Meet Susan
Susan P. is the scheduler at AtriCure, a medical device manufacturer. Before scheduling software, her job was a daily exercise in controlled chaos. She’d spend the whole day collecting information from every corner of the business — sales, HR, finance, supply chain, operations — then aggregate it all in Excel, build a schedule, and physically walk it around the factory as a printed document. Every time something changed, she’d start over.
“It’s like spending the whole day working on a puzzle and having people walk in and kick the table several times a day, scrambling pieces everywhere.”
— Rod Kerchner, Rain Engineering Production Planning Specialist
Susan’s company knew something had to change. They were growing fast and the manual scheduling process wasn’t going to scale. They started exploring finite capacity scheduling software and asked Rain Engineering to help evaluate the options — then deploy the one that best solved the problems they cared about most.
From Firefighting to Planning Months Ahead
With scheduling software connected to all of her business systems, Susan’s morning looks completely different. She reviews what changed overnight. Automated imports confirm that updated data from across the business has already flowed into the scheduling tool. Recommended schedule adjustments are waiting for her review. She accepts them. The changes communicate automatically to every person or system that needs to know.
Sales can now check order status and see available capacity on their own — without calling Susan, emailing Susan, or walking up to Susan’s desk. Production can forecast labor needs weeks out. Maintenance can schedule downtime at the least disruptive time instead of the most convenient one. Everyone is working from the same live plan.
What she used to barely finish for the week is now done weeks in advance, and the business can look months ahead to plan investments in new people, equipment, and products.
The most remarkable part? Over the next two years, her company grew production capacity by 15% year over year. Under the old system, that growth would have broken the scheduling process entirely. With scheduling software implemented by Rain Engineering, Susan absorbed all of it — and still finished before noon.
- Spent 8+ hours collecting data from Sales, HR, Finance, Supply Chain, and Operations
- Manually looked up material, equipment, and people availability for every order
- Aggregated everything in Excel, then printed and physically distributed updated schedules
- Any change meant starting over — like finishing a puzzle and having someone kick the table
- Worked late and came in early just to stay current
- Proactivity was “difficult at best”
- Reviews overnight changes and confirms automated imports from connected business systems
- Accepts recommended schedule adjustments — changes communicate automatically to everyone
- Spends the rest of the day planning months ahead, not catching up on yesterday
- Sales checks order status and capacity on their own — without interrupting her
- Handled 15% year-over-year growth for two years — still done before noon
- The business now plans investments months out instead of reacting weeks late
What “Before and After” Looks Like in Numbers
Schedule creation time cut by 75%
The 8 hours Susan used to spend collecting information and publishing a schedule dropped to under 2 hours — even after two years of double-digit growth. Sales, production, and logistics get the schedule earlier, not late in the afternoon.
Susan’s boss got their time back
The 6 month outlook plan that Susan’s manager used to own has been handed to her — freeing up several hours of leadership time every week for more strategic work.
Sales stopped waiting for answers
Sales no longer needs to interrupt Susan or wait for a response about delivery dates or available capacity. They check the live schedule themselves and move forward.
Growth absorbed without breaking the process
Production supervisors can now forecast labor needs weeks out — hiring the right number of people to accommodate continued growth instead of constantly reacting to demand surprises.
Susan Isn’t the Only One Who Wins
Gets their day back
8 hours of data collection becomes a 2 hour morning review. The rest of the day is for strategic planning — not catching up.
Stops waiting for answers
Self-service visibility into order status and available capacity. No more interruptions, no more delays, confident delivery promises.
Plans instead of reacts
Months out visibility into capacity, labor needs, and equipment requirements. Strategic decisions based on a live plan, not a spreadsheet someone built yesterday.
Every Business Has a Susan.
Most clients already know what hurts. The risk of change can feel bigger than the status quo — but that’s exactly what Rain Engineering is here for. Let’s talk about your operation…
Start the Conversation833-972-4626 · cs@raineng.com · raineng.com