TROPOS, the flagship product of Strategic Systems International (SSI) (www.ssi-world.com), uses manufacturing resource planning (MRP) for long-term planning, and master production scheduling (MPS) for short-term scheduling. This approach appeals even to some discrete manufacturers with short lead times and high volumes, where the traditional MRP approach often shows many shortcomings (and can even be a recipe for disaster). And although MRP runs can now be performed in minutes rather than the hours and days of yesteryear (owing to increasing processing power), planning on the back of MRP in an agile manufacturing environment means either holding large safety stocks, or dealing with unhappy, irate, and poorly served customers (see Demand-driven versus Traditional Materials Requirement Planning).
Part Three of the series Vendor Defends Its Strongholds With Focused Enterprise Resource Planning Solution.
For background information on SSI and TROPOS, see Vendor Defends Its Strongholds With Focused Enterprise Resource Planning Solution. For a discussion of TROPOS for selected industries, see A Focused Web-based Solution for Chemicals, Drugs, and Mill-Based Industries.
Thus, TROPOS consolidates all forecasts into the MPS, and these forecasts can be derived from customers, marketing, sales, or production. Existing demand in the form of actual orders will also be taken into the MPS, and a clever capability in TROPOS is that the MPS takes all the different types of demand (such as forecasts, actual sales orders, and production and purchasing schedules), and applies stock netting and batching rules at this level before proceeding a level down into the production and materials planning logic.
In TROPOS, forward material requirements can be planned and dynamically controlled as a direct output from production scheduling. Traditional MRP can be effective for setting up a long-term supply chain (for example, to forecast sales by product, to create long-standing purchase agreements, for strategic resource planning, and for intermediate stocking policies), but is not reactive enough to support dynamic and frequent requirement changes on a day-to-day or hour-to-hour basis. Since scheduling of critical resources such as production capacity, labor, and materials is much more responsive on an hourly (or daily, or weekly) basis, TROPOS uses MRP for long-term planning, and MPS for short-term scheduling.
TROPOS uses the tentative production schedule calculated by the TROPOS Demand Management module, and then determines the best way to satisfy the demand for finished and intermediate products. Therefore, TROPOS Scheduling operates at three levelss:
1. multi-plant scheduling at the enterprise level;
2. rough-cut plant scheduling; and
3. finite scheduling of production lines (multi-plant scheduling spreads the demand across multiple manufacturing plants based on plant capacity, stock levels, transport costs and times, and current load, whereas at the plant level, rough-cut scheduling can be used, either on an infinite or finite basis, to determine medium- to long-term capacity requirements and to plan for shutdown maintenance tasks).
Finally, at the detailed level, TROPOS Scheduling uses the tentative MPS, and applies line loading and product sequencing logic to produce a revised production schedule which takes account of changing demands and current production progress. The schedule can produce work-to lists by week, day, shift, hour, or even down to the nearest minute. When linked with the material call-off processing in the Process and Materials Planning module, TROPOS Scheduling removes the need for frequent MRP reruns.
Scheduling can be applied to the MPS because TROPOS will net off or consume stock, and apply batching rules when the MPS is created; the scheduling rules will therefore be applied to actual production demand. TROPOS supports a variety of scheduling methods, including both finite and infinite scheduling, and sequencing rules, which are available to be selected online. During the scheduling process, the system will create a production schedule of work, and a material call-off schedule for the production lines. Before production starts, the material call-off schedule will have identified what material needs to be moved to the line-side store locations, and at what time. It will also highlight any shortages, and identify any existing purchase orders or schedules (or requisitions) that could satisfy the shortage. This material call-off schedule is linked to the production schedule, and therefore any changes to production plans will automatically update material needs. Production stock locations have re-order point, back-flushing, safety stock, and Kanban functionality, according to the type of material, and can each have different provisioning parameters (even though they may contain the same components).
This, together with the material call-off schedule, vendor consignment stock, and direct material call-off from suppliers, means that the volume of inventory in the supply chain can reduce dramatically (in other words, correct information and fast delivery can now replace expensive inventory pile-ups). While not necessarily having all the extensive bits and pieces (as prescribed in Lean Manufacturing: A Primer), SSI's lean approach nevertheless ensures that the right materials and resources are in the right place at the right time, as the key to more agile and profitable manufacturing. The traditional "big job MRP" model also requires multiple production orders (to accommodate all BOM levels), and repeated MRP runs to keep these BOM levels aligned with the final product level, with separate bookings of intermediate products. Conversely, the TROPOS "flattened BOM" model needs only one production order, owing to the automatic alignment of BOM levels in the process model (where the defined process operations and stages are associated ingredients and intermediate products), and the booking of intermediates is optional.
Once industrial expertise has been established at the company level, the SSI claims that TROPOS is highly parameterized and uses standard integration tools and application designer toolset for user self-sufficiency. Integration is provided via the TROPOS Network Interface (TNI) toolset (for desktop input/output [I/O] processing), the TROPOS Server Interface toolset (for server-level processing, including validation, security, and rules-based integration), and the TROPOS Web Browser Interface for remote access.
The product includes the native TROPOS Active workflow engine to customize business process flows. SSI also provides other open database connectivity (ODBC)-based toolkits, such as TROPOS Incoming Generic Interface (TIGI) for batch import and export, and a data collection device scripting language (for instance, in the SSI Shop Floor Data Capture [SFDC] module). TROPOS Application Designer allows customers to tailor the product to their processes—not by making changes to source code, but by configuring the way they fit together. This good balance between a package and customization provides customers with flexibility without compromising the core system.
To illustrate this, especially for its retail and CPG customers, TROPOS provides an extensive sales order input module, with input screens to be tailored to each individual user's specific requirements, whether it is to reduce complexity and maximize operator efficiency for speed (for the fast-moving consumer goods [FMCG] environments, for example), or to provide enough detail where necessary. Automatic product allocation to the sales order can be based on ATP or on customized rules, while the allocation levels can be by location, by product, or by lot or batch. Manual allocation can override the automatic allocation based on product, delivery, or order number. Similarly, goods picking rules per sales order can be automatic (with levels by home, domestic, or export; method; priority; area; or product group), and manual selection can again override the automatic selection, either by order number or by customer. Some other capabilities customized using the Application Designer could include the interface between TROPOS modules and third-party applications; order progress tracking; telephone stock enquiry and reservation; management and control of stock between manufacturing sites; and optimization of carpet slitting.
For more information on the requirements of CPG manufacturers, see Yes, We Have No Bananas: Consumer Goods Manufacturers Serve Demanding Customers.
Part Three of the series Vendor Defends Its Strongholds With Focused Enterprise Resource Planning Solution.
For background information on SSI and TROPOS, see Vendor Defends Its Strongholds With Focused Enterprise Resource Planning Solution. For a discussion of TROPOS for selected industries, see A Focused Web-based Solution for Chemicals, Drugs, and Mill-Based Industries.
Thus, TROPOS consolidates all forecasts into the MPS, and these forecasts can be derived from customers, marketing, sales, or production. Existing demand in the form of actual orders will also be taken into the MPS, and a clever capability in TROPOS is that the MPS takes all the different types of demand (such as forecasts, actual sales orders, and production and purchasing schedules), and applies stock netting and batching rules at this level before proceeding a level down into the production and materials planning logic.
In TROPOS, forward material requirements can be planned and dynamically controlled as a direct output from production scheduling. Traditional MRP can be effective for setting up a long-term supply chain (for example, to forecast sales by product, to create long-standing purchase agreements, for strategic resource planning, and for intermediate stocking policies), but is not reactive enough to support dynamic and frequent requirement changes on a day-to-day or hour-to-hour basis. Since scheduling of critical resources such as production capacity, labor, and materials is much more responsive on an hourly (or daily, or weekly) basis, TROPOS uses MRP for long-term planning, and MPS for short-term scheduling.
TROPOS uses the tentative production schedule calculated by the TROPOS Demand Management module, and then determines the best way to satisfy the demand for finished and intermediate products. Therefore, TROPOS Scheduling operates at three levelss:
1. multi-plant scheduling at the enterprise level;
2. rough-cut plant scheduling; and
3. finite scheduling of production lines (multi-plant scheduling spreads the demand across multiple manufacturing plants based on plant capacity, stock levels, transport costs and times, and current load, whereas at the plant level, rough-cut scheduling can be used, either on an infinite or finite basis, to determine medium- to long-term capacity requirements and to plan for shutdown maintenance tasks).
Finally, at the detailed level, TROPOS Scheduling uses the tentative MPS, and applies line loading and product sequencing logic to produce a revised production schedule which takes account of changing demands and current production progress. The schedule can produce work-to lists by week, day, shift, hour, or even down to the nearest minute. When linked with the material call-off processing in the Process and Materials Planning module, TROPOS Scheduling removes the need for frequent MRP reruns.
Scheduling can be applied to the MPS because TROPOS will net off or consume stock, and apply batching rules when the MPS is created; the scheduling rules will therefore be applied to actual production demand. TROPOS supports a variety of scheduling methods, including both finite and infinite scheduling, and sequencing rules, which are available to be selected online. During the scheduling process, the system will create a production schedule of work, and a material call-off schedule for the production lines. Before production starts, the material call-off schedule will have identified what material needs to be moved to the line-side store locations, and at what time. It will also highlight any shortages, and identify any existing purchase orders or schedules (or requisitions) that could satisfy the shortage. This material call-off schedule is linked to the production schedule, and therefore any changes to production plans will automatically update material needs. Production stock locations have re-order point, back-flushing, safety stock, and Kanban functionality, according to the type of material, and can each have different provisioning parameters (even though they may contain the same components).
This, together with the material call-off schedule, vendor consignment stock, and direct material call-off from suppliers, means that the volume of inventory in the supply chain can reduce dramatically (in other words, correct information and fast delivery can now replace expensive inventory pile-ups). While not necessarily having all the extensive bits and pieces (as prescribed in Lean Manufacturing: A Primer), SSI's lean approach nevertheless ensures that the right materials and resources are in the right place at the right time, as the key to more agile and profitable manufacturing. The traditional "big job MRP" model also requires multiple production orders (to accommodate all BOM levels), and repeated MRP runs to keep these BOM levels aligned with the final product level, with separate bookings of intermediate products. Conversely, the TROPOS "flattened BOM" model needs only one production order, owing to the automatic alignment of BOM levels in the process model (where the defined process operations and stages are associated ingredients and intermediate products), and the booking of intermediates is optional.
Once industrial expertise has been established at the company level, the SSI claims that TROPOS is highly parameterized and uses standard integration tools and application designer toolset for user self-sufficiency. Integration is provided via the TROPOS Network Interface (TNI) toolset (for desktop input/output [I/O] processing), the TROPOS Server Interface toolset (for server-level processing, including validation, security, and rules-based integration), and the TROPOS Web Browser Interface for remote access.
The product includes the native TROPOS Active workflow engine to customize business process flows. SSI also provides other open database connectivity (ODBC)-based toolkits, such as TROPOS Incoming Generic Interface (TIGI) for batch import and export, and a data collection device scripting language (for instance, in the SSI Shop Floor Data Capture [SFDC] module). TROPOS Application Designer allows customers to tailor the product to their processes—not by making changes to source code, but by configuring the way they fit together. This good balance between a package and customization provides customers with flexibility without compromising the core system.
To illustrate this, especially for its retail and CPG customers, TROPOS provides an extensive sales order input module, with input screens to be tailored to each individual user's specific requirements, whether it is to reduce complexity and maximize operator efficiency for speed (for the fast-moving consumer goods [FMCG] environments, for example), or to provide enough detail where necessary. Automatic product allocation to the sales order can be based on ATP or on customized rules, while the allocation levels can be by location, by product, or by lot or batch. Manual allocation can override the automatic allocation based on product, delivery, or order number. Similarly, goods picking rules per sales order can be automatic (with levels by home, domestic, or export; method; priority; area; or product group), and manual selection can again override the automatic selection, either by order number or by customer. Some other capabilities customized using the Application Designer could include the interface between TROPOS modules and third-party applications; order progress tracking; telephone stock enquiry and reservation; management and control of stock between manufacturing sites; and optimization of carpet slitting.
For more information on the requirements of CPG manufacturers, see Yes, We Have No Bananas: Consumer Goods Manufacturers Serve Demanding Customers.
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