APS & MES: What does each offer?

We live in a time where the manufacturing market is becoming increasingly competitive and dynamic, leading company to seek solutions that allow them to better control their production, increase their productive efficiency, and reduce losses. This need gives rise to the desire to find technologies that help us produce faster, cheaper, more efficiently, and more effectively.

When starting the search for specialized tools to assist in the management, planning, scheduling, and control of their production, many company end up wondering which type of solution is best suited to meet their needs and truly solve their problems. As the research begins, different options emerge, and often we are unable to translate into practice the role of each tool and how they can help us.

Within this context, two types of tools stand out as capable of helping company improve their monitoring of the production process and seek to gain a competitive advantage through production planning and control (PPC): MES software and APS software.

MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) software is a tool focused on production execution and control. The main objective of MES software is to enable the efficient execution of production orders and monitor equipment and production records. Some of the benefits you can expect from MES software are: reduced scrap and rework, reduced maintenance costs, improved machine efficiency, reduced material losses, and improved quality of production information.

Among the main functionalities of an MES we can list:

• Automation of production data collection;
• Online production management;
• Equipment Performance Analysis ( OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness );
• Material and inventory control automation;
• Aid in quality control;
• Capture of real cost data;
• Online maintenance control.

Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software are widely used tools in production planning and programming . It is focused on sequencing and planning with finite capacity, that is, taking into account various restrictions of the factory floor such as resources, labor, productive calendars, tooling and others. Among the benefits that APS software can highlight: Reduction of factory crossing time, inventory reduction, setup reduction, better use of resources and improvement in delivery deadlines.

APS, in turn, has its main features listed below:

• Production planning generating the mesproduction plan;
• Inventory policies planning;
• Generation of production orders;
• Sequencing of finite production orders;
• Simulation of different sequencing scenarios;
• Material management.

In general, we can say that MES (Manufacturing Execution System) is used at the operational level, being responsible for monitoring ongoing work and ensuring its execution, mesalso generating a complete diagnosis of the historical state of production—an important input for the company 's tactical decisions. On the other hand, APS (Application Scheme Processing) works at the operational and tactical levels, drawing up plans with a short- and medium-term vision to meet the industry's objectives and a long-term vision to assist in strategic decisions related to production capacity and resource allocation. Both systems work in conjunction with the company 's ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), maintaining constant communication and providing decision-makers with the necessary information to be more assertive.

In the following image we seek to temporally exemplify the scope of acting of each solution:

MES and APS: Different scopes that complement each other.

It's worth noting that, despite having distinct scopes, the distinction between MES and APS isn't always clear. Each software has its own peculiarities and range of functions; however, you may find some overlap in the proposed features. Some MES software can provide functions that are generally within the scope of APS, and vice versa.

But the question remains: which one do I need? Well, we regret to inform you that there is no ready answer to that question. The list of features of each tool may be quite attractive, but the answer will depend on the needs and short- and long-term objectives of your company . Often the answer is both, because far from being competing systems, they are actually complementary systems. And it is the combination of both that will give us complete control of production, that is, planning, scheduling and control.