Getting a master scheduler job.

How did you get your start doing master scheduler work, and what career moves did you make to get to your current position?

Do you need a particular educational background?

I started by learning all functionals related to production on hand experience. Production supervisor to understand cost and labors hours. Warehouse experience understanding inventory control and just in time concepts ,transit time, kanban and just overall scheduling skils and understanding of numbers that make better profit for company and alot alot of understanding of different skills of establishing lean Manfuacturing,just of time, and continue eduaction on Chinese methods of operations.

Do you need a degree to be a scheduler, any education? Did you work your way up or just apply as a scheduler to start?

I dont have a degree and my climb up the ladder was by hands
on. I learned all phases of operation and did go to college for my Apics after I became a master scheduler The job is unique since I worked alone and managed all scheduling duties by myself. You have to be able to be a team member to survive all the stress and hard work. Your job is to be sure the job shop works steady and cost effective. You also make sure the customer gets their product on time and your company makes a profit.

I would recommend going through the APICS CPIM courses and also taking some business courses if you are just starting out. I too am "home grown" in the field but trying to find employment in Arizona after being in manufacturing/purchasing/production control in Maine for over 20 years is difficult as most employers are just looking at resumee and education for the first cuts. Experience hasn't seemed to make much difference.
You really need to be able to function under all sorts of conditions and be able to react quickly in any of the companies I have been with.

Larry is correct, but I was based in The United States in El Paso,Texas side which I scheduled the Maquila (factory) in Mexico where all the work has gone in Manufacturing. My duties were based on knowledge since I was Trained in all fields Of Manufacturing from Garment work,injection molding,wire extrusion,warehouse manager,production control,final assembly,metal stamping and of course exports knowledge. Education was required when working for Nypro so I did go to college helped to help on my pay increase but not really required.I have been in manufacturing since 1980 still remember making the first jeans for Charlie Angels should have kept a pair.I did setup this factory from ground up to full production.
After all this I have changed my course into computer knowledge since that is where all the job growth is at until Bill Gates makes a new software that fixes minor computer errors instead of people. Still miss all the fast pace and quick responses required to fulfil this duties.

Iam happy to hear from a experience production control (Larry)but now due to health problems and bad habits like smoking Iam disable and no hair just memories. So before you decide look at where the work is headed manufacturing is almost none available since NAFta Agreement opened the door for more exports but still good since it allow United States WOrkers to be trained for better jobs like Nursing and non related factory work which I have seen really gave some of my employess a better change in life when I had to shut down factories for lack of profit. Go into the medical side(Health Care) Iam sure there is scheduling duties there and will never go away.

Victor has a point but I would not give up on manufacturing in the USA yet. There may not be the huge facilities and corporations of yesteryear. Yeah I know I am dating myself but I am still in the workforce. There are still a lot of manufacturing companies around. I was asked about interviewing for a company in Milwaukee, I live in Maine at the moment and want to move to Arizona; I've had enough of northern winters.
I work as a production supervisor for a company that gross's 10 - 13 million a year and we build it in the USA. My fiancee works for a athletic shoe company that still has 3 plants in Maine and 1 in Massachussetts. Imagine that, shoes being made in New England...
I think, being a skeptical optimist, that the USA will still need us in manufacturing to produce inorder to keep up with the world, so get the education behind you, and you can grow in the position. Don't get stuck or hemmed into just one career. Being a generalist with knowlege and experience will always be a plus for your advancement.

Yes larry is correct that knowledge is power We didnt have computers on hand for tracking inventories we did it everything manual imagine all the manpower to achieve our goals(inventory reduction,scrap,efficency,manhours required,downtime}
Iam glad that we still have companies that are in the U.S.A.just requires well trained and dedicated workers to achieve this standards. Our sales can be high but its the net total that count after you deduct,manhours,overhead,inventory turn overs,inventory on hand.I was a general supervisor at one time running a company with about 250 operators,two production supervisors.maintence,quality control( three conveyers stationary boarda and a small warehouse and of course we were suppling GMAC parts with about 3 percent profit per month. I was not able to give to many increases but did promise my team that we can have a steady job for two years. My team members were so dedicated that i never had to worry about absenties but when General Motors requested a 4 percent reduction on price I was no longer able to meet profit numbers but before closing I did put out a saying on the wall with cash aquired by vending machines (petty cash) QUALITY PEOPLE PRODUCING A QUALITY PRODUCT PLANT #93. When all was done after requesting workforce commission to come over and sign up all my team members for unemployment benefits so they dont have to waste their gas and time. So training is required and mostly common sense and dedication to all your team members because we are indirect members they have to make our wages so sometimes titles are not important to me.

I have over 20+ years in the manufacturing business. Scheduling muli process equipment and associates to meet the companies goals and budgets. I am also well versed in Budget preperation, Product research, Inventory control,Mrp,Boms,Routings, Shipping and receiving Bar-coding systems and am also a certified coach instructor in a 16 course (DDI) program teaching team work principals to associates.

Hi I need some help. I have worked in scheduling for years and now have been asked to work in capacity planning. My company has given me 8 weeks to learn about MRP type activities. I have learned alot but I am a little confused on the master schedule. What tools do you need to create a master schedule? Is the answer Bill of Marterials (BOM, Master Production Schedule, Master Production Controller, Final Assembly Scheduler. I am so lost any help would be much appreciated.

You will need a correct Bill Of Materials(BOM), Method Of Manufacturing (MOM, Traveler, Routing), lead times of purchased materials, and shop capacity set up in your manufacturing software to run the master scheduler. You will also have to decide on how you want to schedule, forward to the due date or backward from the due date. Also if you want the capacity of the various work centers (shop) to be finite (limited to actual work hours) or infinite. What you expect for queue (time waiting to be worked on before an operation) and move time (time from the end of the last operation to get into the queue of the next).
All this is very confusing and I would recommend talking with you local APICS chapter. They have a very good Master Scheduling course module as part of their CPIM certification program. I found the CPIM courses to be a great help.

ok if I remember correctly final assembly would drive your master schedule based on capacity and customer requirements.larry is correct backward scheduling is something I would surely use and that requirement will drive your bill of material to fulfill your master schedule which would based on final assembly.I see you are having a problem understanding words in master scheduling. Under the APICS Study there is a dictionary that tells you the meaning of the words you looking for. I will try to explain the terms here:

MASTER SCHEDULE WOULD BE A SCHEDULE FOR 6 MONTHS BASED ON CUSTOMER REQUIREMENT--- OK FIRST WEEK COULD BE 100 PCS THEN SECOND WEEK 100 PCS MORE THEN THIRD WEEK COULD BE 200 THEN FOURTH WEEK COULD BE 400 SO MONTHLY SCHEDULE WOULD BE 800 PCS
OK FINAL ASSEMBLY CAPACITY IS HOW MUCH THIS OPERATION CAN PRODUCE PER HOUR OR WEEKLY.

LETS SCHEDULE FINAL ASSEMBLY HERE CUSTOMER WANTED 100 PCS FIRST WEEK MON-FRI SO I WOULD SCHEDULE TWO WEEKS ON FINAL ASSEMBLY IF POSSIBLE 200 PCS SO I CAN HAVE ONE WEEK ON HAND AND ONE TO SHIP THATS BASED ON 85 PERCENT CAPACITY BUT NEVER SCHEDULE 100 PERCENT. CUSTOMER SERVICE TALKS TO CUSTOMER ABOUT COMMITING TO WEEKS ON HAND SO YOU KNOW THAT THE TWO WEEKS OF FINAL PRODUCTS ARE SOLD AND NOT JUST SITTING IN YOUR WAREHOUSE CREATING A HIGH DOLLAR OF INVENTORY THAT MAKE YOUR BOTTOM NUMBER LOOK BAD

OK BUT MY MASTER SCHEDULE DRIVES A MONTHLY REQUIREMENTS OF 800 PCS SO I CAN HAVE MY RAW MATERIAL ON HAND BASE ON (ETA) ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL.MY MASTER SCHEDULE DRIVES ON A MONTHLY REQUIREMENTS OR MORE BASE ON PAST REQUIREMENTS OR FUTURE REQUIREMENTS BECAUSE CUSTOMERS ONLY COMMIT TO TWO WEEKS ON HAND BUT YOU NEED TO SCHEDULE YOUR MASTER SCHEDULE FARTHER OUT SO YOU CAN HAVE YOUR RAW MATERIAL ON HAND BEFORE YOU SCHEDULE ON FINAL ASSEMBLY.

BOM OF MATERIAL IS ITEMS NEEDED TO PRODUCE A ONE ITEM OF FINAL ASSEMBLY FOR EXAMPLE:ONE CAR IN FINAL ASSEMBLY WILL SHOW A BILL OF MATERIAL

1 MOTOR
2 FOUR TIRES
3 ONE TRANSMISSION
4 TWO SEAT