Introduction
Scheduled kanban
Master planning creates scheduled kanbans automatically for planned kanban orders to cover the requirements within the firm horizon of the production forecast. Scheduled kanbans can also be manually created.
The behavior of scheduled kanbans in master scheduling is similar to production orders. You can create kanbans by firming planned kanbans manually or by using a firming fence. The scheduled principle is for items or variants that are produced in a lean work cell, but demand is created from forecast, customer, or dependent demand, without being explicitly built to order.
You should apply the scheduled replenishment strategy when items are not supposed to be produced without explicit demand, but the minimum batch sizes cannot be lowered to a single piece flow.
For example, you can use a scheduled kanban where the minimum order size is greater than a quantity of one, or where multiple requirements need to be grouped into a single planned supply and the coverage group in Master planning is set to Period.
The master scheduling engine of Supply Chain Management creates issue transactions from customer demand, forecast, and production demand (BOM explosion), which are pegged against existing receipt transactions (supply) from planned or firmed production orders, transfer orders, and the new kanban transaction types.
A company can use scheduled kanbans where the following scenarios are required:
Loading of a work cell with scheduled demand on top of the fixed quantity kanban jobs
Creating kanbans based on a minimum stock quantity and minimum/maximum keys to model demand that changes over time
Modeling build-to-order scenarios in batch sizes that are higher than the average sales or picking line, which groups demand into small batches
Modeling a mixed mode environment where it makes sense to use a consistent way of reporting on the production floor by using the kanban transactions
Kanban planned orders type
Planned orders of type Kanban are created by master scheduling for items that are supplied by kanbans. To have planned orders of type Kanban created by Master planning, a default order type must be defined as Kanban.
To schedule and firm the planned kanban from Master planning, a scheduled kanban rule must be defined for the item, a group of items, or all items as defined in the kanban rule. Setting a kanban rule for an entire product group allows the user to define the settings for a group of items instead of each individual item.
Default order settings
The Planned order type can be defined in multiple places. You can define the Planned order type of Kanban on the company-specific product default order settings or by location and product dimensions in the Item coverage page.
Kanbans that are supplied on fixed quantity or event kanban rules also should have the planned order type of Kanban. The related items should have a firming fence of zero days; otherwise, Master planning might create warnings or errors when it's trying to firm the planned order.
Planned order rules
If the planned order setting of type Kanban is not set, the rules will not be searched and found by Master planning. If the planned order type of Kanban is set, but no scheduled kanban rule is defined for the item on the dimensions that are defined as being kanban-controlled, then only sub orders that are selected as dynamic will be generated by Master planning to control the derived requirement.
If a planned order of type Kanban has been created, a scheduled kanban rule must exist to firm the planned order. When you are firming this planned order of type Kanban, one or more scheduled kanbans are created. The default order sizes of planned orders of type Kanban are determined from the default order settings or the default order settings by site. The sizes of created kanbans are determined from the product quantity settings of the kanban rules.
Supply schedule
The Supply schedule page provides a comprehensive view of supply and demand. The supply schedule is displayed for a specific plan and can be filtered to show the supply and demand for a specific item and item dimension, a generic item with the item dimension left blank, or for a product family. A period template allows the supply schedule to be viewed by a configurable range of periods.
The supply schedule also shows the planning fences with colors to indicate the fences in a visible way with the planning fence row and colors representing the fence.
You can open the Supply schedule page from multiple locations, such as going to Master planning > Master planning > Supply schedule.
To remain in context with lean manufacturing in Supply Chain Management, the descriptions of the supply schedule in this module are limited to kanbans, but the Supply schedule page can also be used for production orders, transfer orders, and purchase orders.
When you open the Supply schedule page for the first time, you will be prompted with a dialog box, where you will specify fields such as Plan, Period template, Item number, Site, and Warehouse and then select OK.
Processing with the supply schedule
The supply schedule provides the planner with visibility into the supply and demand of certain products, or groups of products, and also allows the planner to take action through firming planned kanban orders and inserting new kanbans.
If you highlight the cell where the planned kanban quantity is shown, the Planned production kanbans FastTab opens and shows the planned kanbans. These planned kanbans can be processed with the Firm, Approve, and Change status buttons if a scheduled kanban rule exists.
After the planned order has been firmed, the kanban then appears on the Kanban schedule board to be scheduled. Alternatively, if automatic planning is set on the kanban rule, the kanban shows up directly on the Kanban board for process jobs to be manufactured.
New scheduled kanbans can also be created from the supply schedule where supply does not meet demand. The Scheduled Kanban button creates a new scheduled kanban straight from the supply schedule to cover the demand.
Supply schedule scenario
Eduardo uses the supply schedule at Contoso to get an overview of production. Eduardo's overall goals are to make sure that there is enough supply to meet customer demands but not so much that excess inventory builds up.
Eduardo works in a mixed mode environment with production order and kanbans. The supply schedule provides an overview of all supply, including production orders and kanbans.
The following procedure includes the steps that Eduardo will take to obtain an overview of all supply, including production orders and kanbans:
Open a view of the supply schedule for a specific item or product family.
Examine the actual sales order demand, forecasted demand, transports, and planned production for this week.
Analyze the details for the planned production this week, which consists of kanban jobs and production orders. Check the status of the production orders and kanbans.
Find the projected available inventory for this week and the following week.
Enter additional scheduled kanbans as needed where shortages exist.
Production schedule scenario
Pierre and Eduardo have decided that a certain product is not suitable to be produced through fixed quantity kanbans because the product is infrequently used. Consequently, Eduardo has decided to base production on a production schedule. The schedule will be analyzed and updated weekly based on the forecast that the customer sends. By using this approach, Eduardo attempts to level production to meet the schedule without building inventory. Eduardo uses the Supply schedule page to view the demand and supply requirements for this product.
Pierre has set up the production flow activities, item coverage, and kanban rules for this scenario. Eduardo creates the production schedule as a forecast and runs Master planning, resulting in scheduled kanbans. Shannon, from shop floor execution, transacts against the kanban and manufactures the product.
This scenario describes the manufacturing process based on production schedules and scheduled kanbans. The term production schedule is associated with a supply schedule with scheduled supply from production orders or manufacturing kanbans.
Supply Chain Management also allows a supply forecast schedule for production material. The supply forecast creates planned orders. Freezing an actual production schedule with a freezing fence blocks Master planning from changing the planned order structure within each Master planning run and allows a more stable planning upstream.
In this scenario, the Supply schedule page plays a key role because it makes possible shortages against the production schedule transparent and allows for small adjustments within the supply schedule. This process provides a stable plan that is in balance with resource capabilities and material demand.
Eduardo uses the firming horizon of the item coverage to firm the kanbans that are related to the production schedule. Eduardo can also create additional kanbans to level production on top of the production schedule if required. Because this product is defined with a scheduled kanban rule, additional demand will be caught by Master planning.