One of the strongest aspects of SmartyProX’s planning software xS Planner’s master production scheduling solution is its speed and interactivity which allows planners to explore different scenarios and perform what-if analyses quickly. An important strength of this module is the built-in restricted resource capability. That is while generating master production schedules, the system takes into account the capacity restrictions of all related resources such as machines, molds, operators, etc.

The system also has the capability to change the planning horizon length and resolution (such as weekly or monthly) as well as which forecasts and/or customer orders to be considered which allows a planner to balance how myopic the system should behave with respect to current customer orders versus the forecasts, which may be open to many changes.

The objective of this system is not to sequence the operations of the required production over the resources but to determine the best mix of products and quantities to be manufactured to serve the tactical objectives of the company optimally.

The system allows for fully automated or semi-automated decision-making. That is, if a planner wants to change the recommended quantities of some of the products, the system can repair the rest of the plan to best match the firmed decisions.

The module has supporting functionality such as a dynamic material requirements view, warning generation mechanism, dashboards for KPIs, and resource utilization charts to better interpret results and support decision-making.