Example for the Planning Run with REM Heuristics 

Scenario

You produce three different types of soda: orange, lime, and blackcurrant flavor. These products are represented in the diagram as orange, green, and purple triangles.

Each soda consists of the bottle with a label (square) and the actual drink (circle). The soda drink itself (circle) consists of the raw material (a non-variable part) and the corresponding flavoring (squares). The bottle, raw material, and flavoring are procured externally.

There are two resources available for filling the bottles (‘final assembly’): resource 1 and resource 2. Orange and purple soda can only be filled from one resource, however the green soda can be filled on both.

For creating the actual soda from the raw material and flavoring (‘pre-assembly’) there are two other resources available: resource 3 and resource 4. Orange and purple soda can only be produced from one resource, however the green soda can be produced on both.

You have determined requirements for your three products, using an R/3 System, for example, or using the application components DP/SNP in APO, and now you want to plan the products.

Step-by-step planning

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       1.      Resources 1 and 2 in the final assembly are the critical bottleneck resources that you should plan particularly carefully. In addition, you want to make sure that when the green soda is filled, resource 1 is loaded first of all, because this resource is the most economical. Therefore you plan the finished products (triangles) using the heuristic Multi-resource planning with primary resource (SAP_REM_002).

       2.      Pre-assembly planning is not critical, as far as capacity is concerned. In addition, when producing the green soda, there is no difference between resources 3 and 4. Therefore you plan the assembly (circle) using the heuristic Multi-resource planning (even) (SAP_REM_001).

       3.      The raw materials that are procured externally (squares) are planned at the end with an MRP heuristic, such as the heuristic Product planning run according to low-level codes (SAP_MRP_001).