Semi-automatic scheduling PlanMateCAS for small and medium-sized businesses
Overview of APS, ERP, MES:
Production planning and scheduling are an important part of the information management of manufacturing enterprises. The enterprise’s information system is mainly: ERP + MES + APS. APS formulates production plans, and MES monitors the production process. The above two systems work together with ERP to realize information management of the enterprise from business to manufacturing processes.
Basic concept explanation:
Model: All production scheduling software schedules according to the model definition. PlanMate’s models include:
1. Products: finished products, semi-finished products, purchased materials;
2. BOM: lower-level semi-finished products and purchased materials consumed by the product;
3. Main resources: production lines, various machines and equipment;
4. Auxiliary resources: moulds, fixtures, steel mesh in SMT, workers, testing instruments, tools with limited quantities and other resources that have constraints on scheduling;
5. Product production process and processes, process sequence, time constraints, allowed equipment and cycle times, and auxiliary resources that need to be used.
Scheduling data: orders, work orders, inventory, material lists, etc. that need to be scheduled. PlanMate schedules work orders. Work orders can be obtained from ERP. Scheduling data changes daily. Before running the schedule, you must complete the model data and import the schedule work order.
Automatic scheduling: After importing scheduling data and defining the model, the system automatically optimizes the scheduling results.
Semi-automatic scheduling: Similar to placing building blocks, users move production tasks to reasonable locations of primary resources. The system will give suggestions, make necessary judgments and calculations, calculate working hours, determine conflicts and alarm for conflicts.
Track progress and clear output: The system needs to read the actual output regularly, move completed work order tasks, and make adjustments before and after if there are abnormalities. Users who have imported the MES system can develop interfaces to read directly from MES. For users who have not imported MES, the production line needs to enter production reports regularly.
Why do you need semi-automatic production scheduling?
Since enterprise needs are very different, it is difficult to have a system that can 100% meet the requirements. Therefore, the APS system usually needs to be implemented and customized according to the specific needs of the customer. The implementation cycle usually takes 3-6 months, and the project cost high.
PlanMate APS has been successfully introduced in large enterprises, but due to the high cost and long implementation period, it is not suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises. In response to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises for production scheduling software, Ruite Technology has separated some functions of PlanMate APS and provided a set of semi-automatic production scheduling system Planmate CAS specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The main functions of PlanMate and the differences between APS and CAS:
| Function | APS | CAS |
|---|---|---|
| Model import and maintenance, the system is scheduled according to the model | Can be imported from Execl or text, or edited and maintained in the system | Same as APS |
| Work plan management, orders and inventory | Can be obtained from ERP or imported as text | Same as APS |
| Permission control | Yes | Yes |
| Inventory constraints and MRP functions | Yes | Yes |
| MES and ERP interface | need to be implemented | need to be implemented |
| Production scheduling function | Fully automatic scheduling | The system creates a to-do list |
| Scheduling: Select Primary Resource | The system automatically selects | Manually select main resources, and the system will give tips and suggestions |
| Scheduling: Calculate work hours | The system automatically calculates | After the user selects the main resource, the system automatically calculates the working hours. |
| Scheduling: Auxiliary Resource Constraints | Auxiliary resource conflicts will be avoided during automatic scheduling | After the user selects the resource, the system will schedule the task to a non-conflicting time point to avoid conflicts with auxiliary resources. |
| Scheduling speed: | 5000 tasks: 3 minutes 20000 tasks: 15 minutes | Depending on the number and complexity of tasks |
| Manual adjustment of schedule: moving tasks, moving forward and backward, etc. | Yes | Yes |
| Color-coded priorities, task types, conflict alarms | Yes | Yes |
| work plan report | Yes | Yes |
| implementation cycle | 3-6 months | 2-4 weeks |
| Implementation costs | High | Low |
The difference between PlanMate CAS and Excel:
Most companies use spreadsheets for production management scheduling, and most of the production scheduling requires multiple processes. Since Excel has no constraints and alarms, it is difficult to ensure that the plan is reasonable and optimized, and scheduling errors are difficult to detect in advance. The following is a comparison between the two:
| Contrast type | Excel | PlanMate CAS |
|---|---|---|
| Breakdown of process tasks | If a product contains multiple processes, it needs to be manually broken down into multi-process work. | The system automatically breaks down the work order into tasks for each process based on the model. |
| operating hours | Manual calculation of labor hours for each process | Automatically calculate working hours |
| constraints and conflicts | There are no constraints and it is not easy to see whether conflicts occur (processes, primary resources, auxiliary resources) | When there is a conflict, the system will use a color alarm to indicate the conflict. |
| planning rationality | Inconvenient to check the rationality of the plan | In the Gantt chart, the rationality of the plan can be easily viewed through the work order view display |
| Production abnormalities, emergency order insertion and other plan modifications | Difficulty in modifying plans | The plan is easy to modify, tasks can be moved, and new tasks can be temporarily inserted. |
| Scheduling error | Scheduling errors cannot be found | The scheduling error system can immediately alarm, and errors such as missed arrangements and conflicts will not occur. |
Summary: Take the CAD field that we are all familiar with as an example.
APS is like an automatic designer that can help you design the product automatically. You only need to check and modify it.
CAS is like a CAD system in the field of production scheduling. Although it cannot help you automatically design products, it is an excellent tool that allows production management to complete their work more efficiently.
Excel is just like the traditional way of drawing and designing on paper.
Should I choose APS or CAS?
Choose APS: There are many work orders that need to be scheduled, the number of tasks is > 500, and the scheduling requirements can be accurately defined using the model. Have enough budget to support it.
Choose CAS: The number of equipment and tasks is small, the budget is limited, or the scheduling requirements are indescribable, and production management experience is needed. Budget is limited.