What is APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling)?
Advanced planning and scheduling (APS ) is a subcomponent of supply chain planning that describes production planning and scheduling in context. APS is a system with emerging demand and other constraints to align resource usage and production plans . This tends to be a digital process that thrives on clear information and agile planning workflows. Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software uses advanced mathematics to analyze and calculate optimal production schedules, taking into account a set of constraints based on the company's business rules and allowing the planner to create and evaluate multiple scenarios. The purpose of scheduling software is to minimize production time and costs while maximizing efficiency by determining the optimum sequence of operations to reduce setup times and variation.
Before implementing an Advanced Planning and Scheduling software (APS), it is important to understand its basic components.
Demand Planning : Demand forecasting is the process of predicting what the demand for certain products will be in the future. It determines what both current and future customers will want to buy and tells manufacturing facilities what they actually need to produce. Demand forecasting is accomplished through analysis of historical sales data, statistical forecasts, customer intent surveys and more.
Production Planning : Production planning is the process by which a production operation ensures that the raw materials, personnel, and other resources in the operation are prepared to create finished products according to a specific schedule. A production plan can serve as a guide for a company's production activities and specifies a set of activities that must be performed to achieve a production goal.
Distribution Planning : Distribution planning is the method used to schedule orders within a supply chain. This component is based on a demand forecast to calculate inventory requirements for various time periods. Distribution planning coordinates future demand with inventory on hand and safety stock requirements for the period.
Transportation Planning : Transportation planning is defined as the planning and management processes required to move people and goods along the supply chain. This process is a collaborative effort to identify a facility's transportation needs and evaluate the efficiency, cost, and design of the transportation model. Transportation planning also includes defining future policies, objectives, investments and designs to adequately prepare for any future transportation needs.
How APS and ERP Work Together
Advanced Planning and Scheduling systems can plan at the production line or machine levels, giving users the ability to make changes and see the impact on customer orders before they happen. With this, planning can be easily rescheduled in an ERP application without running a new MRP (material requirement plan).
When ERP and APS systems work together, the APS system simultaneously takes into account time and production constraints, using mathematical algorithms to give long- and short-term production plans.
They are then used by MRP to create material requirements plans. Logistically, an APS and an ERP make sense together. A partnership between the central data system of an ERP and the strategic planning capability of an APS is necessary if a company wants to increase production time and speed.