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In order to understand your companies options and requirements with regards to your SAP APO PP/DS roadmap and scheduling challenges.

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(2-3 min read)

During scheduling of orders on the shop floor as a scheduler/planner, the main objective is to generate a schedule, which follows a sequence in which the resources are utilized optimally. In a manufacturing process, most of the time a scheduler/planner wants to make sure that the generated schedule has minimal ‘Change Overs’. These changes can be due to factors related to flavours, allergens, colours, cleaning between orders, tooling changes etc. depending on the industry. If these factors are not managed efficiently, it results in loss of capacity, and lowers asset utilization. These changes are commonly referred to as ‘Change Over’ or ‘Setup’.

(3-4 min read)

In today’s competitive business environment, Sales Managers manage complex demand streams spread across various geographies. These demand streams can have different priorities; and based on the highest priority demand, business wants to allocate first available constrained resource and supplies to this highest priority demand.

In my following Blog we will see how the Demand Prioritization function provided by SAP IBP will help businesses planning their resources based on the prioritization logic.

"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future" - Niels Bohr and Others

(6-8 MIN READ)

Since predicting the future is not that easy, let’s get started with a statement about the present: We live in the age of information.

Everybody – including planners and business leaders for the case in point – have access to a great volume of information and content on how to better plan the demand and increase the accuracy of the demand forecast. And I am sure that you, reading this, already have read a lot about it.

So, why another blog yet mounting on the existing pages that already cover demand planning? Because “prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future”. And predicting the demand is not only difficult, but pivotal for now-a-days demand driven organisations. The demand forecast ripples through the organisation and has major impact in Inventory Planning, Revenue Estimates, Budgets… and this relevance is what pushes heads of supply chain and other decision makers to find new ways to improve their predictions.

Free ‘Planning & Scheduling Advisory Day’

In order to understand your companies options and requirements with regards to your SAP APO PP/DS roadmap and scheduling challenges.

Please get in touch now

(6-8 min read)

Quite often, specially in process industries it is observed that there are some specific production restrictions. The restrictions may be in the form viz. a specific sequence of processes using the processing units. The sequence may be derived due to the upstream semi-finished goods complexity or availability of several downstream resources. It is a good practise to decide which downstream resources are to be used before the production process starts.

(3-4 min read)

The need to safeguard supply chain against today’s world of uncertainties, be it political or natural has never been so significant. In such scenario, one of the most important decisions that most supply chains need to take is whether to prebuild the stock and carry excess inventory, or rather plan ahead of the time if there is any additional production required. Each of the options has its own pros and cons. However, what is important is to have the right visibility in terms of volumes and costs to enable effective decisions. In the following blog, let us take a view on how this information could be derived using the power of technology.

Free ‘Planning & Scheduling Advisory Day’

In order to understand your companies options and requirements with regards to your SAP APO PP/DS roadmap and scheduling challenges.

Please get in touch now on

(3-4 min read)

A lot of companies have already taken the time to understand the power that S/4HANA can bring to their business, leveraging its in-memory capabilities and enhanced user experience provided by SAP Fiori, to name only a few of its facets. It is widely acknowledged from companies across all industries that this could be the next logical step to take in the ERP world if they have not already done so, but the main challenges that constantly arise in relation to this are “When?” and “How?”

(2-3 min read)

As a business, you have probably already started considering a move to S/4HANA, that is if you have not transitioned already. At this point a series of questions arise…

• This is expensive! It is a major decision! What is the payback?
• Is S/4HANA the way to go? What are the available options for me in scheduling? Does it provide the right short-term planning and scheduling functionality for my business?
• Would it be a whole new project to embark on?
• Is now the right time to commit?

First of all, apologies for abusing the title of Gabriel García Márquez’s well regarded book Love in the Time of Cholera. However, it is set in a time of great volatility veering on the apocalyptic which is appropriate to our current situation.

My starting point for this article is that, for the most part, we have had a relatively benign environment economically across the globe for the last 50 to 75 years or so with continuous growth. There have of course been significant disruptions due to wars, famines and epidemics such as Ebola, SARS, MERS and Avian Flu. With the exception of the 2009 Crash, they have generally been contained or limited to one region and economic activity on the whole continued without disruption.

In this highly competitive world with ever increasing focus on achieving higher service levels, lowering inventories and eliminating waste while reducing costs and maximising profit, it becomes essential that the distribution of goods through the supply chain must be equally effective and efficient and must be optimised to achieve business goals. Products must be available in the right amount, at the right time, at the right place!

A lot of companies use SAP's Advanced Planning & Optimisation (APO) to optimise their production plan in the mid to long term and some are on their IBP Supply journey. However, having an optimised production plan without an optimised distribution plan may not yield business benefits, especially when the supply chain is complex.

When it comes to a tool, the supply optimiser from SAP is the best in class supply chain network optimisation engine and is highly powerful if modelled in the right manner.

In this blog, I will cover various aspects of using Supply Optimiser (APO or IBP)  for distribution planning / deployment optimiser which can help businesses achieve full value out of their investment in this great tool! I will also cover a case study from one of our recent implementations.

Dear Network,

We hope everyone is well?

None of us would have imagined 2020 to be the year of a worldwide pandemic with Covid-19 (Coronavirus). There is still uncertainty about what will happen next. These are indeed unprecedented times and a time that will not be forgotten in our lifetime or for that matter, in history. We extend our great respect and heartfelt thanks to Doctors, Nurses, Healthcare staff, Ambulance drivers, Supermarket workers, Cleaners, organisations and everyone involved in protecting and saving our lives whilst keeping society going.