by Lawrence S. Gould
> Contributing Editor
An interesting thing about the transac-
tional data captured by enterprise
resource planning (ERP) systems: The
data is becoming interactive. This change
is becoming increasingly obvious in
cloud-based ERP systems, such as that
from Plex Systems (plex.com ). Think
back to ERP of "old"—a decade ago.
Now consider the interactivity in the
Plex Manufacturing Cloud (PMC) system.
ADDING FINITE
Finite scheduling gives managers
control over plant operations by letting
them reschedule the use of resources:
people, materials, and machine capacity
(including tools and fxtures). Reschedul-
ing production in real-time leads to
maximizing resource usage and ensur-
ing on-time deliveries to customers.
Finite scheduling has been part of PMC
for quite some time. However, it was a
third-party system that ran on-premises.
It was also "beyond the reach of
most customers," says Jason Prater,
Plex's vice president of development.
Moreover, "customers didn't need all
the high-end optimizations, [so Plex
developed] a fnite capability that didn't
have all the bells and whistles that some
products have. Instead it has some fnite
analysis and some rudimentary and
straightforward optimizations."
The Plex Finite Scheduling includes
capable-to-promise analysis and
forecasting; dynamic calendar and
scenario planning for what-if analysis;
complex job scheduling (serial and
concurrent job scheduling; sequence
activity as overlapped or parallel
processes); automatic job scheduling
based on constraints, including job
priority and due dates; and reporting
(such as the status of jobs, resources,
and capacity). Work schedules can
be based on job loads and resource
constraints (even down to the tool
and fxture levels), and use historical
production data, forward-looking
forecasts, or both.
THE SKY'S THE LIMIT IN
CLOUD COMPUTING.
THE EVIDENCE: SOME
RECENTLY ADDED AND
ENHANCED MODULES
TO THE ERP SYSTEM
FROM PLEX SYSTEMS.
PLEX'S CLOUD ERP
GOES BEYOND FINITE
p Here's a workcenter production schedule generated by Plex Finite Scheduling. The
scheduling engine can set up manufacturing jobs to run sequentially or in parallel.
AD&P; > September 2014 > FEATURE > Plex's Cloud ERP Goes Beyond Finite > Lawrence S. Gould > lsg@lsgould.com
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