Initiate a requirement

The customer indicates a demand and the planner creates a sales order in the system.

Create a sales order

The planner creates the sales order to the demand that he has received from the customer.

Check availability and promise a definite date to the customer

The planner used the system to do an availability check and see when the material can be supplied to the customer. The GATP component of APO looks at advanced features like product substitution and location substitution so that in case the original product if not available at the requested location then it can be either supplied from other location or an alternate product can be supplied. The CTP functionality otherwise proposes a date on which a material can be produced and then supplied to the customer. This date is proposed at the time of sales order entry and if the customer is agreeing then it is confirmed in the system.

Carry out material planning

The material planning run will create a order proposal to produce and procure the required materials. These order proposals are scheduled in line with the delivery date confirmed to the customer. The system follows a netting logic and optimizes the inventory at the production location. The result of this activity are planned orders for produced materials and purchase requisitions for purchased materials.

Carry out production scheduling

This is the detailed level planning for the production sequencing. The sequence of the production orders is determined with the help of the APO PPDS optimizer so as to reduce setup times and lead times of production. The orders of higher priority are schedules first in case of delays.

Firm production plan and release to production

The plan can be firmed after the order pool has been scheduled for optimized resource utilization. These planned orders are now converted to production orders and are released for execution.

Receive shop floor papers

The released production orders and their shop papers are received by the production department to initiate the manufacturing process. The shop floor papers contain all the details about the manufacturing steps and the components required.

Raw material staging

Based on the released production orders the components are moved to the staging area from where they would be consumed.

Carry our production execution

In this step the manufacturing steps are carried out as per the details in the shop floor papers and are also confirmed back into the system. The details about the actual resource consumption and the components used are entered into the system for refining of the remaining plan and for planned actual comparisons and reporting.

Provide finished goods for quality approval

In this step the finished product that has been manufactured is offered to the quality controller for final testing and release for final despatch. Any abnormalities in quality are first correced and then the product is cleared for despatch to the customer.

Carry out inprocess quality checks

In this step the inbuilt quality checks and controls during the manufacturing process are carried out. The quality parameters that are critical to the final product quality are kept under check and monitored.

Finished goods quality checks

In this step the quality controller checks the final quality of the product and clears it for despatch to the customer. Any inadequacy in quality is first removed via a rework process or the goods are rejected. The system supports carrying out customer specific quality tests and tolerance levels for critical parameters.

Material delivered to customer

In this step the manufactured goods are dispatched to the customer.

Discrete Industry: Make to Order