Executive Summary What is simulation? Simulation on separate hardware or the same hardware as production. Why simulation is so important. Is APO a naturally good simulation environment? How simulation is generally presented. How difficult is a simulation? What is a simulation archival blog? Tags and Categories for Simulation Runs Developing Simulation Prioritization How Prevalent is…
Executive Summary Multi echelon planning uses advanced mathematics to perform supply planning with each location, knowing the inventory of other locations in the supply network. There are specific tests that can be applied to any multi-echelon system. Introduction Multi echelon planning is an advanced method of accounting for location dependencies during supply planning. Multi echelon planning…
Executive Summary This article answers questions about the advantages and disadvantages of SAP DP. Question Posed to Me on SAP DP I was recently asked a question regarding the advantages and disadvantages of DP. I thought I would take part in the email exchange and post it here. Our References for This Article If you…
Executive Summary We cover the available to promise or ATP Group, Product Groups, and Product Group Types. We cover Product Groups in EWM. What Are They? Product Groups are a form of aggregation. Product Groups and Product Group Types are organization methods for products. However, this is differentiated from the “Material Group,” which does not…
Executive Summary A hierarchical structure can be set up in SAP DP. There are essential differences between hierarchy structures, extended hierarchy structures, and schema hierarchy structures. Introduction to Aggregate Planning Aggregate planning is a method of managing hierarchies. You will learn how aggregate planning is performed in DP. Our References for This Article If you…
The Actual Numbers We were shocked when we found this story when researching our book. We knew that many supply chain implementations failed to meet expectations, but the numbers below really surprised us. This supports the concept that companies are putting in overly complex solutions. Think about it for a moment; if many implementations fail…
Executive Summary A heuristic or optimization can perform stock deployment in SNP and the with the heuristic. Deployment can be set as either push or pull. SNP has issues with fair share distribution, and the overall deployment optimizer can’t be effectively used in production. There are essential specific areas that we will discuss setting up…
Executive Summary The SNP optimizer is the CPLEX optimizer now owned by IBM. We cover how to use a heuristic with the optimizer and comparative optimizer settings, costs, ordinary optimizer, and problem segmentation problems. Introduction: Getting into Depth on the SNP Optimizer The SNP optimizer has many essential features not published due to those that…
Executive Summary Constraint planning can be performed in SAP APO. APO can perform both finite and infinite resources. One can use the days of supply in the SNP cost optimizer. Days’ Supply = Total Inventory / Average Daily Consumption On the other hand, the Safety Stock is “hard coded” and does not vary. This keeps…
Executive Summary SAP’s 3 PL and 4 PL solutions in the SAP APO suite are extremely problematic. There are important trade-offs and costs and complexity with SAP APO. Introduction into the Solutions for 3 PL and 4 PL One question the sometimes comes up is whether SAP offers an efficient solution for 4 PL logistics…