Opcenter APS

Opcenter APS (formerly Preactor APS) is a powerful software solution for detailed planning and capacity planning of all production resources. With the Opcenter APS production planning solution, lean principles can be automatically rolled out to the entire production process. The Opcenter APS solution (formerly Preactor APS) covers the entire planning horizon and can therefore ensure a much faster and more accurate response.

The Opcenter APS software solution creates a production plan in minutes. This plan includes all rules and restrictions and defines a start and end date for each operation within the planning horizon. Of course, the plan can be further optimized through manual intervention. As part of capacity planning, the production planning software ensures that sufficient capacity is available at resource level. This is not only checked against anonymous hourly pots, but also specifically against machines.

Opcenter APS creates detailed production planning by distributing the work steps of orders to resources and maps all the rules required to create a realistic detailed plan.

Opcenter APS (formerly Preactor APS) Features:

• Delivery dates and priorities of customer orders
• Menu-based and field-based adjustments of individual values
• Material availability: raw material, semi-finished goods, extended workbench
• Automatic creation of the production plan
• All resources with individual calendars: Machines, tools, containers, means of transportation, testing equipment, manual workstations, etc.
• Automated warning and blocking notices
• Setup optimization with several setup tables
• Scheduling of assemblies and multi-level sub-assemblies (multi-level parts list)
• Personnel with consideration of qualifications
• Specific rules for production processes such as minimum or maximum idle times
• Factors influencing productivity such as setup matrices and dependent machine speeds

Opcesome lnter APS is designed to interact with other systems such as ERP systems, spreadsheets, MES and production data acquisition systems. Basically, Opcenter APS is an "out of the box" system that can be implemented in a short time.

Planning

Automatic planning
All jobs can be scheduled with all work steps at the click of a mouse.

Occupancy rules
During planning, all machines and employees are taken into account with their respective allocation rules. Booking rules can be technical restrictions, employee skills or even different batch sizes.

Manual control
Once the plan has been created, the user can intervene in the plan manually at any time using drag and drop and make changes. The user is always informed of the consequences of manual rescheduling by means of various color codes, message boxes and alarms.

Simulations
In the event of urgent orders, delays in the delivery of raw materials or sub-assemblies, repairs or even the failure of machines and employees, the user can react immediately and have Opcenter APS create a new plan. When rescheduling, the consequences for other orders and machines that were not directly affected are always taken into account. Before a new plan goes live, the user can create various simulations according to different rules at any time and select the best plan after a comparison.

Traceability
The user can understand at any time why Opcenter APS creates a plan the way it does.

Planning rules
Opcenter APS offers a whole range of different planning rules as standard, such as forward planning (by delivery date or priority), backward planning (by delivery date or priority), setup optimization, bottleneck optimization, planning by preferred products, etc.

In addition, you can write and integrate your own planning rules or combine different planning rules with each other if different areas require their own planning rule.

Material availability check
Using the information from the ERP (e.g. parts list, stock and orders), Opcenter APS recognizes which purchased materials are required for the orders and when they are available. These availabilities are then taken into account during planning. If changes occur (e.g. delivery date is postponed), the user immediately recognizes the consequences for the plan and can make appropriate changes (e.g. he can adjust the plan manually or reschedule it automatically). The same logic is of course also used for dependent requirements.

Reports
Opcenter APS is equipped with a comprehensive reporting tool that shows the planner the results of the planning in various diagrams and tables (comparisons of different simulations, KPIs such as setup percentage, capacity utilization, resource allocations, job lists, etc.).

As the Opcenter APS database is open, the data can also be used in any reporting or data analysis tool.

Performance
When opening the planning interface in Opcenter APS, it loads all planning-relevant data into the working memory and thus allows fast operation and scheduling, even when using complex optimization rules. The results are then stored in the database and can be called up at any time using various interfaces. In general, automatic scheduling should take place within a few minutes, even with large volumes of data.

Adaptability

Tables and fields
As Opcenter APS runs on an open database, new fields and tables can be created at any time and filled using an interface. This new data can then be taken into account in planning.

Extensions
The user can add additional machines, employees or rules to the configuration at any time. The rules are stored very clearly in Opcenter APS and are therefore easy to understand.

Out-of-the-box tool
Opcenter APS offers the world's largest range of functions without the need for programming. If programming is necessary, e.g. to integrate individual requirements or wishes into Opcenter APS, program code (Visual Basic .NET) can be easily integrated into Opcenter APS using ready-made APIs. It is therefore possible to adapt specific codes at any time. For the end user, there is no difference between Opcenter Standard and programming and by using the APIs of the product manufacturer, the maintenance security of the system is also given.

Interface
Opcenter APS is often connected to several systems if not all information is stored in the ERP. Examples of this are systems such as MES, PDC, personnel data management, etc. We also offer a middleware specially programmed for this purpose: the MCP Connector.