Advanced planning and scheduling (also referred to as APS and advanced manufacturing) refers to a manufacturing management process 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 and scheduling systems (such as Manufacturing resource planning) 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[1].
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:
Advanced Planning & Scheduling software enables manufacturing scheduling and advanced scheduling optimization within these environments.
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