Challenge

A major chemical company faced significant challenges in managing and optimizing its production schedules due to the complexity of its product wheel sequencing and long production cycle times. The company produced a wide variety of chemical products, each with specific production requirements, cycle times, and sequencing constraints. Their manual planning processes were inefficient, leading to:

• Suboptimal production schedules that increased downtime and changeover costs.
• Difficulty in managing fluctuating demand and meeting high-priority orders.
• Lack of real-time visibility into production performance, which delayed decision-making.
• Challenges in balancing the minimization of changeovers with the need to meet urgent demand.

The company needed a solution that could effectively handle the complexity of sequencing and provide the planners with real-time simulation and analytics capabilities to optimize schedules while addressing demand fluctuations.

Solution

Leveraging SAP APO PP/DS and SAP Fiori

To tackle these challenges, the company partnered with SCM Innovators to implement SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization (APO) Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS), along with a SAP Fiori-based interface for real-time simulation and analytics.

Key Solution Components:

1. Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS):

• SAP APO PP/DS was implemented to enable the company to automatically generate optimized production schedules based on predefined rules, production cycle times, and product wheel sequencing constraints.
• The PP/DS solution helped to create feasible production plans that minimized changeovers and optimized the use of production resources, while still ensuring that high-priority orders could be met on time.

2.Product Wheel Sequencing:

• The company’s production processes were highly dependent on specific product wheel sequences due to the nature of their products, which required particular setups and changeovers.
• SAP APO PP/DS was configured to factor in these sequencing rules, allowing the system to automatically schedule production in the optimal sequence, reducing setup times and maximizing throughput.

3. Real-Time Simulation with SAP Fiori:

• SAP Fiori-based applications were developed to provide planners with a user-friendly interface that allowed them to simulate different production scenarios in real time.
• Planners could run what-if simulations to evaluate the impact of scheduling changes, production delays, or demand shifts, giving them better control over production schedules and helping them respond quickly to changing market conditions.

4. Integration with Demand Planning:

• The solution was integrated with the company’s demand planning processes, ensuring that production schedules were aligned with current and forecasted demand. This allowed the planners to prioritize high-demand products and adjust production schedules dynamically.

The Benefits

1. Optimized Production Schedules:

• By automating the sequencing and scheduling of production, the company was able to reduce changeover times by 25%, leading to increased production efficiency and reduced costs.

2. Improved Demand Responsiveness:

• The integration of demand planning and real-time simulation capabilities allowed the company to better meet fluctuating demand and prioritize high-priority orders, resulting in a 20% improvement in order fulfillment rates.

3. Enhanced Decision-Making:

• The SAP Fiori-based interface provided planners with real-time analytics and visibility into production schedules, enabling them to make more informed decisions and quickly respond to any production issues or demand changes.

4. Increased Production Capacity:

• By optimizing the sequencing of production and minimizing downtime, the company was able to increase production capacity by 15% without the need for additional investments in new equipment or resources.

5. Scalability for Future Growth:

• The solution was designed to be scalable, allowing the company to easily adjust to future changes in production demand or the introduction of new products into their portfolio.