INDUSTRY WATCH
stakeholder commitments.
Poor production scheduling can
result in huge losses. The majority of
schedulers use less powerful solutions,
such as Excel spreadsheets, which
may have been adequate in the past,
but struggle to meet the needs of
companies looking to distinguish
themselves in the marketplace by
being a responsive and reliable
supplier to their customers.
Typically, the scheduler spends many
unproductive hours creating an initial
weekly schedule and expending
additional time every day manually
modifying and adjusting the schedule
in response to actual production
and logistical events and changes
in demand. With limited time and
cumbersome tools, most schedulers’
goal is to develop a feasible near
term schedule.
Additionally, the inability to see the
whole production picture results in
ambiguity for setting an effective
operational strategy. A myopic
view of future events prevents the
scheduler from identifying medium to
longer term potential issues. However,
an improved schedule looks out
weeks or months into the future and
brings enormous benefits, including
the ability to identify and resolve
issues well in advance before they
become critical problems.
Decision support software, such as
production scheduling applications,
deal with key questions, including
“what will happen or what must
happen in the future?” Determining
these situation variables is
accomplished using ‘what-if’ scenario
analysis performed by the scheduler.
It is the scheduler that then applies
their judgement on the findings and
selects the best course of action
to take. When a disruption occurs,
the scheduler is frequently drawn
into coping with emergencies and
attempting to correct the problem in
hand without fully considering
the complete economic and
operational consequences of the
corrective measures.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
This fire-fighting culture is inefficient
and results in unproductive time
and efforts, which would be better
used to focus on analysing
additional scenarios and making
better decisions. possibly in-house, systems to maintain
the schedule in alignment with the
most up-to-date information on
customer orders, forecasts, stock
transfer orders, raw material receipts
and production activities.
Faster and smarter scheduling Manufacturers who have deployed
Aspen Plant Scheduler experience
significant benefits in the areas
of increased throughput, reduced
transition and setup costs, reduced
inventories and the reduction
of expediting costs. Schedulers
report significant time savings and
productivity gains compared to
traditional spreadsheet
based approaches.
The goal of planning is to determine
“what /where/ when/how to supply”
and which demands to meet within
the constraints of a manufacturer’s
supply capabilities. Monthly production
targets established by planners are
handed over to schedulers who work
on determining the detailed sequence
of production and the synchronisation
between production stages to deliver
feasible material flow and efficient
production within the constraints of a
manufacturer’s production capabilities.
Advanced scheduling tools provide an
intuitive user interface that bridges
the gap in usability and skills to
support schedulers who can perform
‘what-if’ scenarios and easily make
use of optimisation methods to create
schedules. Optimised schedules help
make the most of available production
capacity, increasing throughput from
the plant facilities whilst ensuring high
levels of customer service.
Now companies can navigate supply
chain complexity and respond faster
to changing market demands and
unforeseen events with a powerful
and easy to use solution. AspenTech’s
supply chain management suite
comes with process industry
templates designed for rapid and
low risk deployments. Aspen Plant
Scheduler, a product within the
unified planning and scheduling
suite, is fully configurable to model
unique supply chain/manufacturing
characteristics and constraints and
fully upgradable. Scalable and flexible
optimisation technologies can be
employed to create optimal plans
and schedules.
Aspen Plant Scheduler can be
integrated with Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) systems, Manufacturing
Execution Systems (MES) and other,
Optimising customer service
Process manufacturers are under
tremendous pressure to maximise
productivity from their plant assets.
Today’s volatile market environment
and complex production processes
require advanced plant scheduling
software solutions to react
quickly to production upsets
and demand changes.
An intuitive scheduling tool
simplifies the user experience and
streamlines workflows to provide
easy access to vital plant data, which
schedulers need to achieve process
manufacturers’ plans.
Unlike less powerful solutions, such
as Excel, advanced scheduling tools
open a world of opportunities for
schedulers to realise numerous
benefits, including reduction in
manufacturing costs, reduction of
inventory levels, better responsiveness
to operational problems and better
customer service.
Scheduling is the linchpin to customer
satisfaction. This vital function
provides process manufacturers with
the ability to efficiently manage their
production assets. Viewing the role of
scheduling with greater importance is
the first step in closing the likely gap
between the sales and operations
planning (S&OP) process and
manufacturing execution processes. ¡
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