Capacity Leveling 

Use

The capacity leveling function is an extension of heuristic-based planning in Supply Network Planning (SNP). The SNP heuristic run is an infinite form of planning that does not take into account capacities and can thus cause resource overloads. You can use SNP capacity leveling to clear resource overloads by moving orders or partial order quantities into previous or subsequent periods using forward or backward scheduling. In addition, you can transfer orders to alternative resources in the same period.

SNP capacity leveling is used to level specific bottleneck resources. It is run locally on a resource in a specified horizon, which means that dependencies with other resources are ignored. Leveling capacity for the entire supply chain would, in effect, be the same as performing a new planning run and is not within the scope of this function.

You can run capacity leveling in both interactive Supply Network Planning and in the background. Interactive planning has the advantage that you can display the resource load directly before and after leveling. If you run capacity leveling in the background, you can select several resources for leveling (which can then be processed in sequence). You can also use a selection profile. Running capacity leveling in the background is especially suited to large data volumes and complex models. A detailed log is displayed whether you run capacity leveling in interactive planning or in the background.

Prerequisites

You have run the SNP heuristic before capacity leveling. Although it is possible to run capacity leveling after an SNP optimization run or Capable-to-Match (CTM) run, in most cases it is not advisable to do so.

In addition, the same prerequisites apply for running capacity leveling as for heuristic-based planning in general. For more information, see Running the Heuristic in the Background.

Features

Supported Resource Categories and Order Types

·        Capacity leveling supports the following resource categories:

¡        Production resources

¡        Transportation resources

It does not support storage or handling resources.

·        Capacity leveling supports all the resource types supported by SNP in general. It supports the following resource types in particular:

¡        Bucket resource

¡        Single-mixed resource

¡        Multimixed resource

¡        Transportation resource

It does not support any other resource types.

·        Capacity leveling only takes into account SNP planned orders and SNP stock transfers. Deployment stock transfers, TLB shipments, and Production Planning and Detailed Planning orders (PP/DS orders) are not leveled; however, the system does take into account the resource load caused by these orders.

Capacity leveling does not take dependent demands into account. Since leveling is only performed locally on a resource, it can lead to other resources being overloaded, additional on-hand stocks being created, or shortfall quantities being generated.

For more information about which master data the system considers, such as lot sizes and rounding values, see Consideration of Lot Sizes and Other Master Data.

Capacity Leveling Profile

You can control capacity leveling using various parameters. You define these parameters in a profile that you specify when running capacity leveling in interactive planning or in the background. However, you can also specify the parameters manually or overwrite individual profile parameters before each capacity leveling run. You define the capacity leveling profile in Customizing for SNP under Profiles  → Define SNP Capacity Leveling Profiles or in the SAP Easy Access screen under Supply Network Planning  → Environment  → Current Settings  → Profiles  → Define SNP Capacity Leveling Profiles.

You use the profile to define the following specific parameters:

·        The capacity leveling method (heuristic, optimizer, or BAdI)

·        The scheduling direction (forward, backward, or combined)

·        Order prioritization (that is, which orders you want capacity leveling to process first)

·        Handling of fixed orders and order fixing during capacity leveling

·        The maximum resource utilization

·        The maximum runtime for capacity leveling

For more information, see Capacity Leveling Profile.

Consideration of Alternative Resources

You can specify that capacity leveling also considers alternative resources. This means that the system considers production process models (PPMs) or production data structures (PDS) that produce the same location product with alternative resources.

For more information, see Consideration of Alternative Resources.

Log and Alerts

The system generates a detailed log for capacity leveling that is displayed automatically after the planning run both in interactive planning and when executed in the background. It includes the following information:

·        Quantities in each period before and after capacity leveling

·        Resource utilization before and after capacity leveling

·        Surplus or shortage in the supply of output products

·        Error and warning messages (that excessively large lot sizes will cause leveling problems, for instance)

·        Parameters selected by the user

If you run capacity leveling in the background, you can hide the quantities in each period and the resource capacity load in the log. This helps you improve performance and reduce data volume. You can also specify for how long you want the log to be saved and display logs from previous capacity leveling runs.

Capacity leveling does not generate alerts directly. However, you can run a background job for a macro to generate alerts (for example, the SNP standard macro for database (DB) alerts). You can then view these alerts in the Alert Monitor. For more information, see the following Demand Planning documentation under Demand Planning Process  → Creation of the Demand Forecast  → Macro Execution with Mass Processing (see also the subordinate topics).

Activities

Capacity Leveling in Interactive Supply Network Planning

...

       1.      On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Advanced Planning and Optimization  → Supply Network Planning  → Planning  → Interactive Supply Network Planning and go to the capacity view (Capacity Check data view).

       2.      Select a resource.

       3.      If the resource is overloaded, choose  Capacity Leveling.

You can choose the planning horizon in the planning table by selecting one or more periods. To select several periods, select the first and last period of the horizon (by choosing the left-hand mouse button and the control key). You can also choose individual products for capacity leveling by drilling down for products and selecting the products you require. Capacities are then only leveled for the selected products within the chosen horizon.

       4.      A dialog box appears where you can choose a capacity leveling profile or manually specify the parameters.

       5.      You run capacity leveling and, if required, view the log.

       6.      You display the new load situation in the capacity view.

Capacity Leveling in the Background

...

¡        On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Advanced Planning and Optimization → Supply Network Planning → Planning → Supply Network Planning in the Background → Capacity Leveling.

       1.      You select one or more resources for capacity leveling. To do this, you can also specify a selection profile that you previously saved in interactive planning.

       2.      You select a capacity leveling profile or manually specify the parameters.

       3.      You run capacity leveling in the background and, if required, view the log.

       4.      You display the new load situation in the capacity view of interactive Supply Network Planning.

See also:

Heuristic-Based Planning

Running the Heuristic in the Background

Interactive Planning Desktop