Planning and scheduling - a clear view of the crystal ball

By Graham Hackwell, Technical Director, Preactor International

Tuesday, 18 July 2006

There are many planning & scheduling software packages on the market. However there are wide differences between them in terms of scope of functionality and mode of operation. Also the terminology that permeates the software marketplace tends to confuse rather than inform the potential user.

For companies who want a better understanding of planning & scheduling terms it may well be worth clarifying the meaning of some of the key words while explaining how this functionality can provide the bottom line benefits that companies are seeking to be competitive in global markets.

Take Capacity Planning. This is about deciding what, when and where to make product usually based on forecast demand, current stocks and inventory control rules. Adding this data to current sales orders provides the basis for the generation of a Master Production Schedule (MPS). This is then used by the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to provide works or shops orders as well as purchase orders for the period based on the Bill of Materials structure (or BoM) for each finished product. It typically has a planning horizon of many months.

Scheduling is basically about deciding when to load production-related operations onto which resources and in which sequence based on confirmed orders with defined process routes. However some scheduling programs just load operations onto resources without taking into account the capacity, the attributes of the previous load or other operation relationships that may be important to how the schedule is generated. Finite Capacity Scheduling (FCS) software solutions can drill down into the detail required and take orders generated by the ERP system, then load them using rules to produce the schedule based on the detailed real constraints of the system.

The Capacity Plan or MPS is part of the planning process and is usually done at Stock Keeping Unit (SKU, or finished product) level. It is a 'single point' schedule in that one record or operation represents the load on resources. Orders are typically based on forecast and resources represented at departments, cells, plants or factories. Operations are planned to use a certain amount of capacity in 'buckets' of time, typically a week, and these buckets are set to be either finite or infinite capacity.

Companies often treat MPS, Rough Cut Capacity Planning (RCCP) and FCS as entirely different functions that require different software solutions. However, they essentially do similar things, the main difference being in the level of aggregation of both demand and capacity. By sourcing the right software solution all MPS, RCCP and FCS tasks can be covered quite adequately.

In a typical FCS application we generally want to manage each batch, see the activities of each individual resource, what the sequence is, when setups start and finish and what the run time periods are. We also need to take into account shift patterns and other constraints such as tooling, operators and so on.

With this level of detail you are able to carry out true Capable To Promise (CTP) enquiries. You can provide accurate delivery dates based on the current load and the real finite constraints of all resources required. And, when that urgent order arrives or a resource goes down, you can quickly see the impact on all the orders currently scheduled in terms of delivery date. It becomes a crystal ball for the factory floor enabling the supervisor to make decisions with the benefit of foresight.

Terminology within any discipline can often look confusing. However, as is the case with planning & scheduling software solutions and their associated acronyms, once you grasp the outline concepts and how they interact, it is then time to begin benefiting from them.

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