A towing and recovery equipment maker plans production to real capacity and carries about a third less finished stock

Schedules didn’t match what the plant could build

The manufacturer builds towing and recovery equipment in the United States. Its production schedules were out of line with the plant’s real capacity, and much of its scheduling and inventory data was handled by hand on outdated systems.

The gaps showed up as production delays and too much money tied up in finished goods. Overstock hurt both efficiency and profit.

Its team proved finite capacity planning on its own processes first

The manufacturer chose to plan production to finite capacity in Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management, so schedules reflect the capacity the plant actually has.

Before switching, its team worked through a series of proof-of-concept workshops. Each round tested the new planning against the plant’s own processes and surfaced mismatches, which the team corrected before the switch.

The roadmap that came out of the workshops aimed at fewer production delays, better inventory levels, and less manual data handling.

Planners now schedule to real capacity in one system

Since the switch in 2025, production schedules are built on real-time capacity, and inventory management runs automatically. Schedules and inventory sit in one system, so planners see the current picture without collecting it by hand.

The system now handles steps people used to do by hand, and the data is more accurate as a result.

More orders ship complete and on time, with less cash in finished stock

On-time-in-full delivery rose from 95% to 97%, so more of the manufacturer’s customers get the complete order on the date it was promised.

Finished-goods inventory fell by about a third, which lowers carrying cost and frees cash that had been sitting in stock. Production lead times are shorter too.

Its leaders have named forecasting and purchasing as the next steps

With production planning on firm ground, the manufacturer’s leaders have named the next areas to work on: forecasting and automating procurement.

Ludia’s part: senior solution architects with deep knowledge of planning in Dynamics 365 ran the proof-of-concept workshops with the manufacturer’s team, then configured finite capacity scheduling and automated inventory management. After go-live, Ludia Care supported the team for two weeks to steady the system and work through users’ feedback.

For your IT team: what changed in Dynamics 365

Production scheduling in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management↗ moved to finite capacity, so scheduled operations respect the available capacity of each resource. Inventory management was automated, and automated processes replaced manual data handling between scheduling and inventory. Iterative proof-of-concept workshops checked the configuration against the plant’s processes before cutover, and two weeks of Ludia Care support followed go-live.