Advanced planning systems (APS) sometimes known as Manufacturing Scheduling or Planning and Scheduling Software are software systems specifically designed for integration with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and MRP (Material Resource Planning) systems. They are used to improve the short term production planning and schedule. Many APS systems are useful at plant and enterprise level.

There are numerous benefits to exploiting an APS system. Ultimately the manufacturing efficiency can be improved and IT software support requirements are reduced. The hardware or servers can be centralized and intuitive interfaces are available which in turn results in less training. As a variety of opportunities arise the systems can be rapidly and affordably updated. The manufacture’s ability to respond to any future opportunities increases. Eventually companies will see increased customer satisfaction and your team will be able to innovate faster than competitors.

Most APS systems can be integrated with material requirements planning and finished goods forecasting solutions. Some APS solutions can include finite capacity scheduling and artificial intelligence capabilities. With these abilities systems will rearrange manufactures schedules until there are no additional possibilities and then releases a plan that potentially has value to the customer.

With APS you will develop an exact delivery plan organizing all of the manufacturing resources, tools, workers, machinery, and inventory giving companies the confidence to commit to delivery dates. In addition APS increases production efficiently by decreasing product life cycle time, labor load leveling, and decreasing change over times.

Be sure to check out the above article for additional information regarding APS. It links to very good sites and vendors of APS software.