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APS (advanced planning and scheduling) is software that builds a workable production plan by weighing machine capacity, tooling, operator skills, materials and changeover times at once. When a machine fails, a rush order arrives or material is late, the system recalculates the plan rather than someone rebuilding it by hand; affected orders are flagged and sales can quote dates the plant can meet.
In many plants the production plan lives in a spreadsheet and in one planner’s head. When a machine breaks down, a rush order lands or material arrives late, the plan has to be rebuilt by hand. Meanwhile sales quote a best-guess delivery date, the floor changes tools and colours more often than it needs to, and late orders only surface on the day they should ship.
We set up APS production scheduling software around your plant’s constraints and planning rules, and connect it to your MES and ERP. Planners see the consequences of a decision before they commit, and sales promise dates based on calculation rather than guesswork. Plant managers see bottlenecks in advance instead of on shipping day.
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Machine capacity, tooling, operator skills and material stock are considered at the same time, so you never get a plan that looks fine on screen but cannot run on the floor.
Similar products are sequenced back to back, cutting tool and colour changes and returning that time to production.
Each new order gets a realistic promise date based on the current load, so sales commit on the basis of calculation rather than guesswork.
Answer "what happens if we slot in this rush order?" before you do it. You see which orders slip and what the delay costs before making the call.
See in advance which machine will be overloaded in which week, so decisions on overtime, subcontracting or new equipment are made in good time.
Actual output from the floor flows back into the plan, keeping it current. Works alongside MES and ERP so nothing is entered twice.
On Tuesday morning your most important customer places a rush order for Friday delivery. With a spreadsheet, the planner spends hours rebuilding the plan while sales tell the customer “we’ll try”. With APS, the order is first added as a scenario: you see which work orders slip, whose deliveries are affected and whether overtime is needed before you commit. The planner approves one option and sales give the customer a calculated date. Unplanned machine stoppages are among the most common reasons a plan falls apart; to reduce them, see our predictive maintenance solution. To track attendance from the same record as access control, against the shift plan, take a look at SmartPass from the Smart family.
We document your machines, tooling sets, operator skills matrix and changeover times together on site.
Priority rules, batch sizes and sequencing preferences are agreed, along with which constraints can flex.
The system regenerates the plan for a past period and we compare it with what actually happened. We do not go live until the gaps are closed.
The system goes live and your planners learn, hands-on, to run scenarios and adjust the plan.
APS does not take the place of an experienced planner. It removes hours of manual recalculation and backs their decisions with numbers. The final call stays with the planner; the system simply shows the outcome first. If you also want to anticipate demand, our demand forecasting analytics can feed the plan.
“Our data is not well organised.” Machines, tooling sets, operator skills and changeover times are recorded with you on site in the first step; we do not expect a ready-made dataset.
“How will we know the plan can be trusted?” The system regenerates the plan for a past period and we compare it with what actually happened; we do not go live until the gaps are closed.
If the budget is not yet clear: site assessments for Industry 4.0 projects are free. We do not sell off-the-shelf packages; after a needs analysis we set out the scope, phases and cost in a written proposal.
After go-live: the team that implements the system also supports it, and technical support is available 24/7.
For how APS works and how it differs from a spreadsheet plan, read our production scheduling and APS guide. To spot bottlenecks early, see manufacturing capacity planning, and for where AI helps a planner, AI in production scheduling. More articles are collected under Industry 4.0 guides.
Tell us briefly about your machines and how you plan production today; after the site assessment we will send a written proposal covering scope, phases and cost.
APS is software that builds a production plan the shop floor can actually run by weighing machine capacity, tooling availability, operator skills, material status and changeover times at the same time. When any of these changes, the system recalculates the plan rather than someone rebuilding it by hand and affected orders are flagged, so you never get a plan that only works on screen.
With a spreadsheet plan, a breakdown, rush order or late material means rebuilding the plan by hand, while sales quote best-guess dates and late orders surface on shipping day. APS recalculates the plan against real constraints, reports in advance which machine will be overloaded in which week and gives each new order a realistic delivery date.
Scenario comparison lets you ask "what happens if we slot in this rush order?" before you do it. You see which orders slip and what the delay costs before making the call. Once you decide, the plan is recalculated, affected orders are flagged and sales can give the customer a calculated new date.
No. APS removes hours of manual recalculation and backs the planner's decisions with numbers, but the final call stays with the planner; the system simply shows the outcome of a decision first. At go-live, your planners learn hands-on how to run scenarios and adjust the plan themselves.
We first document your machines, tooling sets, operator skills matrix and changeover times on site, then agree priority and sequencing rules. The system regenerates the plan for a past period and we compare it with what actually happened, going live only once the gaps are closed. APS exchanges data both ways with MES and ERP.
MRP works out which materials are needed, when and in what quantity from the bill of materials and stock levels, but it usually assumes unlimited machine capacity. APS schedules which job runs on which machine and in what order, taking machines, tooling, operators and changeovers into account. That is why APS normally works alongside the MRP in your ERP rather than replacing it: MRP gives material needs, APS a sequence the shop floor can actually run.
We do not sell off-the-shelf packages; the cost depends on your plant's constraints, planning rules and the MES/ERP systems to be connected. Site assessments for Industry 4.0 projects are free, and after a needs analysis we send a written proposal covering scope, phases and cost. Your data does not need to be tidy first: machines, tooling, skills and changeover times are mapped with you on site in the first step. Technical support is available 24/7 after go-live.
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