Reliance on spreadsheets for not needing APS shown to be #1 myth and reliance on project planning tools for not needing APS shown to be most consistently disproved myth
Preactor International, the UK's leading specialist advanced planning and scheduling software company, announces the results of a comprehensive research project into the widespread extent of APS myths.
The unique research, undertaken at its annual global partner event, held in Chippenham, UK, involved collating responses from a wide range of global partners specialising in the sales and implementation of APS software regarding common misconceptions held within the manufacturing community about the suitability of APS as a tool.
Specifically, partners were asked to identify whether they had encountered manufacturers which had cited any of 10 common myths for not seeing APS as beneficial to their businesses. Partners were then asked to identify any myths they had subsequently helped a manufacturer to 'see through' before going on to receive the widely acknowledged benefits of APS.
The most widely experienced myth, with a 100% score, was "I don't need APS because I use a spreadsheet for my capacity planning and scheduling." The myth with the highest score (87.5%) for being demonstrably false was, "I don't need APS because we use a project planning to schedule."
Other most widely experienced myths for not being able to benefit from APS are:
"It takes too long to implement and is too costly for a small company like us" - 86%
"My ERP system already has a scheduling module" - 79%
""We don't have the required data readily available" - 79%
""My process is too fast moving and complex to use a computer to schedule" - 71%
"I'm running a Lean initiative" - 64%
Myths that were most consistently disproved, leading to manufacturers then investing in APS are:
"We couldn't integrate with out ERP" - 80%
"We use a spreadsheet for capacity planning and scheduling" - 79%
""My process is too fast moving and complex to use a computer to schedule" - 50%
""We don't have the required data readily available" - 50%
"It takes too long to implement and is too costly for a small company like us" - 43%
Mike Novels, Preactor's CEO comments on the significance of the findings. "Perhaps the most significant fact to emerge from this unique survey of global APS expertise is that every one of the 10 myths listed in the survey had been experienced by at least one partner. 7 out of the 10 myths had been experienced by over 50% of the partners which confirms our view that manufacturers still need to be further educated about the sheer versatility and power of APS technology to bring genuine business benefits.
"The fact that 8 of 10 myths had been effectively disproved in at least 50% of cases, with manufacturers going on to invest and benefit from APS technology reinforces this. At Preactor, we have over 1600 installations globally and have over 60 fully documented case studies which clearly show how manufacturers the world over can, and should, be benefiting from what is a very affordable technology."
With regard to the 100% incidence of partners encountering the myth that spreadsheets are a sufficient reason not to use APS, Novels is unsurprised but clearly frustrated. "We have long since identified the spreadsheet as our biggest competitor and this confirms our belief. However, the sad reality is that while spreadsheets do in cases provide manufacturers with some scheduling functionality, this is always going to be much more limited than using APS.
"A significant number of our customers used to use spreadsheets until they simply couldn't handle the complexity or provide the overall schedule visibility that is increasingly required in today's highly competitive market place. Sadly, many companies will continue 'making do' with spreadsheets instead of making the best use of their resources and doing their best for their customers."
