LSI Videos
What better way to explain something than to demonstrate it in a video? LSI’s team of analysts has put together a great set of informative videos about our solutions, including Opcenter APS (formerly Preactor Advanced Planning & Scheduling), CompliantPro QMS, and more. These videos are guaranteed to educate you about our solutions and show you valuable tips & tricks that will help you become more efficient!
Featured
APS vs ERP: What APS Does that ERP Does Not
ERP is a powerful tool and it does many things well, but… ERP was not designed for multi-constraint, finite capacity planning and scheduling that accurately reflects shop floor realities. That’s where APS comes in! This featured Opcenter APS (Preactor Advanced Planning & Scheduling) webinar focuses on the ways that APS enhances your ERP. In this session, LSI’s Hans Albright & Fraser Bonnett explain & demonstrate the limitations of ERP’s planning & scheduling modules by highlighting the capabilities of an APS solution, such as: consideration of constraints (tooling, labor, etc.), flexibility to model unique businesses (process, discrete, hybrid), resource capacity management, quick change response, what-if capabilities, corporate-wide visibility, incorporation of tribal knowledge, and more.
More information about Opcenter APS
APS & MES: Better Together for Full Operational Visibility
Availability of materials, fluctuations in demand, rising costs, labor shortages…
These are a daily threat to every manufacturer. How you manage & respond to these & other supply chain disruptions can greatly impact your efficiency and bottom line. To have the edge over your competition, it’s necessary to strategically plan & execute, then react quickly & intelligently to changes as they occur. But, without the right tools in place, you may find yourself quickly spiralling. With an integration of Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) & Manufacturing Execution System (MES) solutions, proper planning, execution, and operational visibility throughout the manufacturing process are optimized.
More information about Opcenter APS & ShopVue MES
Solution Overviews
Product
ATS Lean Scheduling International is a proud Siemens Digital Industries Software partner, specializing in the implementation of Opcenter APS products, formerly known as Preactor Advanced Planning & Scheduling.
More information about Opcenter APS
Track-It! is a shop floor data collection tool that was designed by LSI to be minimalistic and to work lightweight in a browser that is accessible from anywhere! This solution is perfect for companies that need a simple solution for shop floor tracking. Track-It! has a seamless integration with Siemens’ Opcenter APS, formerly known as Preactor Advanced Planning & Scheduling software.
More information about Track-It!
Snapshot allows Opcenter APS users to identify KPIs and compare them to see if different rules and different actions reflect positively or negatively on the schedule.
More information about Snapshot
The BOM Exploder is a tool developed by LSI to generate suggested purchase orders and/or manufacturing work orders to assist in the scheduling of finished good work orders by traversing the bill of materials and identifying material availability within Siemens Opcenter APS.
Opcenter Scheduling - Sequencing Rules
Scheduling Rules
Quite possibly the most commonly used sequencing option within Opcenter APS is the Forward by Due Date scheduling rule. This brief demonstration shows you how it works and how you can do it yourself.
The Preferred Sequence rule is an event-based sequencing rule that attempts to maximize utilization of resource capacity while also grouping together similar operations according to a hierarchy of attributes.
The weighted sequencing rule works within Opcenter Scheduling gives you the ability to sequence your orders based on weights that you assign to attributes related to the product, material, or other fields.
Opcenter Scheduling - Functionality
Functionality Tutorials
This video gives an overview of Primary Calendars within Opcenter APS, taking a look at resource availability, efficiency, & how to adjust resource calendars using calendar states.
This video explains how to manage the calendars within Opcenter APS, formerly Preactor Advanced Planning & Scheduling.
Planners & schedulers are able to quickly and easily make changes within the sequencing Gantt chart by simply clicking on an operation to drag & drop it elsewhere on the schedule within Opcenter APS.
In this video, you’ll see how Opcenter APS manages scheduling operations while considering secondary constraints. Secondary constraints are constraints that are applied to the resource/machine/line outside of their availability, such as machine operators or tools.
This video demonstrates how Opcenter APS manages sequencing beginning at a bottleneck operation. This particular example highlights the challenges faced by food manufacturers in scheduling & sequencing batch jobs with multiple production steps in an environment with different products & numerous allergens.
This brief demonstration of Opcenter Scheduling shows you how the Advanced Planning & Scheduling software solution updates the schedule with the status of jobs currently running on the manufacturing production floor.
In this brief demonstration, you’ll see how production schedulers are able to block off time or create blocks of capacity within the Opcenter Scheduling software solution to reserve capacity by customer, product type, or other criteria. The strategy is great for manufacturers with long production runs who wish to create greater efficiencies while continuing to commit to customer order dates.
In this brief demonstration, you’ll see how the Opcenter Scheduling software solution gives you the power to schedule orders in prioritized waves based on attribute (customer, product type, material type, etc.).
Opcenter Scheduling - Industry Specific
Industry Specific
Take a look at how the solution sequences work order operations in the glass industry by considering the necessary constraints and attributes, as well as requirements surrounding furnaces.
More about the Glass Industry
See how Opcenter APS can enable you to create safe & efficient schedules, minimizing clean outs & ensuring no cross-contamination.
More about the Food & Beverage Industry
This video demonstrates how Opcenter APS handles the unique sequencing requirements for properly scheduling ovens & furnaces.
In this video playback, our team discusses Opcenter APS and demonstrates solutions for common problems encountered in F&B manufacturing:
• Avoiding Allergen cross-contamination while minimizing washdowns
• Requirements for USDA, Organic, Kosher, & Halal
• Raw materials – availability, shelf life
• Sequencing ovens and kettles
• Scheduling bi-directionally from packaging lines
• Managing tanks and bins
More about the Food & Beverage Industry
In this video playpack, our team discusses Opcenter APS and demonstrates solutions for common problems encountered in plastics manufacturing:
• Dealing with multiple resin blends & formulas
• Considering molds & mold frames with varying cavity counts
• Including tooling & labor as schedule constraints
• Minimizing setup time & waste
• Optimizing run efficiencies
• Lower inventories of raw materials & WIP
More about the Plastics Industry
In this video playpack, our team discusses Opcenter APS and demonstrates solutions for common problems encountered in packaging manufacturing:
• Scheduling presses to minimize ink changeovers and washdowns
• Sequencing considering substrate material size and type
• Finishing such as slitting, bag converting, carton die-cutting, folding, & gluing
• Including tooling & labor as scheduling constraints
• Managing SKU proliferation
More about the Packaging Industry
Session 1: “Forecasting, Planning & Scheduling: Understanding the Differences, Why Each is Needed, & How They Should Work Together”
In this interactive first session, our experts discuss:
The need for better forecasting – How forecasting aids in planning – Aiding inventory issues for make-to-stock – The difference in planning & scheduling: turning a plan into a schedule – How forecasting, planning & scheduling should work together to maximize efficiency & productivity, reduce stock & WIP, and improve on-time delivery and profitability
Session 2: “An Integrated Look at Forecasting, Planning, & Scheduling” with Solution Demonstrations
In this interactive second session, our experts show you the integrated approach to forecasting, planning & scheduling by presenting demonstrations of best-of-breed solutions Forecast Pro & Opcenter Planning & Scheduling (Preactor)
Opcenter Planning
Opcenter Planning (AP)
In this video, we share with you how to adjust item parameters within Opcenter Planning (formerly Preactor Advanced Planning) to create accurate MPS calculations based on real shop floor capacity using primary & secondary constraint levels.
More about Opcenter Planning
In order to correctly plan your Master Production Schedule (MPS) within the Siemens Opcenter Planning software solution, it’s important to properly set your calendars. In this brief tutorial, we show you how to configure & apply your production resource calendars & calendar templates to accurately model capacity.
More about Opcenter Planning
This brief tutorial illustrates how to balance demand with your available capacity by adjusting the parameters within the Siemens Opcenter Planning solution (formerly Preactor Advanced Planning), to create an optimal production plan.
To generate the best master plan within the Siemens Opcenter Planning software solution, it’s important to know how the planning modes (rules) work and how to apply them. In this brief tutorial, we explain the concept for the built-in modes/rules and show you how to quickly apply them to your plan.
Opcenter APS - Miscellaneous
Opcenter APS Product Features & Level Comparison
This video breaks down the key differences in features & benefits between the 3 available product levels within Opcenter Scheduling (formerly Preactor Advanced Scheduling): AS Standard, AS Professional, & AS Ultimate.
More about Opcenter Scheduling
Webinar Replay: Opcenter APS Tips, Tricks, & Pointers
In this webinar playback, we present to you how quickly & easily users are able to make necessary adjustments to the schedule when unexpected issues arise by walking through common scheduling “What If’s?” such as:
• What happens when orders must be expedited?
• What happens when machines go down?
• What happens when a PO gets delayed?
• What happens when our shop floor operators call in?