What type of constraints can APS handle?

A real production system is subject to numerous constraints that directly impact production planning and sequencing. When we talk about APS ( Advanced Planning and Scheduling ) systems, especially those focused on fine-grained sequencing, considering these constraints is fundamental to generating viable and efficient plans.

Opcenter APS sequencing software allows the construction of models that address a wide range of constraints, such as:

• Material Restrictions

• Script Restrictions and Valid Resources

• Secondary Restrictions

• Advanced Resource Restrictions

• Dependency Restrictions between Parent and Child Operations

• Movement, Waiting or Transportation Restrictions

Below, we detail the main categories:

Material Restrictions

Production planning needs to take into account the actual availability of materials. Otherwise, orders planned without adequate visibility of inventory levels risk imminent stockouts.

Opcenter APS considers different sources of materials:

• Available inventory for the current period;

• Purchase orders - already linked to suppliers;

• Purchase requests - not yet linked (internal documents).

Furthermore, it is possible to:

• Define priority deposits;

• Link inventory to specific work centers;

• Restricting consumption based on material quality, supplier, or batch.

Practical example:
In the textile industry, it is common to require that all production orders for the same mes consume the mes batch of yarn to ensure uniformity in the shade of the garments. Mes if the SKU and color are the same, small variations in dyeing can compromise the quality of the final product.

Opcenter APS allows for different levels of risk in planning:

• More conservative: Sequence only with materials in stock.

• Moderate: Include purchase orders with safety margins.

• Simulation: Ignore faults to analyze the plant's full productive potential.

This flexibility supports simulations, internal benchmarking, and strategic decisions.

Script Restrictions and Valid Resources

The production routing describes the steps a material goes through until it becomes a finished or semi-finished product. Ideally, each Part Number (SKU) has its routing registered in the ERP, which is the mes (System of Record).

No Opcenter APS:

• Itineraries can be imported from the ERP system or, in specific cases, entered directly.

• Work centers are assigned according to the schedule, restricting where each operation can take place.

Additionally, APS allows for:

• Restricting work centers based on product attributes (color, material type, etc.);

• Customize scripts quickly for simulations and feasibility analyses, without affecting the ERP system.

This capability is essential for industries that need to quickly simulate production planning and scheduling scenarios, dynamically adjusting routes and resource allocation.

Secondary Restrictions

Real-world production systems are subject to numerous other constraints besides the capacity of so-called primary resources (machines, work centers, production lines). Among these additional constraints, we can mention:

• Specialized workforce;

• Available electrical energy;

• Tooling, molds, dies;

• Shared auxiliary resources.

These are called secondary constraints in Opcenter APS. That is, any other element that impacts the capacity of the production system. Therefore, the models created from APS, in projects implemented by NEO Digital Industries, allow for the configuration of these constraints, giving the model high accuracy and realism.

Practical example:
Imagine a hypothetical factory F, with 3 machines available 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, totaling 120 hours of weekly capacity.

The demand for product A is 100 hours, and it can be processed on any machine. However, product A requires the use of die X — and the factory only has 2 dies X, which restricts the available capacity to 80 hours.

In other words, meswith sufficient nominal machine capacity, the bottleneck at the production matrix prevents the full fulfillment of demand.

With Opcenter APS, it is possible to model these constraints and generate plans and sequences that truly adhere to the reality of the factory.

Other Advanced Restrictions

The Opcenter APS sequencing module also handles more complex constraints, such as:

• Synchronization of production orders (dependent operations);

• Controlled parallelism between work centers;

• Movements between production areas , considering:

• Transportation times,

• Mandatory waiting times,

• Logistical capacity constraints.

• Minimum or maximum lot size restrictions;

• Restrictions on calendars and customized shifts.

These features allow the factory model in APS to accurately reflect the real production environment, supporting fast, intelligent, and feasible decisions.

Conclusion

Opcenter APS not only considers basic material and routing constraints, but also integrates advanced functionalities that allow:

• Modeling secondary and auxiliary constraints,

• Simulate different levels of risk,

• Optimize sequencing based on the specific realities of each operation.

Want to understand how these constraints can be modeled for your business?
Talk to our experts at NEO Digital Industries: https://www.neodigitalindustries.com/contato