basic capacity

The normal daily number of operation hours of the resource units of a work center (resource). A resource unit can be a machine or an employee.

The capacity on a work center is Week Capacity [Hours] * Available Labor Resources or Number of Machines. The basic week capacity, the number of operators, and the number of machines are defined in the Work Centers (tirou0101m000) session.

bill of critical capacities

Bills of critical capacities (BCC) indicate the work centers that are regarded as critical in the Master Planning processes. Critical capacities are usually the bottlenecks in a routing.

Enterprise Planning uses the bill of critical capacities to generate the rough capacity requirements for critical capacities.

bill of critical materials

A bill of critical materials (BCM) indicates the components which are regarded as critical during the production process of a plan item.

A bill of critical materials is a kind of summary of the BOM, which contains only the more important components.

Typical examples of critical materials are:

  • Components with long lead times
  • Subassemblies with a high capacity load for the internal or external production system

The Enterprise Planning package uses the bill of critical materials to generate the critical material requirements for critical materials.

BCM

bottleneck work center

A work center that determines or limits the production rate of an RPT item when scheduling orders. The work center calendar determines the maximum number of hours per day for planning orders of repetitive items.

business-function model

A part of a business model that is built from a selection of business functions that are initially created in the repository.

business partner

A party with whom you carry out business transactions, for example, a customer or a supplier. You can also define departments within your organization that act as customers or suppliers to your own department as business partners.

The business partner definition includes:

  • The organization's name and main address.
  • The language and currency used.
  • Taxation and legal identification data.

You address the business partner in the person of the business partner's contact. The business partner's status determines if you can carry out transactions. The transactions type (sales orders, invoices, payments, shipments) is defined by the business partner's role.

calendar

A set of definitions, that are used to build a list of calendar working hours. A calendar is identified by a calendar code and availability type combination.

channel

A sales or distribution channel used to assign goods to customer groups.

You can link channels to sold-to business partners and to items. Channels can be used in connection with available-to-promise (ATP).

You can assign a certain ATP volume to a channel. This volume limits the ATP for that channel to a maximum.

channel master plan

An item-specific logistic plan that contains sales targets and constraints for a specific combination of a sales channel and plan item.

A channel is a grouping of customers and items.

A channel master plan supports sales-related functions such as demand forecasting and due-date quoting, as well as aggregation.

critical in CTP

A plan item that is critical in CTP must be checked during a component CTP check for a higher level item in the bill of critical materials. A resource that is critical in CTP must be checked during a capacity CTP check for a plan item, if this resource is included in the plan item's bill of critical capacities.

demand forecast

The item quantity that is forecast to be required in a plan period. A demand forecast can be generated based on seasonal patterns or historical demand data.

The demand forecast is part of the demand plan for a plan item or channel.

economic order quantity

The amount of an item to be purchased or manufactured at one time. This amount is the quantity for which the combined costs of acquiring and carrying inventory are the lowest. This is also referred to as the minimum cost order quantity.

exception message

A short standardized message that LN generates to advise the user to change or correct a specific planning parameter, value, or constraint to avoid undesired results or conflicts in planning.

execution level

Within Enterprise Planning, the designation of the LN packages that control the execution of orders and the actual goods flow, such as:

  • Manufacturing
  • Order Management
  • Warehousing

Enterprise Planning uses planning algorithms to carry out simulations and optimizations. The other packages control the execution of orders, and the goods flow.

extra lead time

Time reserved for extra activities that are necessary to fully complete a planned order.

Enterprise Planning treats the extra lead time in the same way as the safety time: the order must be delivered earlier based on the extra lead time.

The extra lead time is expressed in days or in hours.

fixed order quantity

A predetermined, fixed quantity of an item for which planned or actual orders are generated. If the net requirements for the period exceed the fixed order quantity, a multiple of the fixed quantity is ordered.

Generated orders always have a fixed order quantity.

inbound lead time

The time interval between the arrival of the items and the actual storage in the warehouse.

inventory on hand

The physical quantity of goods in one or more warehouses (including the inventory on hold).

on-hand inventory

inventory plan

The desired inventory level, specified by period.

The inventory plan is part of the item master plan.

The inventory plan can also be a constant inventory level.

item

The raw materials, subassemblies, finished products, and tools that can be purchased, stored, manufactured, and sold.

An item can also represent a set of items handled as one kit, or which exist in multiple product variants.

You can also define nonphysical items, which are not retained in inventory but can be used to post costs or to invoice services to customers. The examples of nonphysical items:

  • Cost items (for example, electricity)
  • Service items
  • Subcontracting services
  • List items (menus/options)

lot size

The number of items in a lot.

master-based planning

A planning concept in which all planning data is accumulated into time buckets with predefined lengths.

In master planning, all demand, supply, and inventory data is handled in terms of these time buckets, and is stored in master plans.

In master planning, supply is planned in the form of a supply plan. This supply plan is calculated on the basis of demand forecasts, actual orders, and other information. For production planning, this planning method only considers critical requirements, as recorded in an item's bill of critical materials and bill of critical capacities.

Note: In Enterprise Planning, you can maintain a master plan for an item, even if you plan all supply with order planning.

order-based planning

A planning concept in which planning data is handled in the form of orders.

In order planning, supply is planned in the form of planned orders. LN takes into account the start and finish dates of individual planned orders. For production planning, this method considers all material and capacity requirements, as recorded in an item's BOM and routing.

Note: In Enterprise Planning, you can maintain a master plan for an item, even if you plan all supply with order planning.

order horizon

The time period for which Enterprise Planning uses order-based planning to plan supply.

The order horizon is expressed as a number of working days from the date you carry out the simulation.

If the order horizon is zero, Enterprise Planning does not use order-based planning for the item involved.

To calculate the order horizon, LN uses the calendar that you specified for the enterprise unit of the default warehouse to which the plan item belongs.

If you did not specify an enterprise unit for the default warehouse of the plan item, Enterprise Planning uses the company calendar to calculate the order horizon.

Note:  LN moves the order horizon towards the end of the plan period) in which it falls, because Enterprise Planning must know whether a plan period falls within the order horizon.

order interval

The number of workdays or working hours for which all the requirements of a specific item are bundled in one (planned) order, during an order planning run. LN calculates the order interval from the day when the first requirement occurs. Order intervals are used to prevent an excessive number of planned orders in one time period.

outbound lead time

The time interval between taking the items out of the warehouse and the departure of the carrier on which the items are placed.

plan level

The level within a hierarchical planning structure.

When you plan on a higher plan level, plans are general and less detailed.

Example

Plan level 1 is the highest plan level; the higher the number, the lower the plan level.

planned order

A supply order in Enterprise Planning that is created for planning purposes, but which is not an actual order yet.

Enterprise Planning works with planned orders of the following types:

Planned orders are generated in the context of a particular scenario. The planned orders of the actual scenario can be transferred to the execution level, where they become actual supply orders.

planned production order

A planned order in Enterprise Planning to produce a certain quantity of an item.

project

A collection of manufacturing and purchasing actions that are performed for a particular customer order. A project is initiated to plan and coordinate the production of the to be manufactured items.

For a standard-to-order production, the project is only used to link the item with the customer order. A project can also include these:

  • Customized item data (BOMs and routings)
  • Project planning (activity planning)

repetitive item

A repetitive item (also called RPT item) is a manufactured item whose production is controlled by schedules. A schedule contains multiple schedule lines that can be viewed, released, reported as complete, and so on, in one session.

A repetitive item characteristics:

  • Produced in large quantities
  • Subject to repetitive demand
  • Production is based on a rate
  • Lead time is short

Anonymous items and to-order items can be repetitive. However, only to-order items that are Standard-to-Order can be used in RPT schedules. You cannot use generic items or Engineer-to-Order items in an RPT schedule.

resource

A group of machines or employees in Enterprise Planning, corresponding to a work center in other LN packages.

Each operation performed to manufacture an item requires a certain capacity amount from a resource (for example, production hours). The capacity of the resource can be a constraint in the planning.

The availability of a resource can be specified by using the resource calendar.

safety stock

The buffer inventory necessary to meet fluctuations in demand and delivery lead time. In general, safety stock is a quantity of inventory planned to be in inventory to protect against fluctuations in demand or supply. In the context of master production scheduling, safety stock is the additional inventory and capacity planned as protection against forecast errors and short-term changes in the backlog.

safety time

The time that you can add to the normal lead time to protect delivery of goods against fluctuations in the lead time so that an order can be completed before the order's real need date.

scenario

The identification of an overall planning solution.

Each scenario represents one overall planning solution, and involves particular settings for the planning of items and resources. You can use scenarios to analyze and compare various planning options and to find the best planning solution. For example, you can vary demand forecasts or sourcing strategies.

One of the scenarios is the actual scenario, which corresponds with the actual planning situation. You can only transfer planned orders and production plans from the actual scenario to the execution level of LN.

seasonal pattern

Seasonal patterns define the fluctuation of certain values, such as the expected usage or demand of an item in the course of a year. These values serve as parameters in forecast and advice.

standard item

A purchased item, material, subassembly, or finished product that is normally available.

All items that are not built according to customer specification for a specific project are defined as standard items. Opposite term is customized item.

supplying relationship

A distribution link between a supplying planning cluster and a receiving planning cluster. The planning clusters involved can be in the same company, or in different companies.

Enterprise Planning uses supplying relationships for distribution planning: the supplying relationships represent valid supply paths for particular items or groups of items. You can specify supplying relationships at the level of individual items, but also at more general levels.

The supplying relationships also determine the costs of supply, lot size rules, and other parameters.

supply plan

The total supply that is planned in master planning.

The supply plan of an item consists of:

  • Production plan
  • Purchase plan
  • Distribution plan (shown in the item master plan as planned distribution orders)

The item master plan also takes into account the supply planned in order planning (planned orders). However, this type of supply is not part of the item's supply plan. In other words, a supply plan usually exists only outside the item's order horizon.

time fence

The date until which an item's supply plan and planned orders are frozen.

The time fence is expressed as a number of working days or working hours from the date you carry out the simulation.

As a rule, Enterprise Planning does not regenerate the supply plan or the planned orders within the time fence. However, you can overrule this behavior when you run a master-plan simulation or order simulation.

The time fence is meant to prevent:

  • Disturbance of orders that have already started (at the shop-floor level).
  • Generation of planned orders with start dates in the past (that is, orders that are late).

Usually, the lead time of an item's production process is a reasonable value for the time fence.

vendor managed inventory (VMI)

An inventory management method according to which the supplier usually manages the inventory of his customer or subcontractor. Sometimes, the supplier manages the supply planning as well. Alternatively, the customer manages the inventory but the supplier is responsible for supply planning. Inventory management or inventory planning can also be subcontracted to a logistics service provider (LSP).

The supplier or the customer may own the inventory delivered by the supplier. Often, the ownership of the inventory changes from the supplier to the customer when the customer consumes the inventory, but other ownership transfer moments occur, which are laid down by contract.

Vendor-managed inventory reduces internal costs associated with planning and procuring materials and enables the vendor to better manage his inventory through higher visibility to the supply chain.

wizard

A special form of user assistance that automates a task by setting the parameter values within a business model and which directs the software to meet the specific requirements of an organization.

workload control

A constraint-based method for supply planning, aimed at creating a feasible planning solution by leveling the workload on a resource.

Workload control is based on the idea that workload levels and production lead times are related.

This method is used to control both the workload by resource and the lead time per item.

WLC

workload norm

The amount of work that must await execution in job shop for a resource.

If the workload is much lower than the workload norm, there is a risk that the resource becomes idle. If the workload is much higher, the production lead times can become unacceptably long.

Note: The workload norm is expressed in hours.

workload tolerance

The percentage by which the resource's workload is allowed to deviate from the workload norm.