Bakery production planning software and bakery scheduling software for batches, ovens and early deliveries
A bakery or food plant plans in hours, not weeks. Dough has to be mixed, proofed, baked, cooled and packed in time for a truck that leaves before dawn, and every product competes for the same mixers and ovens. ProductionPlanning.ai schedules that day with finite capacity, so the plan fits the equipment before the shift starts. It is built for wholesale and commercial bakeries and food plants that supply grocery chains, restaurants and foodservice distributors, and it starts at 149 USD per plant a month with every baker, shift lead and dispatcher included.
Free for 14 days on your own orders and machines. No card.
Bakery, Material shortages and late orders, this week
Open it in the demoMaterial shortages
| Material | Order | Needed by | Short |
|---|---|---|---|
Late orders
| Order | Product | Due | Days late |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every order fits its due date. | |||
On time
0%
Bottleneck
0%
Shortages
0
What makes food manufacturing scheduling different
- Short lead times: orders for tomorrow arrive this afternoon
- Fixed dispatch times for every route and customer
- Process steps that cannot wait, such as proofing and cooling
- Allergen and recipe changeovers that need cleaning time
- Batch sizes set by mixer and oven capacity
- Shelf life that limits how far ahead you can build
Food manufacturing software that schedules the whole line
- Work centers for each mixer, divider, proofer, oven, cooler and packing line
- Routings per product with minutes per batch at each step
- Changeover times by recipe family, with longer cleans for allergen changes
- Grouping of similar recipes to cut cleans (Plant plan)
- Sequencing by dispatch time, so the first truck's products run first
- Shifts that start at night, planned just like day shifts
The demo on the home page has a bakery ready to load: change tomorrow's orders and watch the oven schedule move.
See the problem at two in the afternoon, not at four in the morning
When tomorrow's orders are in, run the schedule. If the ovens cannot bake everything by the dispatch time, the late products are marked with how late they will be, and the bottleneck step is named. There is still time to add a batch to the evening shift, move a product to the second oven, or tell a customer.
- Late products per dispatch time
- Bottleneck step named, usually the oven or the packing line
- Ingredient shortages listed per product and time needed (Plant plan and above)
Next to your food manufacturing ERP
Food manufacturing ERP software is good at recipes, lots, traceability and costing. It is rarely good at the hour by hour sequence on the ovens. ProductionPlanning.ai schedules the orders, and on the Plant plan and above imports them from your ERP software for food manufacturers or a spreadsheet and exports the plan back. Read more on keeping your ERP and dropping the spreadsheet.
Bakery ERP software or a bakery scheduler, which one you need
Bakery ERP software and bakery management software cover recipes, costing, lot traceability, ordering and invoicing. A bakery scheduler covers one thing those systems rarely do well: the hour by hour sequence on each mixer, oven and packing line against the time each truck leaves. Here is how to tell which gap you have.
| Your situation | What fits |
|---|---|
| Orders, invoices and recipe costing live in spreadsheets and email | Bakery ERP or bakery management software first |
| You need lot traceability for a customer audit or a recall plan | Bakery ERP with lot tracking |
| Orders and costing are fine, but the night shift finds out at 3 am that the ovens cannot finish | A finite capacity bakery scheduler |
| You run a retail storefront with a point of sale | Retail bakery software, not this |
| Several ovens and lines, fixed dispatch windows, allergen cleans | A bakery scheduler next to whatever holds your orders |
Many wholesale bakeries already have an order system that works. What they lack is a plan that knows the tunnel oven has 19 hours of work for a 16 hour window. That is the job we do, and the pricing page shows exactly what each plan includes.
Bakery production planning questions buyers ask
What is the best bakery production planning software?
For a wholesale bakery that ships on fixed truck times, the best tool is one that schedules mixers, proofers and ovens to their real capacity and sequences by dispatch time. Bakery ERP systems handle recipes and orders well. ProductionPlanning.ai adds the finite capacity schedule on top, from 149 USD per plant a month with unlimited users.
How do you schedule production in a bakery?
Start from tomorrow's orders and the dispatch time of each route. Work back through packing, cooling, baking, proofing and mixing, with minutes per batch at each step, then load each step onto the equipment that runs it. Wherever the load exceeds the hours available, move a batch, add a shift or tell the customer early.
Can bakery scheduling software handle allergen sequencing and changeover rules?
Yes. Allergen sequencing is a changeover rule, and changeover times are set by recipe family, so a switch from a nut product to a nut free one carries a longer clean than a switch between two plain breads. On the Plant plan, similar recipes are grouped automatically, which cuts the number of allergen cleans in a day.
How much does bakery production planning software cost?
Bakery ERP systems are usually quoted per user or per site, often with setup fees. ProductionPlanning.ai costs 149 USD per plant a month on Line for up to 10 work centers, or 429 USD on Plant for unlimited equipment, ingredient shortages and grouping of recipes, with unlimited users on both.
Plan tomorrow's bake against real oven capacity
Load the bakery in the demo, or create your account and enter tomorrow's orders.
Your data stays yours. Export or delete it any time. No card to try the demo.