- Gartner defines Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) as a sub-component of supply chain planning, contextually describing manufacturing planning and scheduling.
- Advanced planning and scheduling is a solution for constraint-based production planning and shop floor scheduling. It enables manufacturers to respond quickly and intelligently to unexpected changes, while satisfying customer demands with shorter lead-times.
- Advanced Planning software is a strategic decision tool designed to aid you in long and mid-term planning. It considers forecast and long-term orders, supports decision making about feasibility and affects the general direction of productions.
- Advanced Scheduling software is an interactive, multi-constraint scheduling system. Availability of resources and additional constraints, such as tooling and materials, are all taken into consideration during scheduling to ensure an accurate model of your environment. Orders can be scheduled quickly using intelligent built-in rules, and the planner also can manually interact with the schedule to make changes based on their experience or new information.
Planning helps you to
- Decide what, when, where, and how much to make
- Understand materials and resources required
- Plan work in the long term (days, weeks, months ahead)
Scheduling helps you to
- Choose the best way to execute against your plan
- Sequence and synchronize
- Understand priorities, constraints and conflicts
- Monitor execution and manage change
- Plan work in the short term (minutes, hours, days ahead)
- Siemens Advanced planning and scheduling solution is suitable for all industries and for any size company, from SMB to large enterprise.
- Industry experts and Siemens after years of experience and research suggest that the best way to start digitalization a factory is by setting up the right planning and scheduling system in manufacturing process.
- Manufacturers cannot react quickly and intelligently to changes without planning & scheduling tools. The time it takes to generate a schedule using spreadsheets can take hours or even days and it can be difficult to maintain. If there is an unexpected change, it is not easy to generate a new schedule.
- SIEMENS OPCENTER Preactor APS can be installed straight out of the box, can be customized and configured where necessary, without disturbing the core Preactor code.
- It can be used standalone to manage planning and scheduling, and is also designed for integration with other software such as excel sheets, ERP, MES, Data collection, Forecasting, Demand Planning, OEE applications etc.
- SIEMENS OPCENTER Preactor is a highly compatible solution and it works alongside, rather than replace your existing systems.
- Most ERP systems uses the concept of infinite capacity and backward scheduling. ERP systems do not have the capacity to calculate the projected impact of overloaded work or to calculate the cause and effect of any changes on the available capacity or scheduled completion of orders.
- Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) systems, however are dynamic in nature and provide you real life impact and visibility based on your constraints. Also, APS systems are super-fast and efficient in processing inputs which means you can make business decisions on the go.
- The time to successfully implement an APS solution is dependent on several factors; one of the most important one being complexity of processes. Lesser complex systems usually require lesser time and vice- versa.
- APS Solution such as SIEMENS OPCENTER Preactor are used to translate complex shop floor scenarios into measurable virtual processes. And hence, APS solutions are not plug and play software; you will need an experienced partner for successful implementation.
- Siemens SIEMENS OPCENTER Preactor is the world leader in production planning and scheduling in the manufacturing industry. Preactor’s breakthrough technology is used by more than 4500 small, medium and large multinational companies located in 88 countries.
- SNic Solutions is recognized as one of the elite organizations to achieve the prestigious Smart Expert Partner status from Siemens PLM Software with expertise in diverse manufacturing sectors like Automotive, Industrial Machinery & Heavy Equipment, Consumer Packaged Goods & Retail, Energy & Utilities. SNic Solutions has industry experience of more than 12 years with more than 100 clients worldwide.
- To use APS solution effectively, it is best if the project champion can be someone who has knowledge of existing planning activities on shop floor and manufacturing processes and has an intermediate level of computer proficiency.
- Since complexities mix is different for every enterprise, ROI realization is difficult to be defined generically. However, most organizations realize returns within few weeks after successful implementation.
Typical benefits include,
- Improvement in delivery performance and productivity
- Cycle time reduction- reduces WIP that slows down production
- Reduction in raw materials inventory- Synchronize purchasing with an achievable schedule
- Improvement in customer service- Increase on- time deliveries
- Pegging is a method using to create links between orders based on the Bill of Materials defined in the CSV file (template files). Remember to always Peg the materials before scheduling.