Resource scheduling

5 minutes

The scheduling engine in Supply Chain Management can automatically search for a better solution based on resource priority, not just order duration. You can run scheduling after the production order is created and estimated. Production dates and other information that are important to the production process are established at this point. The role of the scheduling system is to plan the actual production process so that each operation in the production route is assigned a starting and ending date and time. Additionally, the scheduling system ensures that the materials that are needed for production are available when the operation starts. Another important role of the scheduling system is to assign jobs and operations to a resource or resource groups. This depends on whether job scheduling or operations scheduling is used. Running scheduling raises the production status to Scheduled.

Master planning and planned production orders

Master planning acts as the planning engine for Supply Chain Management in connection with the Production module. Master planning calculates:

What to produce or purchase - Based on information about open sales orders, on-hand inventory, component items from production orders, and sales forecasts.
When to produce - Based on, for example, delivery dates for sales orders.
How much to produce/purchase - Based on the need to fulfill sales orders, maintain safety stock, and cover requirements that derive from production orders.
Net requirements of what is needed in a production order - A plan is usually run as an overnight batch process in most companies so that the list of requirements is updated with changes and additions every morning.

In simple terms, when requirements are not met by current inventory, a planned production order is issued that specifies what is needed and when. This process provides the planner with an updated picture of what is missing and allows decisions to be made about how to meet these requirements.

Subcontracting

If a subcontractor is used in the production process and a purchase order or reference production is required, this work is reflected in the BOM under the Vendor line type. When a BOM contains a vendor line, it means that all or parts of the production are outsourced to a subcontractor.

Use the Subcontractor page to view the status and details of all planned and started outsourced work. To locate this page, select Production control > Subcontracted work. The Subcontractor page includes information about the vendor, the production, the item or items involved, the inventory, and the quantity outsourced.

BOM review

Line types determine how the individual BOM line is handled when you are manufacturing or coverage planning the BOM item. The Vendor line type specifies if a subcontractor is used in the production process and a purchase order or reference production is required to be automatically created for the subcontractor.

The work performed by the subcontractor must be created as a Product with the BOM, or Service, depending on whether a purchase order or a production order must be created.

The three types of subcontractor work are:

Purchase
Production
Operation

Subcontractor work type production

If a production order, or part of a production order, is satisfied by a subcontractor, and raw materials should be released to the vendor, the produced item must have a BOM with the line type of Pegged supply.

Consider the following example. A company wants to send a plasma television model out to a subcontractor. It already performed quality control on the incoming components and therefore wants the subcontractor to use the company's own components. To make sure that the precise components are delivered, the plasma television model must be created as a BOM.

If a sub-BOM is outsourced to a subcontractor, this sub-BOM must use the Vendor line type, and all operations in the route must use a resource of the type Vendor so that the subcontractor's capacity can be included in the schedule.

If the schedule does not have to use the subcontractor's capacity, and if a specific delivery time is agreed on instead, the route does not have to be attached to the BOM item. Alternatively, the route can specify the delivery time in days directly on the Item. When you are estimating the higher-level production from then on, a pegged production order of the type Vendor is created automatically.

For example, depending on the production capacity, the company either purchases or manufactures the most sold speaker. The easiest way of handling this situation is to create two different BOM versions for the speaker. In one version, the speaker is included with the Pegged supply line type.

The latter version is the active version, and a route must be attached to it so that the process time for the speaker is considered. When the Master schedule explosion is processed, you can verify whether the company has enough capacity or if the production of the speaker model must be subcontracted. If the company has insufficient capacity, you can change the BOM version for the planned orders to the other version (using the subcontractor) before planned orders are firmed.

Subcontracting operations

Supply Chain Management also supports the subcontracting of one or more operations in a route to produce an item. When a legal entity decides to subcontract an operation in a route to a vendor, the route must reflect this change. You can complete this task by setting the Resource type to Vendor. This resource of type Vendor must be attached to the operation.