Patent ID: 8239053

Claim:
A method comprising: determining a number of planned starts for each part number of a product during a predetermined time period for future processing; averaging the number of planned starts for the predetermined time period; setting a production rate for a first range based on the average number of planned starts using a processor, wherein the production rate is a takt rate; setting a second production rate for a second range based on the average number of planned starts; mapping each part number to a corresponding range flow; determining a number of starts for each part number for each corresponding range flow; and summing all of the number of starts for each range flow, wherein: the averaging the number of planned starts comprises averaging the number of starts for each range flow based on the sum of all the number of starts for each range flow; and the setting the production rate for the first range comprises setting the takt rate for a first day in the first range of each range flow to the average number of starts for each range flow.