APS Operation Splitting

Some manufacturing operations can be completed more quickly if the operation quantity is divided into smaller groups, known as splits. Each split has the potential to be processed simultaneously by multiple allocations of the resources required at the operation.

For example, in the molding industry, this might happen if multiple molds for the same item are available to be used at the same time. The operation model used by APS Planning, and Scheduling, supports operation splitting through the use of the Split Rule, Split Size, and Split Group fields. When an order quantity is split at an operation in this way, the portion of the total operation time that is based on the order size will be divided among the split quantities according to their relative size. The resources required at the operation must be allocated, and setup, for each split.

Note: If there are more splits created than there are available members from the required resource groups, the splits are processed serially by the resources that are able to be allocated. If the operation uses a fixed step time, rather than per piece, each split requires a step time equal to [step time * split size / total demand size].

Splits are identified in the APS Planner output by creating separate JOBPLANnnn records for each split at the operation level.


Split Rule	Split Name	Description
0 (default)	No Splitting	The operation will be completed without splitting the order quantity.
1	Split Size	The order is processed at this operation in split quantities specified by the Split Size. If the order quantity is not evenly divisible by the Split Size, any remainder will be processed as a separate split amount.
2	Split Loads	The Split Size indicates the number of splits into which the order is divided at this operation. The size of each split is calculated by (Order Size / Split Size), adjusted for the current precision. The size of the final split will be adjusted to make the sum of the split quantities match the original order quantity.
3	Split Group	The resource group specified by Split Group will be examined. The number of members in this group that are available at the start date of the operation (or end date when pull planning) determines the number of splits into which the order quantity will be divided. The size of each split is calculated by (Order Size / # of available group members), adjusted for the current precision. The size of the final split will be adjusted to make the sum of the split quantities match the original order quantity.
4	Split All Group	The resource group specified by Split Group will be examined. The number of members in this group determines the number of splits into which the order quantity will be divided. The size of each split is calculated by (Order Size / # of group members), adjusted for the current precision. The size of the final split will be adjusted to make the sum of the split quantities match the original order quantity.

Limitations:

Split quantities do not persist outside the context of the operation.
Operation buffer in and buffer out are unaffected by operation splitting.
The operation following a split operation cannot use offset. Any offset specified will be ignored with a planner warning.

EXAMPLE: Consider the following example operation:

Setup time = 1 hour, Run time = 0.1 hour per piece

Requires one resource from the Mold resource group, which has two members

Order Quantity = 100

Without splitting, the operation would allocate one member from the Mold resource group. The total operation time would be Setup time plus (Run time) x (Order Qty); or 11 hours. However, if we configure this operation to allow splitting using Split Rule 4 and Split Group Mold, the operation will divide the order into two splits of size 50 and (depending on resource availability) allocate both members from the Mold resource group. Assuming no other contention for these resources, the total operation time would be Setup time plus (Run time) x (Split Qty); or 6 hours. 1 hr. 5 hrs.