This document discusses how a manufacturing company improved their production planning and on-time delivery using SIMATIC IT Preactor APS. The company was experiencing ineffective planning using Excel which impacted responsiveness and deliveries. SIMATIC IT Preactor APS allowed them to model capacity, generate automated production plans, interactively plan and simulate schedules. This improved on-time delivery from 72 hours to within 4 hours, reduced planning time by 70%, and increased productivity by 25%. The solution provided benefits like improved customer service, productivity, and material management.

1. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR ON-
TIME DELIVERY WITH A SMART
PRODUCTION PLANNING AND
SCHEDULING SOLUTION
MICHAL PRĘTCZYŃSKI
PROJECT MANAGER FOR SIMATIC IT
PREACTOR APS IMPLEMENTATIONS AT
PRĘTCZYŃSKI LTD.
4/15/2016

2. 2
AGENDA
AGENDA
1. Understanding the problem
2. Finding the solution with SIMATIC IT
Preactor APS
3. Presentation of SIMATIC IT Preactor APS
4. Areas of potential benefits
5. Questions and answers

3. A REAL-LIFE EXAMPLE
• Manufacturing company was aware that due to changing market requirements, one
of its main problems was the process of production planning. Ineffective planning
process influenced their responsiveness and on-time deliveries.
• Company went from understanding market requirements, through creating business
requirements for better process, to looking for better software tools that would help.
• The goal was to help Planner in Make to Order environment with many products,
smaller batch sizes, more orders = more data to be scheduled by Planner.
• To ensure maximum flexibility in generating a production schedule while extending
planning horizon.
3

4. A REAL-LIFE EXAMPLE
• To achieve higher optimization with possible cost reductions and to consider many
criteria while scheduling.
• To integrate with new ERP system and to distribute schedule within organization.
• To introduce the concept of priorities set by Management and not individual Sales
representatives within Sales Department.
• To change the planning process that was divided into three planning departments
and to introduce a concept of a central schedule with a ‘Main Planner’.
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5. 5
First department - planning using
Excel/manual work
Third department - planning using
Excel/manual work
Sales Department
has received new
order enquiry from
Customer
24 Hours to answer - 72
Hours in total ->
Unacceptable waiting
time.
24 Hours to answer
order enquiry
24 Hours to answer -
48 Hours in total
When we can deliver
this order ?
Second department - planning
using Excel/manual work
A REAL-LIFE EXAMPLE

6. CHALLENGES IN PRODUCTION PLANNING
• Planning using Excel / Decision on shop floor. All in the mind and hands of Planner /
Planners. Little support from ERP system with its standard functionality.
• No central planning using global priorities. The necessity of arrangements between
different departments.
• No representation of actual capacity. No interactivity and no automation in
sequencing. A need to optimize sequence to reduce cost.
• Short planning horizon. Unknown impact of changes (new priorities, machine
breakdown) in a longer term.
• Problems with due date performance and the answer to the question "When we can
deliver this order?" The pressure on Planning Department.
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7. BASIC FUNCTIONALITY THAT IS NEEDED
FOR SCHEDULING SYSTEM
• The ability to schedule more accurately at the machine level and to schedule
precisely (hours, minutes) as opposed to time buckets like week.
• The ability to integrate with other systems like ERP.
• The ability to sequence orders based on due date, priority or minimize changeover
times.
• The ability to schedule using multiple constraints, such as tooling and operators. The
ability to synchronize the schedule with material constraints.
• The ability to schedule quickly (minutes or seconds) and maintain a real-time view of
the schedule.
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8. 8
AGENDA
AGENDA
1. Understanding the problem
2. Finding the solution with SIMATIC IT
Preactor APS
3. Presentation of SIMATIC IT Preactor APS
4. Areas of potential benefits
5. Questions and answers

9. INTRODUCING SIMATIC IT PREACTOR APS
9
Siemens SIMATIC IT Preactor is a range of advanced
planning and scheduling (APS) software for the
manufacturing industry.
Quick facts:
 SIMATIC IT Preactor AS is a scheduling tool primarily for
manufacturers who need to schedule machines, production
lines and resources, but Preactor is also used in services and
logistics.
 SIMATIC IT Preactor AP considers forecast and long term
orders to decide feasibility and set general direction of
production; Dynamically sets target stock levels to meet
future demand; Load balance across multiple resources
considering eg constraints, materials shelf life.

10. INTRODUCING SIMATIC IT PREACTOR APS
Key functionality:
• Modelling actual production capacity (machinery / operators / tooling) - operations
planned when resources and materials are available.
• Automating planning by generating production plan using scheduling rules. The rules
may include customer priorities/due dates or minimization of changeovers.
• Interactive planning board where Planner can change sequence. Analysis of different
versions of the schedule before accepting.
• Simulations "When we can deliver this order?" Analysis of due date performance. Early
information on potential late orders.
• Including material control calculations to check that all materials required are available
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11. INTRODUCING SIMATIC IT PREACTOR APS
11
Examples of integrations
available: Microsoft Dynamics
AX and NAV.

12. INTRODUCING SIMATIC IT PREACTOR APS
12
Large install base serving the manufacturing sector
across the globe. Implementations in Baltic region with
Columbus.
Quick facts:
 Customer base ranges from mid-size to some of the largest
multi-national companies in the world.
 Operates across multiple sectors, this shows the flexibility to
solve any scheduling requirement.
 Global presence of the Siemens Manufacturing Operations
Management Team - probably the largest Manufacturing IT
organization in the world.

13. 13
AGENDA
AGENDA
1. Understanding the problem
2. Finding the solution with SIMATIC IT
Preactor APS
3. Presentation of SIMATIC IT Preactor APS
4. Areas of potential benefits
5. Questions and answers

14. PLANNING SCENARIOS FOR LIVE
DEMONSTRATION
• Automating planning for all orders. Are all orders on-time?
• High priority order that requires re-planning. Which orders will be delayed?
• A breakdown of machine occurs. Which orders will be affected?
• How changes in material delivery will affect our plan?
• Can we combine priority for due date and a need to minimize changeover times?
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15. 27
AGENDA
AGENDA
1. Understanding the problem
2. Finding the solution with SIMATIC IT
Preactor APS
3. Presentation of SIMATIC IT Preactor APS
4. Areas of potential benefits
5. Questions and answers

16. A REAL-LIFE SUCCESS STORY
• To introduce a concept of a central schedule with a ‘Main Planner’ -> central schedule
with Preactor and changing planning procedures.
• Flexibility in generating a production schedule -> visualization on Gantt chart and drag &
drop on planning board.
• Optimization with possible cost reductions -> sequence dependent changeover time
matrices and scheduling rules minimizing changeover times.
• Priorities -> introducing concept of customer-based priorities.
„Together with an instant feedback about expected delivery dates it has improved
effectiveness of work in the sales department and decreased time needed for customer
service.”
„Flexibility and an easy way to change schedules gives us the ability to react quickly to
market requirements.”
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17. PLANNING PROCEDURE FOR PLANNER
1
All the production data from previous day,
including quantities produced, must be
entered by Shift leader into ERP till 8:00
Importing current status of
operations and orders from ERP
to Preactor
2
Planner can analyze changes in Preactor and
initiate schedule repair function
Updating schedule in Preactor
with current status of
operations/orders
3
All new production orders, generated from
sales orders by Sales Department, must be
entered till 12:00, so Planner can schedule a
batch of orders and look at priorities
Importing new orders from ERP
to Preactor, updating orders in
schedule with changes
4
Planner reviews new orders, applies
preferred sequence rules, runs What-If
scenarios, accepts the schedule
Generating new schedule in
Preactor
5
Around 14:00 Sales Department receives
information on new dates for work orders
within ERP system
Exporting schedule with new
order dates back to ERP system
6
New production plan is send to Shift Leaders
in each of Departments. Gantt chart is
published on website
Printing new 'Work to-do list'
reports for resources

18. A REAL-LIFE SUCCESS STORY
30
First department - planning in
central schedule with APS, view on
all resources
Third department - Preactor Viewer
Sales Department has
received new order
enquiry from Customer
-> Order in ERP
When we can deliver
this order ?
Second department - Preactor
Viewer
Exchanging information
based on prepared
schedule - dealing mainly
with exceptions
Answer with expected
Order End Date
within hours
Before 72 hours
-
After within 4 hours

19. AREAS OF POTENTIAL BENEFITS
31
Improving the planning process
 Automation of the process, compared to manual system
or Excel can allow for extra time that can be used to
optimize the process.
 In the case of centralized schedule less demand for
planning resources, for example reducing overtime.
One of the users with Case Studies reported 70% reduction
time needed for production planning.
Improving the customer service
 The ability to quickly give feedback on the planned
delivery date of the order, especially in the case of
changes to the plan.
 Lowering the cost of delays for example penalties or
additional costs for the logistics.
Some of the users with Case Studies reported up to 80%
improvement in delivery performance.
Improving the productivity
 Better use of resources, for example by minimizing
changeover times due to dynamic aggregation of
operations on machines, or reduction of overtime.
 Better use of subcontractors based on real production
plan.
Some of the users with Case Studies reported up to 25%
increase in productivity.
Improving material management and
make span reduction
 Extension of the planning horizon and better
synchronization of raw material purchases to the
production plan based on the limited manufacturing
capacity.
 Improving synchronization of operations and orders
between departments.
Some of the users with Case Studies reported 50%
reduction in raw material stock.

20. AREAS OF POTENTIAL BENEFITS
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More than 200 case studies published at preactor.com
25% increase in productivity
50% reduction in raw material stock
50% reduction in work-in-process
80% improvement in delivery performance
Preactor
Detailed
Scheduling
(figures taken from various Preactor case studies)

21. 33
AGENDA
AGENDA
1. Understanding the problem
2. Finding the solution with SIMATIC IT
Preactor APS
3. Presentation of SIMATIC IT Preactor APS
4. Areas of potential benefits
5. Questions and answers

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Contact local Columbus just now:
Estonia: eesti@columbusglobal.com
Latvia sales@columbus.lv
Lithuania erp.lt@columbusglobal.com
Presenter:
Michał Prętczyński
E-mail: mp@pretczynski.pl
www.pretczynski.biz
THANK YOU!