The Winning Combination - How AVEVA MES and PlanetTogether's APS Optimize Plant Operations

The 2024 Olympics brought together the world’s finest athletes, each striving for gold in a fiercely competitive arena. Every meter, every point, and every second mattered to these athletes — just like the business world. In both, success demands peak performance, innovation, and relentless drive to outpace the competition. As in sports, only the best strategies and teams rise to the top.

In today’s competitive manufacturing landscape, the need for efficiency, agility, and precision has never been more critical. As manufacturers strive to meet increasing customer demands while managing costs, the integration of advanced technologies becomes essential. Two key players in this arena are AVEVA’s Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and PlanetTogether’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software. Together, they create a powerful synergy that streamlines manufacturing operations.

Understanding AVEVA MES and PlanetTogether APS

Before delving into our collaboration, it’s essential to understand what AVEVA MES and PlanetTogether APS are and their respective roles in the manufacturing process.

AVEVA MES is a comprehensive solution designed to monitor, control, and optimize manufacturing operations. It provides real-time visibility into production processes, enabling manufacturers to track work-in-progress, manage resources, and ensure quality control. AVEVA MES acts as a bridge between your ERP and the plant floor, offering granular insights into operations.

PlanetTogether APS, on the other hand, focuses on optimizing production schedules based on various constraints, such as resource and material availability, lead times, and customer demand. Utilizing advanced algorithms, our APS generates efficient production plans that maximize resource utilization and minimize downtime. By providing a strategic overview of production capabilities, our APS helps manufacturers respond swiftly to changes in demand and operational challenges. MES systems are good at executing what is scheduled, so the natural enhancement to how good your MES can be will be dependent on how effectively you can create an optimized schedule. If you are creating sub-optimal schedules that are then being run by the team on the plant floor it is doing a disservice to the MES-only technology stack that you’ve put in place.

Story Time and How It Works

Imagine the last time you had a strategic meeting: You walk into your strategic meeting feeling confident—after all, it’s been a great quarter. The team is hitting targets, and you’re ready to tackle the next set of tasks with ease. But soon, the discussion shifts. Issues on the shop floor are not being reflected in your production schedule, and suddenly, the cracks start to show. You realize your equipment and resources aren’t being used efficiently. Inventory levels are too high, communication with sales is strained, and lead times are slipping. Your master schedulers are doing their best, but without tight integration between your MES and scheduling system, everything feels chaotic. 

The weight of the growing business and its complexities hits hard. You walked in feeling like you had everything under control, but now you’re questioning how to maintain optimal operations as demand continues to rise. It feels like you’re just surviving, but you're determined to find a better way. That’s the story we frequently hear from our customers. How do you actually use your MES and APS to turn chaos into clarity and keep the business on a path to success? Let’s explore how this actually works.

This diagram will help you follow a scenario and the flow of data through 3 different systems. In this hypothetical scenario, let’s assume that your customer submits a new online order and it lands in your ERP. This will begin to trigger the process to create relevant production and purchase orders.

This is where PlanetTogether comes in. Your master scheduler will work inside of PlanetTogether APS to create a finite schedule based on the master data, along with supply and demand signals, received from your ERP. Once the data has been received, your master scheduler can now create an optimized schedule. This is where things get fancy. Since PlanetTogether’s APS allows you to create a digital twin of your production environment, and model your various constraints, you can now optimize the schedule produced based on things like maximizing On-Time Delivery while minimizing changeovers. You could also produce a schedule that focuses on processing the highest margin orders within customer groupings. In essence, the production schedule can be tailored to meet the business objectives, review impact analysis, and verify that you are capable of promising attainable delivery dates for an order.

As the finite schedule is finalized, an updated schedule is pushed back into AVEVA MES and your ERP. Then AVEVA MES will update the scheduled start times for the various Work Orders in the system. This allows supervisors to begin the process of reviewing the order and any startup sequences that need to be initiated. As your production is being executed, AVEVA MES will update the ERP with real-time data of production progress. This information is then passed back into PlanetTogether APS to keep the scheduler up-to-date in the event that any exceptions need to be accounted for. AVEVA MES will manage the actual execution of that schedule and help the management teams hold the staff accountable to what is happening on the plant floor in regards to the planned vs actual schedule.

Real-World Applications of AVEVA MES and PlanetTogether APS Integration

As we have watched the manufacturing industry change over the years, it has become evident that there needs to be a balance between extreme efficiency in operations and extreme responsiveness to customer demands. Not that long ago, a vast majority of companies we interacted with were make-to-stock. They could produce more than what was necessary to help increase their efficiencies and then sell through that stock over time. 

Ecommerce has begun to introduce far more make-to-order scenarios into the manufacturing world and this complicates things. With a production floor designed to handle make-to-stock an injection of make-to-order products causes a lot of added complexity. The trend of custom small batch orders ranging from shoes to furniture to dog food appears to be one that isn’tslowing down. Having a strong technology infrastructure that can help navigate these rapid business changes will become paramount to a viable long-term survival. To illustrate this, let’s look at a subset of industries that commonly use AVEVA MES and PlanetTogether APS:

Automotive Manufacturing:

In the automotive industry, manufacturers face complex production schedules and stringent quality requirements. By integrating AVEVA MES with PlanetTogether APS, an automotive manufacturer can achieve real-time visibility into production processes. AVEVA MES provides critical insights into production status, machine performance, and workforce availability. This real-time data is invaluable for PlanetTogether APS which relies on accurate up-to-date information allowing for quick adjustments to schedules based on machine availability and workforce constraints. From there manufacturers can analyze historical performance data from AVEVA MES and use it to inform future production plans generated by PlanetTogether APS. This integration helps ensure that production remains on track while maintaining high-quality standards.

Food and Beverage Production:

The food and beverage industry is characterized by fluctuating demand and strict regulatory requirements. A food manufacturer can leverage their MES and APS to optimize production schedules based on real-time demand forecasts and inventory levels. Additionally, this allows the manufacturer to have better insights into which machines and personnel are available to be utilized. This ensures that products are produced efficiently, by minimizing idle time and maximizing throughput, while adhering to safety and quality standards.

Pharmaceutical Manufacturing:

In the pharmaceutical sector, compliance and quality control are paramount. Using both MES and APS supports pharmaceutical manufacturers who need to monitor production quality in real-time, allowing for immediate corrective actions if defects are detected. Production schedules can then help prioritize quality assurance processes, ensuring that products are manufactured consistently and safely, reducing the risk of costly recalls.

Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG):

The CPG industry faces unique challenges, including rapidly changing consumer preferences and the need for quick turnaround times. Leveraging the advanced capabilities of AVEVA MES alongside PlanetTogether APS empowers CPG manufacturers with real-time production insights, which is crucial in today’s evolving market trends. As production conditions change due to machine breakdowns, labor shortages, or unexpected demand spikes, a planner who is utilizing PlanetTogether APS can adjust schedules swiftly based on the latest data from AVEVA MES. Together, these systems enable dynamic scheduling that easily adapts to last-minute demand shifts, ensuring on-time deliveries without sacrificing quality. Furthermore, synchronizing production schedules with inventory levels helps reduce waste and optimize resources, ultimately driving greater profitability.

Conclusion: Embracing Integration for Future Success

As manufacturing continues to evolve, the integration of AVEVA MES and PlanetTogether APS will become increasingly vital. Companies that embrace this synergy will not only enhance their operational efficiency but also position themselves for long-term success in a competitive landscape. For manufacturers looking to streamline their operations, an integrated PlanetTogether - AVEVA solution can be a game-changer. By leveraging real-time data and optimizing production schedules, organizations can respond swiftly to changes in demand, reduce waste, and improve overall productivity.

In a world where efficiency and agility are the key to survival, the question remains: Are you ready to take the leap into integrated manufacturing solutions? The cost of inaction could be far greater than the investment in a cohesive system. Request a demo today