Capacity

Group products that share a limited resource into capacity units, and see which periods are overloaded or underloaded.

A capacity unit groups the products that share a limited resource, such as a production line or the weekly output of a supplier. For each period, Capacity compares the load of the firm and planned orders with the Min load and the Capacity limit you set. Flowlity alerts you when planned orders exceed the capacity limit, or when the load stays below the min load.

Where to find it: in the sidebar, go to Inventory & supply > Capacity. If you do not see it, ask your Customer Success Manager to activate it.

How to create a capacity unit

1

Start a new unit

On the Capacity page, click Create capacity unit.

2

Choose the site and the supplier

Pick the Site, then the Supplier whose orders load this unit.

3

Name the unit and choose its unit of measure

Enter the Capacity Unit Name and choose the Default unit of measure, for example pieces or hours. The load is counted in this unit, and you cannot change it after the unit is created.

4

Add the products

Add products one by one, or add a whole tag with By tag. Every product must use the unit of measure you chose.

5

Set the period and the limits

Choose the Capacity granularity (week or month), then enter the Min load and the Capacity limit per period. These values apply to the whole horizon. You can change them for specific periods later.

6

Activate and save

Turn on Active to get alerts when orders exceed the capacity limit or do not reach the min load. Click Save.

How to spot overloaded periods

1

Filter the list

Use Alerts to show only the units with alerts. You can also filter by Sites and Suppliers, or search a unit by name.

2

Open the unit

Click a capacity unit. The chart shows the Firm supply orders and Planned supply orders of each period against the Min load and the Capacity lines.

3

Read a period

Hover a period to see its Total load and the Capacity left, and whether it is Above capacity limit or Below min load. Change the time bucket (days, weeks or months) and the dates in the header to zoom in or out.

How to change the capacity for some periods

1

Edit the cell

In the grid of the unit, click the Capacity limit or Min load cell of a period and type the new value. To edit, the time bucket must match the granularity of the unit.

2

Apply it to other periods

Open the menu of the cell and choose Apply to all periods or Apply to specific periods. Restore initial brings back the previous value.

3

Save

Click Save, or Discard changes. The min load can never be greater than the capacity limit.

How to see which products load a unit

1

Open the product data

In the unit, scroll to Product data below the main grid.

2

Choose the breakdown

Click By product to see the load of each product, or By tag to see it per tag. Search or sort the list to find the biggest contributors.

How to open the products in Planning

1

Open in planning

In the unit, click the Open in planning button. Ctrl+click (Cmd+click on Mac) opens it in a new tab. This works for units with up to 100 products.

2

Change the planned orders

Move or reduce planned orders in Planning, then save. Flowlity recomputes the capacity alerts, and the Total load of the unit updates.

How to edit or delete a capacity unit

1

Find the unit in the list

Hover the row of the capacity unit.

2

Edit or delete it

Click Edit capacity unit to change its settings, or Delete capacity unit. Deleting removes all the information linked to the unit, and you cannot undo it.

Good to know

• When you change the default Min load or Capacity limit of an existing unit, the periods already in the horizon keep their values. New periods get the new default as they appear.

• If your site plans by month, you cannot choose a weekly capacity granularity.

• You can leave comments on a capacity unit to share context with your team. See Comments.

Related

• Planning

• Supplier constraints and order management

• Alerts