Supply Network Planning (SNP) (APO-SNP)

A module in the Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO) that enables organizations to determine sourcing, production plans, distribution plans, and purchasing plans. The system draws on the data universally available in liveCache to optimize such plans based on optimization algorithms and heuristic approaches that enable the planner to define rules and inventory policies.

As an integral part of the overall supply network planning solution, APO's Deployment solution enables planners to dynamically rebalance and optimize the distribution network at execution time. The Deployment function in SNP determines optimized inbound and outbound distribution of available supply in response to short-term demand, including customer orders, stock transport requirements, and safety stock requirements. Deployment logic considers a wide variety of short-term constraints, including transportation, warehouse handling capacity and calendars.

The primary purpose of the Transport Load Builder (TLB) is to use the single product transport recommendations calculated by Deployment to create multi-product loads while ensuring vehicles are filled to maximum capacity.