A plant was missing delivery dates on one in five orders — with no system to see why.

In their words

Production scheduling ran on first-come-first-served logic with no visibility into material inventory, maintenance schedules, or planned leave. Twenty percent of orders were missing customer expected dates. Known delays were discovered too late for proactive communication, eroding customer trust without a clear operational cause.

One operating system around the risk pattern

• Integrated customer ordering system to provide a live view of all orders with expected dates
• Connected inventory data, planned maintenance schedules, and holiday calendars into the planning system
• Ran a daily automated planning schedule highlighting all orders at risk of missing their expected date
• Sent automated customer confirmation emails on expected delivery at order intake
• Built an automated raw-material ordering report based on expected production and supplier lead times