Production Planning Run (SAP Library - Automated Production Planning and Optimization)

Production Planning Run

Use

You use the production planning run to execute planning for a very large number of objects online or in the background. You can define which objects are to be planned with which heuristics or functions.

The objects must be compatible with the selected heuristic or planning function, for example, you can use production planning heuristics for products. You therefore use different heuristics or functions to address different types of problems. Functions such as optimization or scheduling functions can also be selected and executed during the production planning run. You may execute several heuristics or functions one after another.

You use the production planning run in net change planning to plan those products you have defined in the product master as being planned automatically in the planning run. You can also use the production planning run to plan products defined as being planned manually, as well use a heuristic to reschedule products that have been defined as being planned automatically and immediately. An example of this may be that you first plan automatically and immediately so that an availability check is performed, and then reschedule the products using a heuristic for periodic lot-sizing.

Prerequisites

In Customizing for Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling, you have defined the profiles with which the planning area and the settings for the scheduling functions are defined. The following profiles are required for the production planning run:

Profiles for the Production Planning Run

Profile	Description
Time profile	You use the time profile to specify the time period for which planning is to be executed. Only the orders or operations that lie within this planning period can be rescheduled.
Propagation range	You use the propagation range to specify which resources and products can be changed. You can only change the schedule for resources and products that lie within the propagation range.
Strategy profile	You use the strategy profile to specify the detailed scheduling strategies for scheduling and rescheduling operations and orders.
Optimization profile	You use an optimization profile to define settings for optimization.

Features

You can define several successive processing steps for the production planning run in which the system executes various heuristics or functions for the defined objects. For each processing step, you specify:

The heuristic or function to be executed in this step
The profile to be used for the heuristic or function. If you select the optimization function, you must enter an optimization profile.
The objects at which the heuristics or functions are to be executed

Production planning has two forms: functions and heuristics. For scheduling and optimization you use functions. You cannot change functions. Heuristics, on the other hand, can be maintained in Customizing for Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling. You can also program your own algorithms and apply them as heuristics during the production planning run. SAP delivers some standard heuristics and standard functions. These are described briefly below.

Standard Heuristics for the Production Planning Run

Production planning

These heuristics are mainly lot-sizing procedures, whose planning focus is on products. Examples of these heuristics include periodic lot-sizing and order quantity optimizing. Two important heuristics are Product planning and Production planning run using low-level code. These heuristics execute the heuristic that is defined for each product in the product master. For more information, see Automatic Planning in the Planning Run.

Detailed scheduling

These heuristics are for scheduling or rescheduling and their planning focus is on resources and operations. Examples of these heuristics include Reduce runtime and Remove backlog.

Repetitive manufacturing

These heuristics generate planned orders for requirements taking into account the resource capacity for all periods. The planning focus is on resources, line networks and products.

Model Mix Planning

This heuristic optimizes the sequence of configurable products while taking any restrictions into account. The planning focus is on resources and line networks.

Standard Functions for the Production Planning Run

Along with the heuristics, you can use the following scheduling functions in the production planning run.

Scheduling Functions

Function	Objects	Settings	Description
Deallocate	Operations Orders Resources		You use this function if you want to remove operations or orders from the schedule.
Reschedule	Operations Orders Resources	Strategy profile	You can use this function to: Schedule operations or orders that were deallocated Reschedule operations or orders that are affected by scheduling problems
Fix objects	Orders Operations		You use this function to fix operations and orders. This ensures that the system cannot reschedule these operations or orders in a subsequent processing step.
Undo fix on objects	Orders Operations		You use this function to undo the fixing of objects. The system can then reschedule these operations or orders in a subsequent processing step.
Optimization	Resources	Optimization profile	You use this function to optimize the schedule.
Transfer objects to the customer exit APOCDPS0	Operations Orders Resources Products		You use this function to transfer objects to the customer exit APOCDPS0.

Activities

You call up the production planning run from the SAP Easy Access Menu by choosing Production Planning ® Automated Production Planning and Optimization ® Production Planning Run.