Learn how to control and optimize expected completion dates for your manufacturing orders (MOs), either manually or through automatic scheduling.
Each MO in Katana has a Production deadline, which represents the expected completion date. You can manage this deadline either manually or allow Katana to automatically estimate it based on your production capacity.
How to choose between manual or automatic deadlines
Go to the Make screen.
Open the Schedule tab.
Click Configure deadlines in the top-right corner.
Toggle between:
Off — Manual deadlines
On — Automatic deadline estimation
Once automatic mode is enabled, all manual deadlines will be overwritten and cannot be restored.
Manual production deadlines (toggle off)
When deadlines are set manually:
Each new MO gets a default deadline of 7 days from its creation date.
You can manually change this date:
Open the MO card.
Click on the Production deadline field to edit it.
Automatic production deadlines (toggle on)
When automatic mode is enabled:
Katana calculates deadlines based on:
Planned production time (from the product’s Production Operations).
Weekly throughput (total available production time per week).
Production timezone.
MO priority (order of tasks on the Schedule).
Manual editing of deadlines is disabled in this mode.
Configure auto-estimation settings
When automatic mode is ON, additional settings appear in the popup:
Weekly throughput – Total production hours available in a week.
Tip: "Last 7 days actual" shows recent completed MOs to guide your input.
Production timezone – Set your local timezone for accurate scheduling.
Editing either of these values triggers a full recalculation of existing deadlines.
Assumptions used in automatic estimation
Katana’s system uses the following logic:
Working days: Monday–Friday only.
Working hours: End of day is 6:00 PM local time.
Daily throughput: Weekly capacity is spread evenly across 5 weekdays.
Task overflow: If an MO’s production time exceeds today’s throughput, it pushes to the next day.
Throughput logic: Completing long MOs today does not consume tomorrow’s throughput.
Priority-based scheduling: Reordering MOs in the Schedule tab recalculates deadlines dynamically.
When to use automatic deadlines
Automatic mode works best when:
Your typical production cycle takes minutes or hours.
Your workshop operates on consistent daily throughput.
You do not run many parallel or multi-week production workflows.
For complex, long-term, or multi-stream production setups, manual deadlines might offer better control.
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