20 Nov 2021
Just as in the case of a spreadsheet, the APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling) system comes with all kinds of analyses and comparisons drawing on lists, tables or simple two-dimensional reports. It also offers graphical visualization, for instance in the form of Gantt charts, to illustrate the production schedule e.g. by machinery or production materials used.
A good APS system should come with a built-in MES (Manufacturing Execution System) layer. The MES layer supports ongoing collection of information about the progress of production processes and its propagation to the APS system. Thanks to the continuous feedback between the APS system and the shop floor, the planner keeps track of the changing lead times of operations and orders in real time, and may react accordingly if necessary.
The primary role of the production module in an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system is to manage the technologies used to generate orders and handle simple planning operations, i.e. schedule production processes in such a way as to secure the lead times set in the system for our customers. The problem is, however, that the ERP system does not include sufficiently detailed production data on machinery, equipment or human resources to support accurate planning. APS, on the other hand, is capable of integrating all such detailed data (such as types of equipment, materials, personnel, competencies) and use it to create a production plan.
Many losses generated in manufacturing companies come from non-tangible sources. Managers are often unable to identify the causes of such losses and the areas where overloads and delays occur. Therefore, a very detailed visualization and creation of a production schedule enables them to determine where potential problems could occur already at the stage of preparation to the actual physical production of goods, and to act accordingly in advance. Rough-cut production planning based solely on orders collected in the ERP system is not capable of predicting all potential problems and difficulties, as opposed to detailed production scheduling, which is able to identify them very quickly.
Production planning in Excel is a very creative and time consuming task for planners. Their work is made easier in the ERP system, because it comes with order technologies and an option to generate orders with a specific structure, routing or BOMs, while in the spreadsheet a planner must use cells, rows and numbers to present all this information. An APS class system is linked continuously to and derives data from the ERP system. As a result, a planner is able to handle calculations more efficiently (which were previously created in the ERP system), analyze all stages of the production process based on clear visualizations, and create a production schedule in real time in liaison with other planners.
The APS/MES system works in real time. In technical terms, it means that there is no time barrier between a given shop-floor event and its entry in the system. When a machine or an operator reports an event on the shop floor (such as the start or finish of production, a breakdown, reported quantity or generated scrap), this information immediately appears in the APS/MES system and is visible to the planner without any delay.
Spreadsheets come with many disadvantages; in fact, there as many cons of using Excel spreadsheets as there are people who actually use it.
The key disadvantages are as follows:
