Research shatters myths about advanced planning and scheduling systems

Those are the headline results of research carried out by APS system developer Preactor at its recent annual global partner event in Chippenham. Partners were asked to identify common myths among clients about APS – and importantly, those where their client manufacturers had subsequently been disabused and had invested in systems. Number three was ‘My process is too fast-moving and complex to use a computer to schedule’; number four, ‘We don’t have the required data readily available’; and number five, ‘It takes too long to implement and is too costly for a small company like us.’ The myth with the highest score (87.5%) for being demonstrably false was, ‘I don’t need APS because we use a project planning to schedule.’ Other widely experienced myths included: ‘My ERP system already has a scheduling module’ and ‘I’m running a Lean initiative.’ Says Preactor CEO Mike Novels: “Seven out of the 10 myths had been experienced by over 50% of the partners, which confirms our view that manufacturers still need to be educated about the sheer versatility and power of APS technology to bring business benefits. “The fact that eight of the 10 myths had been disproved in at least 50% of cases, with manufacturers going on to invest and benefit from APS technology, reinforces this.” And he continues: “We have long since identified the spreadsheet as our biggest competitor, and this research confirms our belief. However, the reality is that while spreadsheets do, in cases, provide some scheduling functionality, this is always limited. “A significant number of our customers used to use spreadsheets until they simply couldn’t handle the complexity or provide the schedule visibility that is increasingly required in today’s competitive market place. “Sadly, many companies will continue making do with spreadsheets instead of making the best use of their resources and doing their best for their customers.”