APS Simulation and Predictive KPI

Achieving realistic scheduling results requires a holistic view of all scheduling-relevant factors—each of which must be actively accounted for. Every part of the value-added chain—supply chain, inventory management, purchase orders, material fluctuations, outsourced production and equipment maintenance – are interconnected.

A powerful advanced planning and scheduling (APS) system optimizes the timing and sequence of production orders across weeks, months, or even years. This leads to high delivery reliability, shorter production lead times, and leaner inventories. It also improves resource productivity by reducing setup time—through automatic lot or product grouping and optimized setup sequencing.

Scheduling Simulation

To stay competitive, modern production environments need a high-performance APS system with versatile simulation capabilities. Fast simulations make it possible to evaluate all types of orders—demand forecasts, confirmed orders, call-off orders, inventory orders, rush order requests, and more—on a daily basis across short-, mid-, and long-term horizons. Changes to the schedule and their impact on the overall schedule become transparent in the process.

Simulation in an APS isn’t just about:

• identifying potential issues like delays, overloading of bottleneck process, or shortages well ahead of time (weeks or months in advance), and proactively avoiding them,

or

• running what-if analyses and comparing multiple simulations,

it’s also about calculating future-focused metrics—predictive KPI—based on multiple business scenarios.

Predictive KPI

Unlike MES and ERP systems that only show you the past, a powerful APS gives you a window into what’s ahead. Instead of reporting KPI you can no longer influence, it delivers insight into the ones that still lie within your control.

A powerful APS can calculate predictive KPI for each simulation—delivery performance, delays, early completions, resource productivity, utilization and availability of machines, workstations, employees, test equipment, jigs. You can also project labor requirements, production time, setup time, idle time, production lead time, delivery lead time, inventory by item, and production costs, and more.

These predictive KPI can be broken down into:

• Time-based KPI for specific periods
• Product KPI for specific items
• Resource KPI for individual resources
• Customer KPI for selected customers

Why Predictive KPI Matter—Key Business Advantages

• Predictive KPI help you define the best scheduling logic—for your business and for your customers.
• You can assess the feasibility of rush orders and analyze their impact on existing orders—including any additional costs.
• You can also calculate the optimal shift plan for each resource for the upcoming quarter.
• Based on Predictive KPI, you can simulate sales plans for the coming year—or several years ahead—identify bottleneck processes, and make well-founded capital investment decisions.
• You can simulate multi-year demand forecasts and link them seamlessly to appropriate material procurement plans and realistic production schedules.

Use predictive KPI from your scheduling simulations to steer your business forward—based on data, not assumptions.