How to Reduce Your Production Lead Times with APS Software

Scheduling production with ERP systems or MES often falls short of meeting the demands placed on modern production scheduling software. Thankfully, there’s no reason to rely on makeshift solutions for production scheduling anymore. Dedicated Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) systems have proven to be invaluable for seamless scheduling across the entire value chain.

In this article, you’ll learn how optimal APS scheduling can significantly reduce production lead times across your entire order network. Here’s what we’ll focus on:

• Reducing waiting times with precise sequencing
• Minute-level sequencing instead of day-based scheduling
• Synchronizing parallel processes for precise timing control
• Optimally scheduling the bottleneck process

The primary cause of long production lead times and missed deadlines are excessive waiting times between processes. For most companies, non-value-adding waiting time makes up at least 98% of the total production lead time. This issue often stems from inaccurate production scheduling—particularly when ERP systems calculate with infinite capacity, leading to inefficient push production. The result? Processes lack synchronization, and semi-finished goods sit idle for extended periods.

Only with precise sequencing in a dedicated APS system can processes be synchronized and production scheduled accurately. MES modules, ERP systems, or spreadsheet-based calculations simply cannot deliver this level of precision.

Many APS add-ons and basic APS systems can only assign production orders to resources or resource groups on a daily basis. Supervisors or machine operators are then left to decide the order of operations. These systems often rely on infinite capacity calculations, which means not all orders for the day can be completed. Leftover orders are pushed to the next day, where supervisors again determine priorities.

A robust APS system, on the other hand, creates an exact sequence for all resources, accurate to the second. This ensures the optimal synchronization of processes, allowing order networks to be fulfilled with the shortest possible lead times.

The difference between day-based scheduling and precise sequencing in terms of lead times is staggering. Imagine your ERP system creates a daily schedule with 10 production orders for the “Turning” process and another 10 for the subsequent “Milling” process. If these processes are prioritized suboptimally, lead times can increase tenfold—or at best, fivefold on average. Precise sequencing eliminates this inefficiency entirely.

Many finished products consist of multiple components, each made up of several complex parts. This creates intricate order networks with junction points where parallel processes must converge or diverge. A single order can involve dozens of these junctions—or more.

Without optimal sequencing, mismatched timings at these junctions can result in significant waiting times and unnecessarily long production lead times. A high-performance APS system ensures the synchronization of all parallel, converging, or diverging processes with minimal waiting times, optimizing lead times across the board.

There’s a persistent belief that all production equipment should always operate at full capacity because idle equipment represents a loss. However, the reality is that fixed costs, like depreciation or leasing fees, accrue regardless of whether the equipment is running or not. Moreover, material costs now account for 50–75% of manufacturing expenses. Push production—producing semi-finished goods unnecessarily before the bottleneck—is what truly drives losses.

The capacity of a factory is defined by its bottleneck process. A factory can only produce as much as its bottleneck can handle. When order volumes are high, the bottleneck must run at 100% capacity, while other processes, especially upstream ones, should only produce what the bottleneck requires. This pull-based approach ensures that semi-finished goods are only produced in the necessary quantities and at the right time.

This principle, known as takt time production in the Toyota Production System, applies to all industries: the bottleneck process sets the pace for every process in the value chain. Dedicated APS systems like Asprova excel in this area, ensuring optimal utilization of the bottleneck process. Upstream and downstream processes then follow seamlessly with an optimized sequence.

Why emphasize “dedicated APS systems”? Over the years, the critical role of APS systems has become widely recognized, leading to a surge in APS modules on the market. However, many of these lack true APS functionality.

A genuine APS system automatically optimizes sequencing for all value-adding processes to reduce production lead times. It synchronizes the entire supply chain with production processes down to the minute, improving order network lead times, inventory levels, production costs, and on-time delivery rates.

Ready to elevate your production scheduling? Contact us today—let’s optimize your production lead time with Asprova APS.