Advanced planning and scheduling (also referred to as APS and advanced manufacturing) refers to a manufacturing management process

Manufacturing Process Management

Manufacturing process management is a collection of technologies and methods used to define how products are to be manufactured. MPM differs from ERP/MRP which is used to plan the ordering of materials and other resources, set manufacturing schedules, and compile cost data.A cornerstone of MPM is...

 by which raw materials and production capacity are optimally allocated to meet demand. APS is especially well-suited to environments where simpler planning methods cannot adequately address complex trade-offs between competing priorities.

Traditional planning

Planning

Planning in organizations and public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a plan; and the psychological process of thinking about the activities required to create a desired goal on some scale. As such, it is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior...

 and scheduling

Scheduling (production processes)

Scheduling is an important tool for manufacturing and engineering, where it can have a major impact on the productivity of a process. In manufacturing, the purpose of scheduling is to minimize the production time and costs, by telling a production facility when to make, with which staff, and on...

 systems (such as Manufacturing resource planning

Manufacturing resource planning

Manufacturing resource planning is defined by APICS as a method for the effective planning of all resources of a manufacturing company...

) utilize a stepwise procedure to allocate material and production capacity. This approach is simple but cumbersome, and does not readily adapt to changes in demand, resource capacity or material availability. Materials and capacity are planned separately, and many systems do not consider limited material availability or capacity constraints. Thus, this approach often results in plans that cannot be executed. However, despite attempts to shift to the new system, attempts have not always been successful, which has called for the combination of management philosophy with manufacturing.

Unlike previous systems, APS simultaneously plans and schedules production based on available materials, labor and plant capacity.

APS has commonly been applied where one or more of the following conditions are present:

1. Make-To-Order
   Build to order
   Build to order and sometimes referred to as make to order , is a production approach where once a confirmed order for products is received, products are built...
   
    (as distinct from make-to-stock
   Build to stock
   Build to stock, or make to stock, often abbreviated as BTS or MTS, is a build-ahead production approach in which production plans may be based upon sales forecasts and/or historical demand...
   
   ) manufacturing
2. capital-intensive production processes
   Industrial process
   Industrial processes are procedures involving chemical or mechanical steps to aid in the manufacture of an item or items, usually carried out on a very large scale. Industrial processes are the key components of heavy industry....
   
   , where plant capacity is constrained
3. products 'competing' for plant capacity: where many different products are produced in each facility
4. products that require a large number of components or manufacturing tasks
5. production necessitates frequent schedule changes which cannot be predicted before the event

Advanced Planning & Scheduling software enables manufacturing scheduling and advanced scheduling optimization within these environments.

See also

• Enterprise planning systems
• Enterprise resource planning
  Enterprise resource planning
  Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
  
  
• Manufacturing resource planning
  Manufacturing resource planning
  Manufacturing resource planning is defined by APICS as a method for the effective planning of all resources of a manufacturing company...
  
  
• Master Production Schedule
  Master Production Schedule
  - What is Master Production Schedule or MPS? :A Master Production Schedule or MPS is the plan that a company has developed for production, inventory, staffing, etc. It sets the quantity of each end item to be completed in each week of a short-range planning horizon. A Master Production Schedule is...
  
  
• Scheduling (production processes)
  Scheduling (production processes)
  Scheduling is an important tool for manufacturing and engineering, where it can have a major impact on the productivity of a process. In manufacturing, the purpose of scheduling is to minimize the production time and costs, by telling a production facility when to make, with which staff, and on...
  
  

Further Reading

• Günther, Hans-Otto (Ed.): Advanced planning and scheduling solutions in process industry. Berlin: Springer, 2003. - ISBN 3-540-00222-7

External links

• IT toolbox Peer reviewed industry and academic literature with topics including constraint-based planning, simulation, optimisation and machine set-up
  Changeover
  In manufacturing, changeover is the process of converting a line or machine from running one product to another. Changeover times can last from a few minutes to as much as several weeks in the case of automobile manufacturers retooling for new models. The terms set-up and changeover are sometimes...
  
  and sequencing.
• Production Planning Portal A web-based resource for the latest production planning news, articles and information.
• Planning Engineers Organisation Global professional association serving planners and schedulers.
• Scheduling Software Orchestrate scheduling software for Advanced Planning and Scheduling solutions
• Planning and Scheduling Software Preactor International is the World Leader in Production Planning and Scheduling software used by a wide range of businesses