About the scheduler

The Scheduler sequences operations for a resource based on your job start and end dates, while considering sequence dependencies and resource-to-resource optimizations.

You can run the schedule over any period of time—a shift, day, week, month, etc. However, you will usually run it on a daily basis. The Scheduler projects job performance, suggests operation sequences, and reports changes in inventory levels. It also generates summary performance information you can use in reports and graphs.

A typical process of using the Scheduler consists of these steps:

1. Enter your real-world data (jobs, items, routings, operations, shifts, resources, etc.).
2. Define operation sequencing rules, thresholds, time horizons, and other options.
3. Run the Scheduler. The Scheduler performs a simulation of how your schedule would perform, given the input data and conditions and rules you define.
4. View the output and identify the problems. After the Scheduler completes a run, it populates the Scheduler output tables with projections of order performance, operation sequences at work centers, and changes in inventory levels. It also populates several tables with information you can use in reports and graphs. See Chapter 1, "SQL Server Schema," in the APS Database Reference, for descriptions of the Scheduler output tables.
5. Solve any scheduling problems. For example, add overtime for the machine or reprioritize the jobs.
6. Rerun the Scheduler.
7. Print a dispatch list and give it to your shop floor.

This section describes the database input components you can use to create a model of your manufacturing operation, from which you can generate a sequenced schedule.