Advanced planning and scheduling (APS): a powerful emerging technology

The traditional manufacturing planning process was based upon assumptions that were valid in the 1960s and 1970s, but no longer hold. Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) is a redesign of the overall planning process that integrates the process across several dimensions. APS addresses the whole planning problem directly, rather than dealing with small parts of the problem separately. APS explicitly supports the on-going, dynamic nature of planning. APS is enabled (not merely supported) by modern computing technology. APS software is responsible for computing the results of planning decisions and providing visibility of all the effects, leaving the human planner free to concentrate on making intelligent planning decisions. That integration facilitates major leaps in planning capability. Such leaps that are quickly becoming necessary for all those engaged in modern, global, time based competition. To understand why a new process is needed, it is first necessary to understand the deficiencies of the traditional process; the article discusses these and goes on to look at the details of APS