As the release of the SAP S/4HANA 2022 version of SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing for planning and scheduling (aka embedded / ePPDS) is available (since 12th of October) this blog summarizes major innovations in this area and how customers can benefit from it now and moving forward with planned innovations in the future.
SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing for planning and scheduling allows the creation of feasible production plans and schedules that optimize your scarce resources to stabilize production and help you make reliable commitments to your internal and external customers. This S/4HANA Enterprise Management core extension, available both on premise and as private cloud edition, in stack and extra stack (side by side), ensures that planning and execution are synchronized in real time.
To recap what has happened in the past – a Customer Engagement Initiative was launched two years ago (2020) where customers’ direct feedback for key improvement areas was collected. This input has helped shape and influence the roadmap for ePPDS in SAP S/4HANA.
Major innovations in business process coverage especially for process industries, more flexible integration and UI-modernization have been shipped in 2021 already and are now extended by key innovations with the S/4HANA 2022 release (overview see below).
Advanced Scheduling Board – FIORI-Gantt 2.0
After the introduction of a new FIORI-based Gantt chart for production scheduling with S/4HANA 1610 with limited functionality we are now replacing it with the Advanced Scheduling Board on based on FIORI-Gantt 2.0 technology. It provides scheduling capabilities in a resource chart for interactive planning (drag and drop) and allows scheduling automation with standard and customized heuristics. The integrated alert framework helps the planner to efficiently work on exceptions which the algorithms couldn´t resolve automatically. Multiple charts e.g. for stock, resource utilization and operation and order views can be selected in addition. We continue to develop this new app and plan to incorporate more configuration concepts e.g. for coloring of shapes and table entries and allow the detailed-scheduling optimizer to be launched directly from the app. For complete overview of capabilities see the following blog (Advanced Scheduling Board – F5460 | SAP Blogs).
Multi-Level Time Buffers
There is an increased demand for better decision support when doing simulations and this also applies for production planning and scheduling when displaying the consequences of schedule changes in an easy to consume fashion e.g. directly on the resource Gantt-chart. With the introduction of the multi-level Time-Buffer feature, the planner can easily compare currently planned end dates and times with latest possible end dates and times and recognize buffers / delays on the fly – not only to directly connected up- and downstream operations and orders, but also to the top-level demand. This is managed by a new infinite scheduling algorithm which allows the computation of these new key figures in real-time.
Tank Planning
With the release of S/4HANA 2021 we started the innovation roadmap for tank planning with an initial focus to provide better visualization of tank fill levels in the Gantt-Chart and a new periodic fill level view in the product planning table. With the 2022 release we provide additional tank planning scope to manage also raw material tanks and silos for integrated planning of external and stock transfer purchasing requisitions / orders which consume storage capacity during and after the goods receive process.
Additional innovations delivered include a simplified modelling of groups of (dedicated) tanks, improved handling of residual quantities, simplified way of switching between tanks, the consideration of cleaning activities via set-up matrices and the improved maintenance of Product Storage Definitions (see help portal).
Improved Setup Matrix Generation
The efficient management of a setup matrix is the basis for successful setup optimization in planning. Generating matrices based on product characteristics allows a high degree of automation. This process can now be controlled with setup matrix profiles to determine only relevant characteristic value combinations for specific products and resources. This dramatically reduces the number of theoretical transitions to the number needed in the matrix for scheduling (see help portal).
Segmentation with Characteristic Dependent Planning (CDP)
Segmentation planning in S/4HANA originated in the fashion industry to plan with product attributes (size, color). This concept is gaining relevance in other manufacturing industries too, e.g. in life science where not only shelf life but also attributes for sales countries etc. are relevant for demand supply assignments. With segmentation integration for Characteristic Dependent Planning the planning scope of segmentation can now be extended to production planning and scheduling with PPDS for constraint planning and scheduling (see segmentation delivered feature).
Supply creation-based confirmation (SBC)
With this release we are also able to address again capable to promise scenarios which APO customers used to confirm orders based on real time production and scheduling constraints when the requested finished product is not available in full quantity. This integration between advanced ATP (aATP) and PPDS has now been shipped for multilevel planning and confirmation scenarios. Subsequent releases will focus on industry specific extensions e.g. with characteristic dependent planning for mill customers (also see aATP blog).
Continuous Improvements
In the following areas we are introducing continuous improvements of earlier shipped innovations:
Synchronized Planning for production
Synchronized Planning is a strategic topic in SAP Digital Supply Chain and many of our key customers. We are continuously leveraging SAP IBP and S/4HANA ePPDS planning capabilities with key figure based and order-based integration patterns. The production plans and detailed schedules are seamlessly integrated thus transparency is guaranteed. These integration patterns are available for embedded PPDS in S/4HANA ERP and the “side car” PPDS in the S/4HANA DSC-Edition.
Additional information on S/4HANA Manufacturing for planning and scheduling including these new solution capabilities and planned roadmap items can be found here:
Along with previous shipped innovations in S/4HANA this release provides significant process and usability improvements for advanced production planning and scheduling scenarios to manage the challenges of this very crucial role in a company more effectively. This will be continued as part of E2E processes across supply chain planning and manufacturing.
Please feel free to share your thoughts or feedback in the comment section.
SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing for planning and scheduling allows the creation of feasible production plans and schedules that optimize your scarce resources to stabilize production and help you make reliable commitments to your internal and external customers. This S/4HANA Enterprise Management core extension, available both on premise and as private cloud edition, in stack and extra stack (side by side), ensures that planning and execution are synchronized in real time.
To recap what has happened in the past – a Customer Engagement Initiative was launched two years ago (2020) where customers’ direct feedback for key improvement areas was collected. This input has helped shape and influence the roadmap for ePPDS in SAP S/4HANA.
Major innovations in business process coverage especially for process industries, more flexible integration and UI-modernization have been shipped in 2021 already and are now extended by key innovations with the S/4HANA 2022 release (overview see below).
Figure 1: Overview Manufacturing Planning and Scheduling Strategy
Advanced Scheduling Board – FIORI-Gantt 2.0
After the introduction of a new FIORI-based Gantt chart for production scheduling with S/4HANA 1610 with limited functionality we are now replacing it with the Advanced Scheduling Board on based on FIORI-Gantt 2.0 technology. It provides scheduling capabilities in a resource chart for interactive planning (drag and drop) and allows scheduling automation with standard and customized heuristics. The integrated alert framework helps the planner to efficiently work on exceptions which the algorithms couldn´t resolve automatically. Multiple charts e.g. for stock, resource utilization and operation and order views can be selected in addition. We continue to develop this new app and plan to incorporate more configuration concepts e.g. for coloring of shapes and table entries and allow the detailed-scheduling optimizer to be launched directly from the app. For complete overview of capabilities see the following blog (Advanced Scheduling Board – F5460 | SAP Blogs).
Figure 2: Advanced Scheduling Board
Multi-Level Time Buffers
There is an increased demand for better decision support when doing simulations and this also applies for production planning and scheduling when displaying the consequences of schedule changes in an easy to consume fashion e.g. directly on the resource Gantt-chart. With the introduction of the multi-level Time-Buffer feature, the planner can easily compare currently planned end dates and times with latest possible end dates and times and recognize buffers / delays on the fly – not only to directly connected up- and downstream operations and orders, but also to the top-level demand. This is managed by a new infinite scheduling algorithm which allows the computation of these new key figures in real-time.
Figure 3: Multilevel Time Buffers
Tank Planning
With the release of S/4HANA 2021 we started the innovation roadmap for tank planning with an initial focus to provide better visualization of tank fill levels in the Gantt-Chart and a new periodic fill level view in the product planning table. With the 2022 release we provide additional tank planning scope to manage also raw material tanks and silos for integrated planning of external and stock transfer purchasing requisitions / orders which consume storage capacity during and after the goods receive process.
Additional innovations delivered include a simplified modelling of groups of (dedicated) tanks, improved handling of residual quantities, simplified way of switching between tanks, the consideration of cleaning activities via set-up matrices and the improved maintenance of Product Storage Definitions (see help portal).
Improved Setup Matrix Generation
The efficient management of a setup matrix is the basis for successful setup optimization in planning. Generating matrices based on product characteristics allows a high degree of automation. This process can now be controlled with setup matrix profiles to determine only relevant characteristic value combinations for specific products and resources. This dramatically reduces the number of theoretical transitions to the number needed in the matrix for scheduling (see help portal).
Figure 4: Improved Setup Matrix Generation concept
Segmentation with Characteristic Dependent Planning (CDP)
Segmentation planning in S/4HANA originated in the fashion industry to plan with product attributes (size, color). This concept is gaining relevance in other manufacturing industries too, e.g. in life science where not only shelf life but also attributes for sales countries etc. are relevant for demand supply assignments. With segmentation integration for Characteristic Dependent Planning the planning scope of segmentation can now be extended to production planning and scheduling with PPDS for constraint planning and scheduling (see segmentation delivered feature).
Supply creation-based confirmation (SBC)
With this release we are also able to address again capable to promise scenarios which APO customers used to confirm orders based on real time production and scheduling constraints when the requested finished product is not available in full quantity. This integration between advanced ATP (aATP) and PPDS has now been shipped for multilevel planning and confirmation scenarios. Subsequent releases will focus on industry specific extensions e.g. with characteristic dependent planning for mill customers (also see aATP blog).
Continuous Improvements
In the following areas we are introducing continuous improvements of earlier shipped innovations:
- Time Dependent Master Data:
- Additional time-dependent Target Stock Methods
- Improved Maintenance of time-dependent stock levels
- Production Planning Optimizer (PPO) support for MRP Areas
- DSC-Edition
- Improved mass maintenance / mass processing / mass consolidation of product data
Synchronized Planning for production
Synchronized Planning is a strategic topic in SAP Digital Supply Chain and many of our key customers. We are continuously leveraging SAP IBP and S/4HANA ePPDS planning capabilities with key figure based and order-based integration patterns. The production plans and detailed schedules are seamlessly integrated thus transparency is guaranteed. These integration patterns are available for embedded PPDS in S/4HANA ERP and the “side car” PPDS in the S/4HANA DSC-Edition.
Additional information on S/4HANA Manufacturing for planning and scheduling including these new solution capabilities and planned roadmap items can be found here:
- SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing for planning and scheduling - Roadmap
- SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing for planning and scheduling – on SAP-Help.COM
Along with previous shipped innovations in S/4HANA this release provides significant process and usability improvements for advanced production planning and scheduling scenarios to manage the challenges of this very crucial role in a company more effectively. This will be continued as part of E2E processes across supply chain planning and manufacturing.
Please feel free to share your thoughts or feedback in the comment section.
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