PPC Rough-cut Dispatcher

The PPC Rough-cut Dispatcher is a module that is completely integrated into SAP and is based on standard functionalities and objects. All important planning data from SAP (e.g. planned and production orders) can be called up from the PPC Rough-cut Dispatcher – without any interfaces. Planning can be carried out both manually (e.g. by drag and drop) and automatically (with the help of planning algorithms), this multi-level analysis ensures planning transparency in all cases.

Overview

Rough-Cut Planning

Rough-cut planning is the levelling between capacity requirements and available capacity that occurs within predefined periods (e.g. month, week). The planning usually has a long-term focus, where MRP receipts can be created or adapted as required in the respective periods (“buckets”). At the same time, the capacities of the work centres are synchronised and periodic constraints are taken into account (e.g. maximum amount per day). Costs for production plans can also be calculated and optimised.

Benefits

Periodic capacity overview (period is defined by user)
Real-time information about capacity workload in the plant
Real-time information on the feasibility of customer inquiries on yearly, monthly, weekly, daily and shift level
Central access to all major SAP standard objects and capacity data

No interfaces
Flexible module that is quickly established Review and consideration of restrictions: supplier delivery capacity, storage capacity, supply shortages, etc.
Review and consideration of restrictions: supplier delivery capacity, storage capacity, supply shortages, etc.

Capacity overview

work centre workload in the respective production week (periods)

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Planning periods

Depending on the customer's requirements, work can be done on a daily or shift basis. Depending on the business case, the appropriate period is selected, e.g.:

Strategically, the next business year is to be planned so that buyers can get an overview of required raw material quantities and estimate how many and which machines and which number of production resources will be needed for a predicted volume of products (here, a coarser granule should be chosen).
Orders are planned in such a way that daily or weekly programmes are forwarded to the production controller or workshop foreman, who carries out the detailed planning manually and according to experience (here one should choose a finer granule).

Preparation for detailed planning

The focus of rough-cut planning is not on the creation of a detailed sequence of planned orders. However, it can be an efficient and comprehensive preparation for the subsequent more detailed planning step.

Periodic rough-cut planning (bucket planning) covers several aspects of planning

Planning

The ability of the system to align demand with the company processes by efficiently managing the internal distribution of processes, tasks, and resources. The PPC interface is designed to enhance the dispositive aspect to its full potential. This was achieved by focusing on two primary aspects of the interface which are the distribution of the data on the interface and the functionality provided to act on that data. The configurable aspect of the PPC interface allows it to provide the best possible overview of the planning situation so that the planner can easily understand the issues. The second aspect focuses on providing powerful functionality (customising existing SAP Modules, drag and drop, configurable planning heuristics) which allows the user to modify the planning situation with minimal effort. Our focus on the dispositive aspect of the PPC supports the planner to take the best possible decisions to achieve the highest possible return with the least possible effort.

Capacity

The rough-cut planning makes sure that required bottlenecks are available. On the one hand, this may be a matter of represented bottlenecks in the ERP capacity planning such as capacity categories of work centres. On the other hand, these can be modelled as any other bottleneck types, such as quantity restrictions due to storage space, supply capacity or supply constraints associated with component supply. Within the scope of rough-cut planning, ITeanova provides a lean and effective modelling alternative through the analysis of dynamic order networks formed by pegging.

Smoothing

A special feature is the periodic smoothing, which creates a production plan with an evenly distributed workload having taken all restrictions into account.

Constraints

Constraints that must be adhered to are taken into consideration for the creation of a final production plan. These include, for instance, time coordination of all production levels, correct positioning of all receipts relative to customer and pre-planning due dates, maintenance of a minimum stock as well as minimum and maximum offset between operations and orders.

Graphical Planning

It is possible to display and change the planning result graphically. Orders can be moved easily by drag and drop. The graphical display offers a better overview of the planning situation for the user to optimise the planning data comfortably.

Solutions of the PPC Rough-cut Dispatcher

Finite and infinite bucket planning (periodic capacity levelling)
Automatic and manual planning
Planning heuristics – predefined planning logics
Just-in-time planning (JIT planning)
As-soon-as-possible planning (ASAP planning)
Multilevel planning – simultaneous planning on several levels
Pegging – Assignment of receipts and demands

Personnel planning
Tool planning
Chief orders – orders that cannot be moved
Prioritised planning – e.g. according to demand (make-to-stock, make-to-order etc.)
Cross plant planning
Whatif analysis – simulation of various planning scenarios