Patent US 7,515,983

A method determines production starts in a manufacturing environment by inputting production starts. The method groups the production starts into production lots according to grouping rules and assigns start dates and associated priorities to each of the production lots based on business priorities. Each production start date of a production lot can have a different priority. The method sorts the production lots according to the associated priorities and the start dates. Then the method capacitates the production lots by iterating through the production lots to assign production capacity to the production lots in order of the associated priorities and the start dates.