Production Planner

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

Production Planner

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Gary Grigsby's Eagle Day to Bombing the Reich >> Scenarios and Modding >> Production Planner

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

Production Planner - 11/13/2009 1:37:59 AM

Tuk

Posts: 117
Joined: 10/20/2009
Status: offline

Edit: Attached is the latest version, 1.2 of my production planner. I think that's all the typos removed and other errors corrected but if you find more, please post.

Here's how I'm using it-

There are three sheets, Assembly, Parts and Engines.

Say you want to know how many FW 190A-6 you are producing and their production needs. You have 13 assembly capacity making this model up and running. It uses FW 190 parts and the BMW 801 D-2 engine.

Sort the Assembly page for Parts. You'll see there are 5 possible planes that use these parts. 3 are currently in production, demanding 23 parts per day.
Now go to the Parts sheet and you'll see that current production of FW 190 Parts is 26, so more than you need purely for production.

Now sort the Assembly sheet by engines and a nice group of D-2 will appear, letting you see that potentially 8 planes use this engine, and 5 of these are currently in production. Their combined assembly capacity is 32 planes. All are single engine planes so their demand is also 32 engines. Now go to the Engines sheet and you'll find you're two engines short of assembly line demand. Sort it!

None of the above is adjusted for damage or repairs, however, and clearly as you alter your production the spreadsheet will need constant updating.

Other use-
You're trying to free up some capacity and see some Reggiane parts being built. You don't know what they're for, though, so before you re-tool the factories go to the Assembly sheet and sort it for parts. All the planes using Reggiane will be grouped together. It's just the 2005, but I'll be wanting that so I'll have to find some spare factories elsewhere.

Feel free to improve it and check for inaccuracies. One addition that comes to mind is to put a column with the plane type.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Tuk -- 2/8/2010 10:22:24 PM >

Post #: 1

RE: Production Planner - 11/13/2009 9:13:45 AM

TechSgt

Posts: 306
Joined: 9/19/2008
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline

Tuk;

Thanks. It has been interesting.

TS

(in reply to Tuk)

Post #: 2

RE: Production Planner - 11/13/2009 10:44:24 AM

Tuk

Posts: 117
Joined: 10/20/2009
Status: offline

Glad it's of use to someone else.

One thing that strikes me as a problem is keeping the data accurate accross all three sheets as changes occur. As is, updating the active/inactive centres across all three can easily end in a mess if you are not VERY diligent.

An improvement, if anyone knows how to do, it is to connect the the data between the three sheets, so, say on the assembly sheet you take out a couple of engine factories to retool, they automatically are removed from the active list also on the Engine sheet. You would then add them to the Offline capacity of thyour choice on the Assembly sheet which would automatically add them to the respective Offline capacity on the other sheet.

Likewise, when facilities come online, once you add them to the active list on the Assembly sheet, they are automatically added on the Engine sheet active list, AND, as�they must necessarily have previously been in the Offline columns, deducted from both of those. This would have to be done as soon as the factories are 1 day away from activating, otherwise you'll not know which have come online.

I know this can be done in Excel, but can't for the life of me remember how. Perhaps when the Mrs gets back...

< Message edited by Tuk -- 11/13/2009 10:50:47 AM >

(in reply to TechSgt)

Post #: 3

RE: Production Planner - 11/30/2009 8:29:27 AM

Tuk

Posts: 117
Joined: 10/20/2009
Status: offline

Post voided by update

< Message edited by Tuk -- 2/8/2010 10:25:44 PM >

(in reply to Tuk)

Post #: 4

RE: Production Planner - 12/2/2009 4:46:27 PM

TechSgt

Posts: 306
Joined: 9/19/2008
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tuk

...

An improvement, if anyone knows how to do, it is to connect the the data between the three sheets, so, say on the assembly sheet you take out a couple of engine factories to retool, they automatically are removed from the active list also on the Engine sheet. You would then add them to the Offline capacity of thyour choice on the Assembly sheet which would automatically add them to the respective Offline capacity on the other sheet.

Likewise, when facilities come online, once you add them to the active list on the Assembly sheet, they are automatically added on the Engine sheet active list, AND, as�they must necessarily have previously been in the Offline columns, deducted from both of those. This would have to be done as soon as the factories are 1 day away from activating, otherwise you'll not know which have come online.

I know this can be done in Excel, but can't for the life of me remember how. Perhaps when the Mrs gets back...

Just a quick message before work...

Paste Special or Paste Link should be a answer???

Maybe if a don't have to to work at work we can try and find out.

TS

(in reply to Tuk)

Post #: 5

RE: Production Planner - 12/3/2009 9:20:02 PM

Tuk

Posts: 117
Joined: 10/20/2009
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

Paste Special or Paste Link should be a answer???

Maybe if a don't have to to work at work we can try and find out.

TS

Awwwww. Did ya have to work? Damned depression.

I don't know about paste special or link but if it pastes formulas I guess the formula is the problem. I can't get one that flows in one direction. Here's the problem-
Say you put engines in one column on delay, when they come online you subtract them from that column and add them to the online column, so far so good, I have the formula for that. BUT if you then re-asign an efac you take it out of the active column and the only formula I know puts it back in the ofline column for that engine type. That shouldn't happen because I want to add it to the offline column of another engine type.

Our knowledge of excel is limited at best but nobody on the MS forum even bothered to answer. Any ideas?

(in reply to TechSgt)

Post #: 6

RE: Production Planner - 12/4/2009 6:15:34 PM

TechSgt

Posts: 306
Joined: 9/19/2008
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tuk

quote:

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

Paste Special or Paste Link should be a answer???

Maybe if a don't have to to work at work we can try and find out.

TS

Awwwww. Did ya have to work? Damned depression.

I don't know about paste special or link but if it pastes formulas I guess the formula is the problem. I can't get one that flows in one direction. Here's the problem-
Say you put engines in one column on delay, when they come online you subtract them from that column and add them to the online column, so far so good, I have the formula for that. BUT if you then re-asign an efac you take it out of the active column and the only formula I know puts it back in the ofline column for that engine type. That shouldn't happen because I want to add it to the offline column of another engine type.

Our knowledge of excel is limited at best but nobody on the MS forum even bothered to answer. Any ideas?

Tuk;

The paste special allows you to change a cell in one sheet and have it change the corresponding cell in another sheet at the same time. It would allow you to link your three sheets together.

If I understand correctly -- not likely -- what you are trying to do, it looks like you have to do the entries manually.

Let me think about this a little more.

TS

(in reply to Tuk)

Post #: 7

RE: Production Planner - 12/4/2009 11:14:19 PM

harley

Posts: 1700
Joined: 10/13/2005
Status: offline

if they are raw values that are the same type the equals key in the cell you need to be changed, and then browse to the sheet and cell you want to be the master. Click on it, it will show something like =engines!B5 in the text bar in the top, hit enter and it is linked...

If you want it to autocalculate a value, then that's harder... I'd have to think about that.

_____________________________

gigiddy gigiddy gig-i-ddy

(in reply to TechSgt)

Post #: 8

RE: Production Planner - 12/5/2009 5:54:54 AM

harley

Posts: 1700
Joined: 10/13/2005
Status: offline

Tuk - I am mercilessly stealing your ideas for some mockups of the future production screens.

Hope that's OK.

_____________________________

gigiddy gigiddy gig-i-ddy

(in reply to harley)

Post #: 9

RE: Production Planner - 12/5/2009 2:27:26 PM

Tuk

Posts: 117
Joined: 10/20/2009
Status: offline

You go right ahead. More than welcome.

Some things I would have included if I could-

In the Offline capacity and Additional Planned Requirement columns I would have colour coded the figures by number of days to online/Production Requirement. So for example, you have eight assemblies under delay needing the same Part . Two are coming on line tomorrow, three in 54 days and three in 256 days. The Additional Planned requirement for that Part might read 2+3+3, giving the player a sense of the urgency by which they should allocate resources.

If capacity coming online were automatically added to/subtracted from the appropriate colums that would just be too kewl.

< Message edited by Tuk -- 12/5/2009 3:10:42 PM >

(in reply to harley)

Post #: 10

RE: Production Planner - 12/5/2009 4:51:48 PM

n01487477

Posts: 4779
Joined: 2/21/2006
Status: offline

I don't play this game, but thought I'd fiddle with the spreadsheet for a bit ...

I've added some VB code to automatically update some of the values by iterating though the lists. I did it pretty quickly, and as I don't play this game ... well I'm not sure I got the mechanics right.

Otherwise, added some formula's that I thought were missing and would make life easier.

Let me know if you want me to protect some fields, make changes etc

To run, you need to allow the Macros to run via ... Tools - Macro - Security (Medium or low) (save and open again)

Click run on the Assembly screen after making changes to the Online/Offline info

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by n01487477 -- 12/5/2009 4:53:08 PM >

_____________________________

-Damian-
EconDoc
TrackerAE
Tutes&Java

(in reply to Tuk)

Post #: 11

RE: Production Planner - 12/10/2009 3:33:25 PM

Tarkana

Posts: 3
Joined: 12/4/2009
Status: offline

Thanks n01487477!
That's cool!

(in reply to n01487477)

Post #: 12

RE: Production Planner - 1/21/2010 4:51:51 PM

Tuk

Posts: 117
Joined: 10/20/2009
Status: offline

Sorry I didn't get back to you much sooner, n01487477�and Tarkana. The formulas in�this file are constructed back to front�but even if they weren't, they just won't�allow the flexibility you need to plan your production.

I'm a month into a campaign and have used the planner to overhaul my production. It works, but I'll have to qualify that as it's not without its faults and limitations.

1. There are still some errors and ommisions in the lists so I advise anyone using�the planner�to check vs the in-game production lists. It only takes an hour or so to filter the at start production and verify all the numbers are right. I also think one engine type is completely missing from the list so watch out!

2. Human error. This planner does work, but with such detail, lack of formulas�and complicated inter-relations of effects, you will make mistakes even after you've figured out how it works.

Example. An offline�Ju 88G�assembly comes on line.
�
On the Assembly page, add one to online production and reduce the offline assemblies by one. In the same line, add�two to the current requirement field (JU 88G has�two engines).
�
On Parts page, add�one to Ju 88 Production requirement,�subtract one each from the�Current Surplus/Deficit and Additional Planned Requirement fields.
�
On Engines page, add two to Junkers Jumo 213E Production Requirement, and subtract two each from Current Surplus/Deficit and Additional Planned Requirement fields.

If you can do that every time an assembly comes online and make no errors, you're a better man than I. And you treat the parts and engines coming on/offline differently...

3. Even if you do all that, the best excel sheet in the world will not adjust its values to reflect either the temporary effects of bombing or the permanent effects of losing ground and factories. Even the in game production list leaves overrun factories in the 'Planned' section but you'll never get them back!
�
So, for squeaky clean production planning, around every game month or after a major overhaul I recommend you check the entire�planner against the in game production list,�for errors.

If you like tinkering with data, once you're used to it and until the benefits are incorporated in a future patch, you will find this useful. After having my doubts the first few times I used it, I think it's great

. It may not be for everyone though, and except for data geniouseseses, you will get a head ache or two learning to use it.

< Message edited by Tuk -- 1/21/2010 4:53:51 PM >

(in reply to Tarkana)

Post #: 13

RE: Production Planner - 2/4/2010 2:49:41 PM

Guitar Oldie

Posts: 2
Joined: 2/3/2010
Status: offline

Hi,
how did you find out the default starting dates for the production? By playing the game and just watching when the new types get available? I can't find that in my manual (Also both sides get reinforcements and I remember having a sheet with these data...?)

(in reply to Tuk)

Post #: 14

RE: Production Planner - 2/4/2010 7:58:53 PM

Tuk

Posts: 117
Joined: 10/20/2009
Status: offline

It was in a post I found somewhere on a trawl through the forum, likewise the altitude info.

(in reply to Guitar Oldie)

Post #: 15

RE: Production Planner - 2/8/2010 10:27:21 PM

Tuk

Posts: 117
Joined: 10/20/2009
Status: offline

Latest update with hopefully all errors removed in 1st post.

(in reply to Tuk)

Post #: 16

RE: Production Planner - 3/26/2010 10:35:16 PM

blam0

Posts: 133
Joined: 3/24/2004
Status: offline

Hi,

I've added formulas that will automatically calc engine and parts use for all online factories. It would seem that the only catch is that you cannot re-sort the "Assembly" tab and expect the formulas to work :(

I'm not making use of the "Engine Requirement" field on the Assembly page, and I'm not making use of the "Absolute" and "Future" fields right now.

Attachment (1)

(in reply to Tuk)

Post #: 17

RE: Production Planner - 3/27/2010 3:53:31 PM

Erkki

Posts: 1461
Joined: 2/17/2010
Status: offline

Wrong topic.

_____________________________

(in reply to blam0)

Post #: 18

RE: Production Planner - 10/26/2011 9:08:31 AM

PizzaDeOveja

Posts: 52
Joined: 10/20/2011
Status: offline

Was there any reason to make aircraft production so insanely complicated??? And for no reason. A simple interface that did all calculations for the player would have improved its playability exponentially.

And not happy with that, they then proceed to NOT explain anything about it in the manual!
It clearly must be a conspiracy so no one with an IQ under 200 can play the Axis!
The allied campaign is already taking most of my free time...gods was I to play the Axis I will have to play even in my sleep!
PATCH! PATCH! PATCH!

_____________________________