Why invest in the APS solution?

Just like any decision you make in your personal life, an APS solution also needs a reason to exist. A software deployment generates significant effort, so a motivation to get out of inertia is needed. Depending on the area and the position of those seeking, whether in the area of ​​tubes and connections , plastic packaging , food and the like, we see distinct motivations that still converge on the ultimate goal of organizations: greater profitability.

Cost reduction and increase in revenue

From the point of view of industry executive positions, cost reduction and increased revenue APS solution . Some directors have a very sharp look to identify the importance of production planning and its challenges, becoming the precursors of these initiatives in companies. However, this is not a common reality, since these positions tend to accumulate many functions and concerns from various areas, so that they cannot proactively act in the search for final solutions to problems. Generally in line with the board is management, which needs to find the roads to achieve the final objectives of the business. The challenges of managements linked to the areas of supply chain, industrial and even IT range from service levels, with delays in inventory deliveries and ruptures, reasons of productive efficiency, impacted with high setup times and waiting, as well as long lead teams and high inventories, both in process and raw materials and finished products. In all these points companies always have losses (some more and others in each area) and many see opportunities to reduce them through better planning and programming of production. However, the most common is the initiative to emerge from those who suffer in the skin the usual limitations that we have seen so far: analysts and coordinators of PPCP areas. For them, the time spent on programming and, especially, reprogramming, is very high, and are hardly content with the result achieved as they are able to see losses and understand too much simplifications in their processes and systems. In practice, they are also charged for all the goals of their superiors and are often “with their hands tied”.

Stakeholders' Objectives [/Caption] Just reflect a little to understand that defining what, when and how to produce (the PPCP function, one of the areas of supply chain) influences the results of the motivations mentioned above. The limitations of traditional MRP/MRPII solutions show us that there are a series of gaps that can be filled to improve these processes. But now, how does APS generate results to meet such goals? Well, we will see below that the gains reach several areas, influencing each other. We will approach the gains in improving planning processes and soon in programming, in order to make the approaches clearer.

Gains through better production planning

At the level of planning, to define well what to produce with each period, as well as what it will not be possible to produce because there is no capacity, avoids spare and ruptures. The lack of analysis of capacity aspects with a good level of detail ends up generating fats on one side and cutting the meat on the other. That is, high stocks of some products and lack of others. The APS considers this capacity, generating better inventory health, thereby reducing storage and loss of sales costs (the latter often immeasurable). In addition, medium and long term adjustments can be performed to reduce the costs needed to meet a particular demand. An increase of 20% demand does not mean a need of 20% more capacity. Seeing the behavior of demand and capacity over time through external factors such as seasonality and product mix changes, as well as internal factors such as vacation, shifts, or changes in production processes, may change decision -making about, for example, the purchase of a machine that can cost millions of reais and that will be idle, or make a sub -dimensioned acquisition that will not meet demand. That is, both cost reduction and improvement in delivery performance can be the result of better planning, the one that sees capacity properly.

Gains through a better production programming

Already at programming level, the reduction of setup times and waiting, achieved through advanced programming rules, provides an increase in productivity (see the cases of Bartira and Credeal as an example), as well as the reduction of production and inventory lead teams, as a result of a better synchronization between operations (see Lunelli case as an example). finished (see tiger case as an example). In general, a 30% reduction in lead time may indicate a 15% to 22% reduction in safety stock levels, for example, depending on the inventory policy methodology used. And it makes sense: If we can replace stock, the need for large volumes of it decreases. Production programming via APS also provides visibility about what is expected to produce in a horizon that can vary from weeks to a few months with a lot of accuracy. This allows not only to see production orders that are delayed today, but also those that are expected to delay throughout this horizon, making it possible an early reaction to minimize or even eliminate such delays. In addition, production sequencing allows us to know when an operation should start, and consequently when their masterpieces need to be available. Contrary to what a MRP/MRII uses as a premise, production leads are not always fixed and equal, so knowing the real dates of the needs of raw materials allow for improvement of the purchasing process so that resurrections occur as close as possible to its need in production, thus improving the company's cash flow ( cash-to-cash flow ).

APS gains linked to Lean's losses

In short, if we go to a classic concept of production engineering such as Lean Manufacturing's 7 production losses, APS helps in reducing and eliminating 5 of them, and quite significantly. They are:

• Overproduction;
• Stocks;
• Transport;
• Processing;
• Wait.

Finally, we note that the consideration of finite capacity and synchronization between processes generates much more assertive scenarios, which in turn provide decision making with greater basis and safety, which will bring better results to the industry.

NEO PRODUCTION ENGINEERING

Do you want to know how to measure these loss gains and reductions to understand how an APS project brings financial returns in your company? Keep an eye on Neo's blog as we'll talk more about it. You can also sign our newsletter and receive relevant email content. Contact us to make an assessment of your case. [NOPTIN-Form ID = 2822]