Basel, CH – June 2016

Meat Management by Softproviding and SAP APO

 

We first outlined the customer benefits offered by disassembly planning in Meat Management by Softproviding for the protein industry in a past newsletter. Now, this newsletter will use an example of a planning process to illustrate the additional possibilities associated with integrating APO into an SAP ERP system with Meat Management.

 

In a proof of concept (PoC), data was exchanged for the first time between an SAP APO system and an SAP ERP system, on which Meat Management by Softproviding was installed, via the APO Core Interface (CIF). The aim of this setup was to create an integrated planning scenario in which the best functions from each system are used, creating a considerable competitive advantage for customers. It is only with the right planning strategy that customer needs can be best met and purchasing optimized. Products must be delivered cost-effectively, quickly, and in the correct quantities in order to ensure customer satisfaction.

 

APO Integration

 

First of all, a consensus-based forecast was created in APO-DP. In the course of the rough sales and production planning process based on consensus, the forecasts for various divisions (such as marketing, sales, logistics, or accounting) with different business targets and therefore different forecast priorities are analyzed and pooled to form a single consensus forecast. This forecast was split into daily forecasts. The customer orders in APO-SNP were then offset against the forecast data.

 

The next step in APO-SNP concerned the creation of the production plan for the finished products and the dependent raw material requirements. The orders generated from this were in turn integrated into SAP ECC.

 

In a fourth step, the dependent requirements arising from the orders were used as the pull input for disassembly planning. The livestock from the Meat Management procurement planning were used as push input for balancing. The result of this balancing process was an optimized disassembly plan based on the planned livestock and the dependent requirements from APO. Disassembly process orders that contained all the planned quantities from the underlying cut list were created based on this disassembly plan.

 

The balancing result was visualized in the control tower and the production planners were informed of backlogs and bottlenecks in real time. The disassembly orders were then transferred to APO as fixed/confirmed production so that the utilization of the key capacity needed for production could be monitored there. If capacity utilization was too high, the production plan was adjusted to ensure optimum levels.

 

Using sophisticated optimization processes and taking constraints and penalty costs as a basis, Supply Network Planning planned the product flow along the logistics chain. In our scenario, the result of the Meat Management disassembly planning was transferred into APO as fixed production; APO-SNP prioritized customer orders (in the event of a bottleneck). The requirements were then adjusted again and a new plan was made, taking into account the warnings about bottlenecks and backlogs. This result could lead to a new iteration of the disassembly planning in order to guarantee optimization in view of the changed requirements situation.

 

The penultimate step of the PoC was to carry out the disassembly. Disassembly orders created from the planning were posted with actual quantities and the yields and costs were analyzed on the basis of the orders. The stock levels generated by this process were transferred to APO in real time, where they could be used for further activities. The final step of the PoC was to conduct an availability test for new and existing customer orders in APO-GATP and to confirm quantities and deadlines for the orders.

 

SAP-APO and Meat Management offer a wealth of opportunities to optimize planning in the protein industry. The process presented here is just one of several possible scenarios.

 

If this article has piqued your interest, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Stephan Kronbichler (Business Development) for further information. The best way to do this is via e-mail or telephone on +41 (0)61 508 21 42.