Production Planning
Production Planning helps you schedule production runs across a weekly calendar, forecast ingredient needs based on your upcoming plans, and generate work orders for your team. It brings together your recipes, stock levels, and production goals into one organized workflow.
Production Planning is a premium feature. If you are on a free plan, you will see an upgrade prompt when navigating to the Planning page. Upgrade to Premium to unlock full access to scheduling, forecasting, and work order generation.
Getting Started with Planning
Navigate to Production Planning from the Production hub by selecting the Planning option. The page opens with two tabs: Calendar View and List View.
Calendar View is your primary workspace for day-to-day scheduling. List View gives you a broader look at plans across a date range, along with a powerful ingredient forecast. You will likely use both tabs regularly depending on whether you are scheduling or purchasing.
Calendar View
The Calendar View displays a full week from Monday to Sunday, with each day shown as a column. Use the left and right arrow buttons to navigate between weeks, or click the “Today” button to jump back to the current week.
Each day column shows your planned recipes as individual cards. Every plan card displays the recipe name and the planned quantity in kilograms. Hovering over a card reveals a tooltip with container details, notes, and production status.
At the top of each day column, you will find an Add button to create a new plan for that day. If plans already exist for a day, a print icon also appears, allowing you to generate a work order for that day’s production.
Each plan card provides several action buttons along its bottom edge:
- Up and down arrows — reorder plans within the same day to set your preferred production sequence
- Play button — start production from this plan, which takes you to the Produce page with the planned quantity pre-filled
- Edit button — open the edit dialog to change the date, quantity, notes, or containers
- Delete button — remove the plan after a confirmation prompt
Plans that have been produced are visually distinguished with a green accent, while unproduced plans appear with a blue accent. Once a plan is marked as produced, the reorder and produce buttons are disabled.
Adding a Production Plan
To add a new plan, click the Add button on the desired day in Calendar View. The process follows several steps to ensure your plan is complete and accurate.
- A recipe selection dialog opens. Search for and select the recipe you want to produce.
- The system checks whether your recipe uses a derived ingredient (such as a base mix). If a base recipe is detected and not already planned for that day, you are asked whether you want to automatically add the base recipe to the plan as well.
- A plan is created with default values: the quantity is set to your recipe’s final weight converted to kilograms, and the pan size defaults to 4 kg.
- The edit dialog opens immediately so you can refine the planned date, quantity, and notes before confirming.
If you cancel the edit dialog after a plan has been created, both the new plan and any auto-added base plan are automatically deleted. This ensures you never end up with incomplete or unintended plans on your calendar.
Containers and Volume Calculation
When editing a plan, you can specify your production quantity in two ways. The Enter Weight mode lets you type a weight in kilograms directly, with batch multiplier buttons and fixed-weight presets for quick entry. The Calculate from Containers mode lets you work backward from the containers you need to fill.
Weight Entry Mode
In weight mode, you see a row of multiplier buttons (such as 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x) that scale your recipe’s base weight. Below that, fixed weight buttons let you jump to common batch sizes like 1 kg, 5 kg, or 10 kg. You can also type a custom multiplier or weight directly.
A settings panel (accessed via the gear icon) lets you customize both the multiplier and fixed-weight presets to match your typical production sizes. These settings are saved per user and persist across sessions.
If your recipe has density and volume data, you will also see volume target buttons for mix volume and ice cream volume. Clicking these opens a dialog where you can specify a target volume, and the system calculates the required batch weight accounting for overrun and evaporation.
Container Calculation Mode
In container mode, you build a list of containers to fill. Click “Add” to add a container row, then select a container type from the dropdown. Containers can be either preset types (system-defined sizes like 5L) or custom types that you define yourself through the container management dialog.
For each container row, you select the container size and specify a quantity. The system displays the total volume per row and calculates the overall ice cream volume. You can adjust the overrun percentage and add a buffer to account for waste or spillage.
The dialog shows two calculated results: the mix weight you need to prepare, and the total ice cream volume after churning. The mix weight calculation accounts for overrun, density, and evaporation from your recipe settings.
List View and Ingredient Forecast
Switch to the List View tab when you need to see plans across a broader date range and forecast ingredient requirements. The top of the page provides quick range buttons: This Week, Next Week, Next 2 Weeks, and This Month. You can also set a custom date range using the start and end date pickers.
The left panel shows all plans in the selected range as a checklist. Each entry displays the recipe name, date, planned quantity, and a “Produced” badge if the plan has already been completed. Use the Select All and Clear buttons to manage your selection quickly.
The right panel displays the Ingredient Forecast, which updates automatically as you select or deselect plans. The forecast aggregates all ingredients required across your selected plans and compares them against your current stock levels.
An Expand to raw ingredients toggle is available above the forecast table. When enabled, derived ingredients (such as base mixes) are broken down into their component ingredients, giving you a complete picture of raw material needs.
Understanding the Forecast Table
The ingredient forecast table is sortable by any column and provides a comprehensive view of your supply situation. Each row represents one ingredient across all selected plans.
The table columns are:
- Ingredient — the ingredient name
- Required — the total quantity needed across all selected plans, displayed in grams or kilograms
- Stock — your current stock level for that ingredient
- On Order — quantity currently on order from suppliers but not yet received
- Expiring Soon — quantity of stock nearing its expiry date; hover over this value to see individual lot details including quantity, expiry date, and supplier name
- Net Status — your overall supply position for this ingredient
- Actions — quick buttons to add stock or view stock movement history
The Net Status column uses color-coded labels to indicate your position at a glance:
- Covered (green) — you have enough stock on hand
- Covered when delivered (blue) — current stock is insufficient, but pending orders will cover the shortfall
- X short (Y on order) (amber) — you are short even after accounting for pending orders
- X short (amber) — you are short with no orders pending
A summary at the top shows the total number of ingredients and how many have a shortfall. Use the Print Shopping List button at the bottom to generate a printable list of ingredients you need to purchase.
Producing from a Plan
When you are ready to produce, click the play button on a plan card in Calendar View. This navigates you to the Produce page with the recipe and planned quantity pre-filled, so you can begin logging your production immediately.
The Produce page displays a Planned Production card showing the planned quantity and any containers you configured. After you complete the production process, the plan is automatically marked as produced and you are returned to the Planning page.
Produced plans remain visible on the calendar with a green accent so you can track what has been completed. The produce and reorder buttons are disabled for completed plans to prevent accidental changes.
Work Orders
To generate a work order, click the print icon at the top of a day column in Calendar View. The system compiles all plans for that day into a single report.
Work orders include the following information:
- Production date and summary
- Details for each planned recipe, including scaled ingredient quantities
- Container assignments for each plan
- Combined ingredient list across all plans for the day
The report opens in a dialog where you can preview it and print or save it. Work orders use the app’s HTML report template system, so they follow the same formatting as other generated reports.
Tips
- Use the reorder arrows on plan cards to set the production sequence for each day — this order is also reflected in work orders.
- If your recipe uses a base mix as an ingredient, take advantage of the base recipe detection to automatically add the base to your plan when adding the main recipe.
- In the ingredient forecast, enable Expand to raw ingredients before printing your shopping list to ensure you account for all raw materials, especially when producing base mixes in-house.
- Customize your batch multiplier and fixed-weight presets in the edit dialog settings to match your standard production sizes for faster plan entry.
- Use the Quick add stock button in the forecast table to record incoming deliveries without leaving the Planning page.
- The container calculation mode is especially useful when you need to fill a specific number of tubs or pans and want the system to calculate the exact mix weight, factoring in overrun and evaporation.
- Check the Expiring Soon column in your forecast to prioritize using ingredients that are close to their expiry date.