ProductionVerified Real deployment at a named or precisely described company, with a measured result from a primary source.

APS planning board (INFORM FELIOS) for on-time delivery in a precision job shop

Added 2026-10-14 · Last updated 2026-10-14

Role

Planning & scheduling · Typical users: production planner, plant manager

The problem

In a precision job shop with many small orders, it is hard to see which orders are slipping and which machines are overloaded, so promised lead times are guesses. At CAPAUL, manual coordination of the plan took about eight hours a week, and delays were often discovered late, leaving a week's notice to the customer instead of months.

Step by step

1. Measure on-time delivery and quoted versus actual lead times for the last 6 months.
2. Clean the routing and capacity data: realistic setup and run times, shifts, machine availability.
3. Connect the APS to ERP orders and to shop-floor progress feedback.
4. Run the APS plan in parallel with the current plan for a few weeks and compare dates.
5. Use the planning board daily: late operations, overloaded machines, material shortages.
6. Quote lead times from the planned load rather than fixed standard lead times.
7. Review on-time delivery, planning hours and inventory monthly.

Tools

• INFORM FELIOS APS: used at CAPAUL
• Other APS tools: Asprova, Siemens Opcenter APS, PlanetTogether, DELMIA Ortems, Fastems, and ERP planning modules

As reported by the source; most figures are vendor or self-reported and not independently verified.

Human review: cautions

• Vendor-published figures over several years; other improvements may also have contributed.
• An APS is only as good as routings and feedback from the floor.
• Planners must keep the right to override; explain the plan, don't just impose it.

You are a production planner's assistant. I will paste (a) open operations (order, part, operation, machine, setup h, run h, due date, material-ready date) and (b) weekly capacity per machine (hours after shifts and planned maintenance).
Do not calculate loads or lead times yourself.
1. Write a Python (pandas) script that reads my two CSVs and outputs: load vs capacity per machine per week; orders at risk (finish after due date); and a lead-time estimate for a new order of [part, qty] by placing it in the earliest week with free capacity. Include a short README with the required columns.
2. After I paste the script's output, summarise the three biggest overloads in a table (machine, week, load, capacity, orders affected, copied from the output), give options (re-sequence, subcontract, overtime, split lots) with trade-offs, and list the assumptions a planner must confirm.
3. Flag data problems (missing routings, zero run times, due date before material-ready date) and write 'not found' for missing values.
Use only the data I paste in; if something is missing, write 'not found' or list it as a question instead of guessing. Do not send, order, post or change anything in any system: produce drafts for my review and approval.

Sources

• https://www.inform-software.com/en/success-stories/capaul