As supply chains continue to grow ever more complex, advanced planning and scheduling systems have evolved to enable their optimization, says Ashok Erramilli, general manager of Eyelit Technologies.

Advanced planning and scheduling is a key part of sales and operations planning, with the overall goal of reconciling supply and demand. An APS system can aid manufacturers in determining what to make, and where and when to do so. None of those is an easy decision. That’s especially so, Erramilli says, as manufacturers need to live by a “complex beast called the supply chain.”

The technology itself has grown quite complex since the days of manual use of whiteboards to what Erramilli calls APS 4.0 today, “where we incorporate all the latest and greatest technologies.”

Every business has to reconcile demand and supply. “If you have too much demand and less supply, you're leaving money on the table,” he says. “And if you have too much supply and too little demand, you'll probably go bankrupt. This is a very important part of the equation that can make the difference between a company being profitable or going into losses.

An APS touches most aspects of manufacturing, from demand to execution. “It can impact, for example, how much inventory you're carrying. It can impact what kind of asset utilizations you're getting through. It can impact your on-time delivery. It can impact your supply chain stability. Put all these together, the value provided by APS systems is tremendous.”

The reality is that every company needs to capture huge amounts of real-time, real-world data today. And given the dynamic nature of the supply chain and all the constraints imposed on a company’s plans and schedules, it’s impossible to successfully compete with spreadsheets, Erramilli says. “When you face complex problems, you really need very sophisticated solutions.”