Practical insights on how to handle production chaos, from managing sudden shift changes to using data to meet your deadlines every time.
At Hannover Messe 2026, one thing was impossible to ignore: absolutely everyone was talking about AI agents. Tech giants like SAP, Microsoft, AWS, and Salesforce all placed Agentic AI at the center of their manufacturing vision. The message was loud and clear: the next phase of industrial software is reserved for autonomous decision support. But […]
Read more →
How Leading Manufacturers Use People-First Production Planning to Build Realistic Production Plans Around Their Actual Workforce Capacity In modern manufacturing, machines define theoretical capacity – but people ultimately determine what is actually possible on the shop floor. People-first production planning introduces a new perspective: planning production around real workforce capacity rather
Read more →
In today’s complex manufacturing environments, production planners must coordinate machines, materials, people, and delivery deadlines while dealing with constant changes on the shop floor. To support more realistic and reliable production planning, we have introduced several new capabilities in Qlector LEAP. These updates improve how production plans are created, how delivery deadlines are met, a
Read more →
Last time, we shared the five trends we see shaping the shop floor in 2026, and why planning is moving to the centre of competitiveness. This time, we’re zooming in on one specific area that’s quietly becoming a major differentiator: workforce scheduling. On paper, schedules often look fine. But when the clock strikes 6:00 AM, […]
Read more →
If you walk into a modern factory today, you’ll see smart machines, sensors everywhere, and a flood of data. And yet, production plans still break. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. According to a recent industry survey*, 70% of manufacturers still collect data manually, creating a bottleneck that slows decision-making and exposes the limits of […]
Read more →
Qlector Research (Jun–Sep 2025)Qlector interviewed several of Slovenia’s largest, high-performing manufacturing companies between June and September this year. We wanted to understand their day-to-day approach to production planning, what the real challenges are, how they are solved, and what they intend to invest in next. The results are relevant to plant and operations leaders responsible […]
Read more →
Qlector Research (Jun–Sep 2025)Qlector interviewed several of Slovenia’s largest, high-performing manufacturing companies between June and September this year. We wanted to understand their day-to-day approach to production planning, what the real challenges are, how they are solved, and what they intend to invest in next. The results are relevant to plant and operations leaders responsible […]
Read more →
While manufacturing companies lose millions due to static, outdated ERP normatives, Qlector LEAP brings together actual, historical, and normative data in real time to deliver realistic production time predictions and reliable production plans. When we meet potential users at events or sales presentations, we almost always get the same question: What makes Qlector LEAP truly […]
Read more →Downtime is one of the most expensive and stubborn challenges in modern manufacturing. But unlike traditional methods for production planning and scheduling, new industrial AI-based solutions are not fighting it with guesswork. By leveraging Machine Learning and Digital Twin technologies through advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems, manufacturers are now able to simulate thousands of […]
Read more →An hour of unplanned downtime can cost up to $2.3 million for large manufacturing companies operating in the automotive sector. For small and medium-sized enterprises, the cost can reach $150,000 per hour. These staggering figures underscore the critical importance of addressing the Reality Gap – the disconnect between production plans and actual shop floor operations. […]
Read more →Have you wondered what’s next in production planning? While AI continues to dominate the conversation, two terms are quickly rising: AI Agents and Agentic Workflows. In this blog, we’ll explain them in simple terms—what they are, how they work on the shop floor, and why they matter to you. If you’re still juggling multiple systems […]
Read more →
AI is a hot topic in manufacturing, but it’s easy to get lost in the buzzwords or even easier to wonder, ‘What’s in it for me?’ Although many production planners have likely experimented with ChatGPT or similar tools powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), they often aren’t sure how this kind of technology can be […]
Read more →Have you ever wondered what AI projects in manufacturing really look like? If you’ve been involved in AI projects on the shop floor, you know that getting quality data ready takes a lot of time. In fact, only about 10 – 20% of the project goes into building the model, while the remaining 80 – […]
Read more →
At Qlector, our mission is to empower manufacturing companies with smarter, AI-powered production planning, scheduling and optimization. To ensure we continuously meet our user expectations, we conducted a Customer Satisfaction Survey in December 2024. Here’s a summary of the key insights we gathered. Who Participated? We invited 353 active users of Qlector Leap, both in […]
Read more →
Challenges evolve as technology evolves. Once dominated by manual labor and repetitive tasks, today’s shop floors are rapidly turning into innovation hubs. The main driver? Advanced tech, embraced across the entire industry. To stay competitive and relevant, we must adapt and carefully decide where to invest our resources. Although big-picture trends—like supply chain risks, sustainability, […]
Read more →
Today, nearly every solution in smart manufacturing promotes AI as a key selling point. But how do you separate the wheat from the chaff and determine what can truly help you?
Read more →
We must agree that, in the manufacturing world, there are a lot of abbreviations and acronyms. While they can be confusing for newcomers, the real benefit comes from understanding how these terms are connected and what they bring to the production plant and employees. Almost a “must” for modern manufacturing, ERP, MES, and APS systems […]
Read more →How can you successfully enrich and extend one of the most renowned yet complex enterprise resource planning software systems – SAP? By utilizing the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technologies! At Qlector, we have developed a unified and predictive production guiding platform with actionable insights, designed to seamlessly integrate and enhance SAP across five key areas: […]
Read more →
Advanced Production Planning and Scheduling oder (APS)-Lösungen, die auf künstlicher Intelligenz und digitalen Zwillingen basieren, steigern die Produktivität und Flexibilität erheblich und ermöglichen eine effiziente Vorbereitung und Reaktion auf Arbeitskräftemangel und Unsicherheiten in den Lieferketten. Leider sind sich die meisten Unternehmen nicht der Probleme bewusst, die bei der Implementie
Read more →
Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) solutions based on artificial intelligence and digital twins significantly increase productivity and flexibility and enable effective response to labor shortages and supply chain uncertainties. Unfortunately, most companies are not aware of all the pitfalls that await them when implementing these solutions. Manufacturing is constantly faced with the paradoxic
Read more →
At the Global Smart Manufacturing Summit, Bosch Rexroth also delivered a lecture on managing material flow in battery gigafactories. In May, I had the opportunity to attend the 9th Edition of the Global Smart Manufacturing Summit held in Berlin. The summit brought together industry leaders and innovators to discuss the future of manufacturing in the […]
Read more →Over the past months, the world has witnessed the awe-inspiring capabilities of AI, and it is evident that significant changes are on the horizon for various aspects of our lives. Some of these changes are already underway and have been in progress for the past decade. Kostas Kalaboukas is the Head of Innovation Management and […]
Read more →
The implementation of AI solutions into manufacturing plants and processes can be sold as a no-brainer, but in reality, the management, plant manager, and other production planning experts have to develop their approach to digital transformation, what problems they want to solve, how they will define their markers of success, what the desired results are, […]
Read more →
Production must go on, no matter what, right? That was not the case during the COVID situation. The reality showed the vulnerability of manufacturing companies due to high dependence on key personnel. I am sharing how the COVID shook the foundations of how we worked yesterday and what is already changing. Working the old way […]
Read more →
What are the best practices in Slovenian manufacturing companies in deploying and using advanced planning and scheduling (APS) tools? How can we create a space for experience and knowledge sharing for production planning experts? And finally – are we as companies mature enough to implement artificial intelligence in production planning processes? We successfully answered all […]
Read more →
If we take a closer look at production planning, we all face very similar, if not the same issues. We all want to narrow the gap between theory and shop floor reality and better understand what, when and how much customers will buy. We are also trying to ensure more efficient communication and use of […]
Read more →
IT systems are essential for operations in manufacturing. They cover everything from business, execution to communication. Usually, systems are designed as static structures that natural workflow has to be fitted to. Practice shows that a lot of effort is lost for fitting and bypassing those structures. Is it possible to create a system that fits […]
Read more →
A realistic production plan is built on quality data and experience. Production plans must be maintained due to the constant change on the shop floor. Collecting feedback from shop floor can be carried out by phone, emails, and most effectively, by meetings. But what happens if suddenly the planners are moved to central offices and […]
Read more →
Progress is driven by constantly asking what can be done to improve the existing situation. At QLECTOR we work hard to help our clients answer this question proactively by offering predictive capabilities built into QLECTOR LEAP platform. In previous posts we discussed the importance of visibility and transparency: real-time information about our factory helps us […]
Read more →
The purpose of lean is to adopt a disposition to remove inefficiencies from any production phase in the company and never produce more products than those required by demand.This proposition drives the culture and configures the whole production system and thus impacts not only processes but the whole factory design and architecture. The convenience of […]
Read more →
There is a growing need to enhance existing processes in order to satisfy customer expectations which define value and influence fidelity. The growing amounts of sensors, data, computing resources, services and usage of artificial intelligence reshaped many areas in the society and are increasingly influencing the manufacturing sector [1] [2]. The fact that even small […]
Read more →
QLECTOR attended the ESWC 2019 conference! This was a great chance to get up to date on best practices related to Semantic Web. Among presentations, we got to know firsthand about ongoing developments from the companies that leverage knowledge graphs to optimize their production processes. In the following post, we highlight two talks that showcase […]
Read more →
At Qlector we are committed to develop and deliver high quality software and take into account best engineering practices as listed in 12 factor apps. In the following post we describe how we introduced Continuous Delivery. By doing so, we reduce waste, costs of development as well as increase quality. First we will briefly describe […]
Read more →
Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion. W. Edwards Deming. This year we attended FutureMSCE event, which brings together professionals from all Slovenia and abroad regarding supply chain collaboration. It was a great congress and there many points where we envisioned ourselves delivering value by solving supply chain problems. Through this post, […]
Read more →