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A Day in the Life of a Production Planner
11
min watch
Being a production planner in a manufacturing plant involves managing frequent changes and unexpected events on the factory floor. Without flexible planning and scheduling processes supported by appropriate technology, it can be difficult to respond effectively to these challenges.
In this video, viewers follow Marco, a production planner at IndX’s bicycle factory and see how Siemens Opcenter Advanced Planning and Scheduling APS software supports daily planning activities. The video provides insight into how production planning is managed in a modern manufacturing environment.
Welcome to IndX's state-of-the-art bicycle factory! We work hard and smart to make the best bikes in the world. That's me, my name is Marco. I'm the production planner at the factory and I love my job…most of the time. Today is Friday and it's almost time to head out for the weekend, hurray!
Before I can leave, I will need to make sure the production plans and schedules are all set up for Monday morning. Let’s check it out.
This is our Opcenter APS tool. On the bottom, we have a Gantt chart, where we model our factory. On the left we have our machines. On the top, from left to right, we have our Time Going, with some information about the material coming in and the material going out.
We also have information about all our Operations and we can simply start by dragging and dropping our operations into the Gantt. The system automatically knows on which machine I can produce this order.
As you can imagine, this becomes a little bit annoying and time-consuming if you have more operations or multiple orders. So, let’s take advantage of the tool. The tool comes with a series of out-of-the-box logic to support your sequences, including Forward Sequence and Backward Sequence logic.
Let’s start with the easier one – the Forward Sequence by Due Date. As you can see, in less than a second, I have my production plan for the next 3 days ready. I don’t have anything unscheduled, so I can close this one.
I can highlight my order, see the next operation, all subsequent operations and understand how each operation relates to each other. I notice a couple of orders are a little bit late, but they will be delivered the next day, which is acceptable for the customer.
It’s already 5:00 PM, time to go home. Bye-bye for the weekend!
Before you know it, it’s Monday morning. It’s 9:00 AM and we are back at the bicycle factory.
A metal worker did not show up due to a family emergency. We adjust secondary constraints in the system, reducing available labor from two workers to one. Immediately, the tool identifies the issue and raises an alarm.
We change the visualization, run a reschedule and see that the same two orders are now almost a day late instead of a few hours. This gives us clarity so we can proactively inform the customer.
The next call reports missing saddles due to a truck crash. The expected material delivery is delayed to the following morning. The system updates automatically and confirms that production is not impacted for the current day.
A machine breaks down and cannot be repaired the same day. We add a breakdown event in the Gantt chart. Orders adjust automatically, but conflicts arise with labor constraints. The tool is used to automatically repair the schedule.
At a glance, we see again that a couple of orders will be one day late. With this visibility, we can immediately inform customers and manage expectations.
Sales calls in with a potential new customer requesting four bikes as soon as possible. Using Opcenter APS, we simulate the order and determine it can be delivered by January 15th at 10:40 AM.
The simulation allows us to confidently confirm the delivery date, helping secure a new customer and open a new market for the business.
Despite a difficult Monday, the factory overcame labor shortages, material delays, machine breakdowns and still captured new business. None of this would have been possible without Siemens Opcenter Advanced Planning and Scheduling.
