The most important problems related to this industry are high changeover time losses and scrapped
raw material due to sub-optimal raw material batch allocations to customer orders. Furthermore,
there are several different processes to be applied to the raw materials to manufacture the end
products. This implies that managing the relationship between subsequent processes as well as
choosing the appropriate workstation among many alternatives available for a single process is of
utmost importance to ensure the lost time, too, is minimized and orders are delivered on-time. The
identification of the problems immediately makes it clear that a factory operations scheduling system
managing the relationships between alternative workbenches and subsequent processes coupled
with raw material batch allocation functionality keeping the scrap rates in check can provide
significant benefits for this industry.
High changeover times may be avoided by careful sequencing and grouping of similar jobs provided
that the planner defines the characteristics important for detecting similarity for each process.
Starting from this information, factory operations scheduling module can group and sequence jobs
for each workstation to decrease losses due to changeovers while solving the complex predecessor
and successor relationships between workstations belonging to subsequent processes.
Scrap rates can be kept in check with careful allocation of raw material batches to customer orders.
However, just the number of different types of raw materials and batches with different dimensional
and metallurgical characteristics makes this a very challenging task. Furthermore, the dynamic nature
of the customer orders implies that batch allocations must be revised frequently. And because
certain workstations may or may not be able to process some customer orders depending on the
characteristics of the raw material batches allocated to them, there certainly is a strong interaction
between the batch allocation process and factory operations scheduling process. Given that even a
single percentage improvement in scrap rates is very important in terms of profitability for this
industry and the strong interaction between batch allocation and scheduling processes, it follows
that a factory operations scheduling system with a strong batch allocation functionality is a must.
The output of factory operations scheduling can sometimes be difficult interpret with all its
implications. For the case of this industry, the output is further complicated by the assignment of
batches to customer orders. NovaLab’s planning software, xS Planner, provides interactive raw
material requirements plan view including batch assignments in addition to warnings related to
various aspects of the plan such as late orders and a dashboard for KPIs.