THE CHALLENGE: SCALE WITHOUT HIGH COSTS 

In today’s rough manufacturing climate, companies are under constant pressure to deal with economic uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, and rising labor expenses. Although it is the common desire for many manufacturers to increase output, reduce costs, and improve efficiency, it is believed that scaling production always requires expensive investments in new machinery, additional workforce, or complex infrastructure upgrades.

HeLLBa’s FIGHT TO SCALE

HellBa, a manufacturer of plastic products and custom components in Germany, faced these exact challenges. Their production was slowed down by:

• Missed Deadlines & Long Lead Times – Inefficient scheduling led to frequent delays, affecting customer satisfaction.
• Poor Capacity Utilisation – Machines, molds, tools, and workers were not being optimised, causing bottlenecks and wasted resources. 
• Lack of Real-Time Data – Without visibility into ongoing production, inefficiencies were hard to detect and address.
• Complex Order Management – Handling multiple orders simultaneously made it difficult to prioritise and allocate resources effectively.

With these challenges and limited resources, HellBa had no room for costly expansions. Instead, they found a smarter approach—one that would allow them to do more with less.

planeus: PRODUCING MORE WITH WHAT YOU HAVE

Rather than buying new machines or hiring more staff, HellBa turned to planeus, a digital production planning and scheduling system that specialised in maximising the use of existing resources.

Here’s how planeus helped HellBa do more with less:

Increased Output Without Buying New Machines
Automated scheduling and Conflict Radar optimised machine usage, reducing idle time and boosting capacity without extra equipment.

Enhanced Efficiency Without Hiring More Workers
Real-time data tracking and automation freed employees from paper-based and manual scheduling, allowing them to focus on production, increasing output without extra labor costs.
Faster Scheduling with Less Planning Effort
planeus automated scheduling, cutting planning time while ensuring balanced workloads across machines and teams.
Improved Visibility and Decision-Making
Live production progress tracking helped managers spot possible delays early and adjust schedules without added administrative effort.