A world-beating supplier of production planning and scheduling solutions, Preactor Interational – now part of Siemens’ PLM software business – is the ‘go-to’ company for manufacturers keen to boost factory efficiencies through advanced planning and scheduling (APS).
SIMATIC IT Preactor APS– is recognised worldwide as a flexible solution that can and integrate efficiently with manufacturers’ existing ERP and MES systems, and be tailored precisely to meet their specific needs.
It can be a standalone solution or integrated alongside any other product in the extensive Siemens Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) range.
SIMATIC IT Preactor APS is the first new release since the business was acquired by Siemens in 2013, explains product manager Barney Speller: “The Siemens name has been hugely successful in helping us to penetrate enterprise-level accounts.
“We’re now part of Siemens’ MOM software portfolio, which enables manufacturers to implement their strategy for the complete digitalisation of manufacturing operations.”
Enlightened manufacturing companies have a strong focus on lowering inventory levels to reduce costs while still being able to respond to shorter lead times and thereby satisfy customer demand. This means they are always on the lookout for ways to optimise production operations by reducing or eliminating non-value-added activities such as setup or waiting time. Highlighting potential problems allows action to be taken to balance demand and capacity.
SIMATIC IT Preactor APS products have been developed precisely to meet this need.
All the products in the SIMATIC IT Preactor APS range are designed to work alongside and facilitate – rather than replace – existing systems. They can be tightly integrated with ERP, accounting and forecasting software, spreadsheets, MES and shopfloor data capture systems.
Says Speller: “The new range delivers a better experience, offers more scheduling functionality at a lower price point, and is a better fit for more manufacturers. You go live sooner, achieve more and have a faster return on your investment.”
And now the SIMATIC IT Preactor Advanced Scheduling range has been redesigned to introduce functionality that was previously only available at the highest level right the way through the range. All products in the Preactor AS range, for example, are interactive multi-constraint scheduling systems.
This means that the availability of resources, additional constraints, such as tooling, and materials are all taken in to consideration during the scheduling process to ensure an accurate model of your environment.
Orders can be scheduled quickly using intelligent built-in rules and the planner also has the ability to manually interact with the schedule to make changes based on their experience or new information.
SIMATIC IT Preactor AP (advanced planning) imports current stock levels plus actual and forecast demand. It then considers rough cut capacity, pack forward figures, target days of stock cover, manufacturing preferences, minimum/maximum re-order quantities, re-order multiples, product shelf life, etc. to propose an accurate and achievable MPS.
Production capacity can be specified as a quantity, duration or weight and, using the Preactor calendar system, capacity can be varied over time. The capacity available then limits the production volume created in each period.
Once an initial MPS has been created, the data can be displayed as both stock profile graphs and capacity usage graphs. The MPS can be changed by simply clicking and dragging a point on the stock or capacity graphs, and the production of a particular item can be moved from one planning period to another. Any changes made will be reflected in all the linked plot and grid windows.
The planning bill of materials (BoM) can also be exploded by SIMATIC IT Preactor AP and then the production plan for lower level items is calculated in the same way. Based on the BoM explosion and the production plan, the proposed material purchase requirements can be exported to an ERP system, Excel, etc. for action.
You can import demand changes into SIMATIC IT Preactor AP and create a new ‘what if’ plan. The planning BoM will be exploded and SIMATIC IT Preactor AP will show if there are any capacity issues. If there are issues, an acceptable MPS can be created by working interactively.
All this makes the decision a no-brainer – it really will pay you to talk to Preactor about your planning and scheduling software needs.
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