time
Ongoing work orders, missing materials, products awaiting quality, malfunctions and machine adjustments should be transferred to the next team not verbally but on record.
Compare plan with actual
At the end of the shift, production amount, downtime, wastage, overwork and missing work should be recorded; The next plan should not repeat the same mistake.
Sample Weekly Shift Plan
The example below shows roles and competencies instead of person names. So the plan is just “who will come?” not the question, but “will that shift be able to complete the job?” It also answers the question.
Mass order start
- 1 shift manager
- 2 machine installation competence
- 4 operators
- 1 quality control
- 1 material feeding
Risk: Two die changes; The staging team is ready at the beginning of the shift.
Continuation of mass production
- 1 shift manager
- 1 machine installation competence
- 4 operators
- 1 quality control
- 1 spare operator
Turnover: First part approval completed; Work order #2 is in progress.
Limited product line
- 1 shift manager
- 1 senior operator
- 3 operators
- 1 quality authorized employee
- Maintenance team call plan
Limit: No new mold commissioning; Approved products are used.
Opening after maintenance
- 1 shift manager
- 1 maintenance technician
- 1 machine installation competence
- 4 operators
- 1 quality control
Control: Maintenance closeout and initial part approval are completed prior to production.
Annual leave backup
- Permissioned role is pre-checked
- Competent substitute employee assigned
- No overwork assumed
- Critical tasks protected
Control: The substitute employee is competent in the same machine and product group.
According to order and capacity
- Open order control
- Need for maintenance and cleaning
- Risk of delay
- Legal working order control
Shifts are opened based on verified workload, not out of habit.
Do not establish working and rest arrangements solely based on production needs.
Shift hours, night work, breaks, weekly rest, overtime and employee group rules should be evaluated according to current legislation and the company's conditions. Verify the plan with HR and, if needed, a labor law specialist before implementation.
Why is Competency Matrix Necessary?
Critical information can be gathered in a single shift
Just because there are five operators does not mean that all five can change molds or provide quality approval. For each task, the level of "can do, can do with supervision, training required" should be maintained.
To prevent critical information from remaining in the hands of a single employee checklist that reduces dependence on the master Also apply.
Roles to check each shift
- Shift manager and decision authority
- Machine installation or mold change competence
- Critical operations experience
- Quality control and first‑piece approval
- Material preparation and warehouse access
- Maintenance communication in case of malfunction
What Information Should Be Recorded in Shift Turnover Delivery?
Work orders in progress
Quantity produced, remaining and next.
Downtime and malfunctions
Time of onset, cause and intervention performed.
quality status
Product awaiting approval, separated and to be reprocessed.
Material status
Missing, reserved or even prepared material.
Machine settings
Changed value and current product setting.
Responsible and next step
The role that takes over the work, the action to be taken and the time of control.
The typical result of a recording gap between shifts is that the order is thought to be finished simply because its last operation was not completed. This risk In the last operation follow-up article Evaluate together with control steps.
Common Mistakes in Shift Planning
Dividing the number of staff equally
If workload and competence are not the same, an equal number of people does not create equal production capacity
Change the license at the last moment
If the permission of the employee with critical competence is not visible in advance, the shift is full on paper but remains incomplete in the field.
Counting overtime as continuous capacity
Temporary overtime is not a permanent capacity; fatigue, quality and sustainability risks must also be evaluated.
Not closing the plan with actual data
If downtime, wastage and incomplete production do not return to plan, the same shift error is repeated the next week.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should prepare the shift plan?
Production planning must verify the workload, production management must verify the task and competency needs, and human resources must verify the leave and working order together. The plan prepared by a single section may be incomplete.
How often should the shift schedule be updated?
A weekly master plan can be prepared; When a new order, malfunction, leave or absence occurs, the relevant shift should be revised in a controlled manner.
Should the same products be run during the night shift?
Product selection; It should be done according to current competence, quality control, maintenance support, material and process risk. It is not right to leave new or high-risk jobs to shifts with limited support capacity.
How does ERP help with shift planning?
It ensures that the plan is based on workload by displaying open order, work order, operation time, machine capacity and actual production in common data. Solution scope KG Palaimon on production ERP page and review it.
Monitor planned and actual production in the same place
Examine in Korgün ERP's production solution how work orders, machines, operations, shifts and production results are linked together.