Information logistics
Fulfilling demanding tasks with ease
Anyone who has demanding tasks should make sure that they can still fulfill them easily and reliably. OASE relies on Advanced Planning & Scheduling software to plan and schedule complex international procurement channels and production capacities. However, finding the right solution was not easy.
For decades, OASE has been synonymous with products for creative design using the medium of water. Fascinating ponds and water features in domestic gardens through to impressive large-scale installations in public areas demonstrate the wide range of applications. Founded in 1949, OASE has developed into a global player with a claim to innovation and quality leadership.
The procurement and supply structure at OASE has developed in a similar way to the sales markets. The production and procurement of thousands of different parts made of plastic (mostly injection molded) and metal (mostly CNC machined) now spans the entire globe, with suppliers and service providers on all continents and production facilities in Germany and abroad.
With the help of suitable software, it should now be possible to plan these procurement channels and display them transparently. Furthermore, the globally distributed capacities were to be planned and bottlenecks identified and avoided. To this end, OASE looked for suitable planning and optimization tools.
An initial solution with an Advanced Planning & Scheduling tool that was comparatively incompatible with the existing ERP system turned out to be too complex in terms of data provision and administration and was unable to ensure the required process stability due to interface problems. However, finding the right software was not the only challenge that OASE had to overcome.
OASE, a demanding user
The aforementioned complex structures of OASE were also a major challenge from a technical point of view. There were also high demands in terms of project management: the new system had to go live within just four months. To this end, a project team was formed in which the sales, purchasing, scheduling, production and IT departments were represented and which always participated fully in the workshops. This made it possible to always clarify and coordinate questions and open issues in a holistic manner.
The results
As part of the project, many topics relevant to scheduling were coordinated and implemented. As a result, numerous rules were defined that determine exactly which parameters are to be set in which situations. In order to manage the complexity of this multitude of rules, the rules were organized in topic-related decision tables. In addition, filters were set for each decision table to specify the materials for which the rules contained in the table are valid and according to which criteria. The following is an excerpt of the implemented points, which should also be mappable in the new Advanced Planning & Scheduling software:
Disposition according to life cycle:
It should be possible to regularly determine the life cycle indicators (LCI) of all materials according to the categories entry phase (E), life phase (L) and phase-out phase (A), whereby the phase-out phase should ideally also be able to be divided into four different stages. Depending on when the material expires and whether, for example, the availability of the material is linked to a penalty (contractual penalty), it should be possible to set the parameters in such a way that the stocks of components and products are reduced to the lowest possible level at the end of the phase-out phase. Components that are still required as spare parts should also be given the correct settings via an integrated set of rules.
Optimization of forecasts and safety stocks
Another important aspect of the project was the optimization of forecasts and safety stocks, both for finished products and for assemblies and components. The optimization of forecasts and safety stocks usually means that the products and components should be available as required. However, planners and MRP controllers are usually overwhelmed when it comes to selecting and determining suitable forecast and safety stock procedures. How are they supposed to determine the right ones from the multitude of procedures and parameters? Even the optimization algorithms in the ERP systems are often inadequate and easily produce incorrect results. However, this can have fatal consequences, resulting in overstocking or delivery bottlenecks. Advanced Planning & Scheduling software should therefore support simulation-based algorithms, as these are much more effective. The required delivery readiness and stock levels are thus brought into harmony. The dispatcher can rely on the results and can concentrate on other important tasks.
Production planning
As already mentioned, the supply chain at OASE is quite complex, as production, procurement and shipping are organized across several plants and the corresponding supply relationships between these plants had to be mapped. It should therefore not only be possible to depict this technically, but also to visualize it visually as a supply network. Users should not only be able to recognize the BOM relationships in a graphic, but also the intercompany procurement channels.
At OASE, the efficient use of available production resources is also particularly important. In addition to adherence to deadlines and quantities, the production controllers must also keep an eye on the capacity utilization of the production sites. The new Advanced Planning & Scheduling software should therefore also support schedulers in this task by displaying all relevant production resources with available and current workloads. Ideally, this should also be presented in both a graphical and tabular view so that a critical situation can be recognized immediately and the necessary measures can be initiated.
Anyone who, like OASE, produces and procures in an international network is familiar with the challenges arising from different vacation and public vacation regulations due to weeks-long closures of production sites and the subsequent sluggish start-up of production and logistics processes. The new Advanced Planning & Scheduling software also had to meet this globalization requirement in order to automatically generate suitable stockpiling proposals at the right time so that the continuous supply of components and products is guaranteed.
In the search for a lean, easy-to-use and yet very powerful system, the choice ultimately fell on the Advanced Planning & Scheduling Tool DISKOVER SCO, which convinced the OASE team with its well thought-out structure, simplicity in the administration of complex structures and powerful optimization algorithms. Another argument in favor of this advanced planning & scheduling software was the comprehensive range of services offered by the support team of the supplier SCT GmbH. In addition to the usual functions such as hotline support and update service, this also includes an exception guard that detects deviations from the target status of the software as well as the logistical parameters and processes and informs support and users alike via an automated notification service. Furthermore, the system settings are checked and scrutinized at regular intervals and adjusted in consultation with the customer if necessary.
Interfaces
Within just a few weeks, OASE’s supply network was mapped in DISKOVER SCO. To this end, master and transaction data was – and continues to be – exchanged in a daily night run and transferred to the DISKOVER SCO structures. Forecasts and safety stocks could be optimized very quickly with the availability of consumption data. The greatest effort was required to develop the rules for the MRP parameters and the various stockpiling strategies. Here, it was necessary to collect the expert knowledge hidden in the heads of the dispatchers and controllers and map it in the form of rules. The so-called “gut feeling” (often also referred to as experience) was also discussed and taken into account through appropriate rules. The planning and scheduling result is thus reproducible and comprehensible at all times. Not least this aspect also led to rapid acceptance of the new solution.
Today, OASE benefits from low stock levels, high delivery readiness and close support from SCT GmbH employees. Questions and problems are addressed and answered by competent contact persons. This is also an important aspect in the selection of a system partner, as the high complexity of the interrelationships can only be understood by partners who are really well versed in the subject.
Specialist article, Logistics for companies, published in issue 4-5/16ByMarina Weniger and Dr. Bernd Reineke
Marina Weniger is Head of Supply Chain Management at OASE, Dr. Bernd Reineke is Managing Partner of SCT GmbH.
