Protected Flow Manufacturing
Dynamic production management for high-mix, low-volume manufacturers
About Protected Flow Manufacturing
Protected Flow Manufacturing (PFM) is LillyWorks' cloud-based production management system for high-mix, low-volume job shops. Instead of building static finite-capacity schedules, it ranks every work order by its risk of being late and recalculates priorities in real time as materials, capacity, and due dates change. It runs standalone or alongside an existing ERP, and a PFM Enterprise edition adds a full cloud manufacturing ERP with optional financials and DDMRP.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Prioritizes by risk of lateness rather than due date, which targets on-time delivery directly
- Unlimited users with no per-seat pricing, so operators and supervisors can all use it
- Fixed-fee implementation with ERP integration included reduces cost surprises
- Works alongside an existing ERP instead of forcing a rip-and-replace
- Built specifically for high-mix, low-volume job shops by a team with decades of manufacturing software experience (the Lilly family created VISUAL Manufacturing)
Cons
- No published pricing; every deployment requires a sales consultation and quote
- No free trial or self-serve signup
- Few independent user reviews outside Capterra, which makes benchmarking against larger APS vendors harder
- The priority-based method requires shop-floor teams to change how they think about scheduling, which takes buy-in and training
Key Features
Threat-Level Prioritization
Scores each work order by its risk of being late so operators always know which job to run next, even if it is due later than others.
Dynamic Prioritization
Continuously recalculates job sequence from real-time conditions such as materials, capacity, due dates, and constraints without manual schedule rebuilds.
Controlled Work Release
Releases jobs into WIP on a calculated "just-right date" to keep WIP low, shorten queue times, and avoid self-inflicted bottlenecks.
PFM Planning Simulation
Simulates future execution by week, day, hour, or minute to expose machine, labor, material, and tooling constraints before they hit the floor.
AI-Enabled What-If Analysis
Shows the downstream impact of decisions such as a changed due date on a large order before you commit to them.
WIP Visibility
Shows where every work order is, how it is progressing, and when the customer will receive it.
ERP Integration
Standard connector accepts data from most manufacturing ERP systems, or PFM can run as a standalone solution.
PFM Enterprise ERP
Enterprise edition bundles PFM with a cloud manufacturing ERP, plus optional LillyWorks Financials and Demand Driven MRP (DDMRP) add-ons.
Pricing
- Cloud-based production management
- Threat-Level Prioritization and planning simulation
- Standalone or integrated with existing ERP
- Unlimited users
- Fixed-fee implementation
- Everything in PFM
- Integrated cloud manufacturing ERP
- Optional LillyWorks Financials add-on
- Optional Demand Driven MRP (DDMRP) add-on
Best For
Improving on-time delivery in job shops
High-mix, low-volume manufacturers use threat levels to work the jobs most at risk first and keep customer promises.
Adding production control to an existing ERP
Shops whose ERP produces static schedules connect PFM to get live priorities without replacing their ERP.
Reducing WIP and lead times
Controlled work release keeps the right amount of work on the floor, shortening queue times.
Planning around constraints
Planners simulate future execution to spot machine, labor, and material bottlenecks and to answer customer due-date questions.
Replacing a legacy manufacturing ERP
PFM Enterprise gives smaller manufacturers a cloud ERP with production management, financials, and DDMRP in one system.
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