Planning mode

The planning mode is where plans are created and how to produce products is theorized. This mode will help calculate and estimate production times and costs, while also helping to figure out which workstations may be needed. To create a plan, begin with the final product and then, step by step, brand ouch to specify which operations to use - all the way down to the raw materials.

Worksheet overview
The worksheet is used to manage the entire plan and specify what is currently being worked towards.

Order - Here the product that is available on the market is selected to be produced. This is the target.

Plan - All the plans that have been created for the current target product are being saved here. Plans can be deleted, copied, or new ones created. Modifying and changing a previous plan is a good way to save time and optimize settings that have been made earlier.

Estimates
When a product is planned, players can always estimate and calculate the following:
 * Operation Time (O.T.) - The total amount of time required to perform all operations. This does not take simultaneous work into consideration.
 * Work Time (W.T.) - The total amount of time required to perform all operations on the workstations currently linked. New or unused workstations count is simplified.
 * Operations - The amount of operations this plan has.
 * Deliverable - The amount of possible deliverable units towards the market.
 * Material - The material cost if this order is executed.
 * Salaries - Estimated cost for workers based on operation time.
 * Payment - Total amount of payment to be received for this plan
 * Profit - What is earned after deducting material and transport costs.

Attributes
Each product has attribute requirements which need to be fulfilled. There are many options available that affect and change the final attributes of each product, such as using different workstations, operation types or production materials.

Players want to be above or as close to the attribute requirements as possible in order to get the most value out of the production. No bonuses are awarded for greatly surpassing a specification, so players should avoid wasting time or money on getting attributes much higher than necessary.


 * Green: The value is at or above requirement. Good to go.
 * Yellow: The value is still below the requirement, but it's possible to surpass if the right choices are made.
 * Red: It's impossible to reach the target requirements with the current plan - one of the previous decisions must be changed.

Operation and product nodes
All the nodes in the planning mode can be either of the following: an operation node or a product node.

Operation notes defines what product or material(s) will be used as an input, and what output will result.

Product nodes presents what part or material that each operation needs to come from, or what each operation will lead to. Product nodes can only be edited if they represent raw materials at the end of a branch.

Linking multiple nodes
It is possible to link multiple nodes simultaneously to a workstation in the factory. Simply select all operations to be linked to a workstation, right click on one of the operation nodes, select link, and then choose the workstation to link to the operations as usual.

Note that different operation types cannot be linked at the same time. If this attempt is made, then only the operation type chosen to link from will be affected.

Batching
Batching can be used to ensure that large projects won't get stuck for too long on a single workstation or operation. All operations will be split and scheduled so that there are always enough parts produced to finalize five complete products at a time. Using batching on large plans will create long queues on each workstation, but it may be more efficient to produce this way - especially if there is a troublesome bottleneck on a single workstation.

Logistics
Before executing a plan, players may also specify which loading bay for the transport to arrive at. This becomes more important if there are multiple loading bays and the factory has grown to a decent size.