if you setup the subassembly part (A) to be finite or always finite, (setting in the Inventory Part, Planning Data tab) the scheduling in APB will not allow to schedule the top part (B) until there are available demands (scheduled shop order or available inventory) for the subassembly (A).

That should do the trick in this scenario!

Thanks! It indeed seems to work.

What’s the difference betweeen Finite availability, limited within a fixed non-zero lead time, and always limited?

The perfect situation is that we can start with shop order B if A allready has started, but not before. If I set it to ‘Always infinite, I can only schedule it B after A was finished.

The difference between these 2 options is that when using finite within lead time, it will be possible to schedule the top part one lead time away from now time, i.e. logic assumes you will be able to receive material when lead time has passed. With both options you should be able to schedule B as soon as A is scheduled. Try reschedule only shop order B when A is scheduled.

When using always finite, it will not be possible to schedule B if there is no scheduled SO for A (or material available on hand).

From the field descriptions for Scheduling Capacity:

Specify whether the material is to be calculated with Finite availability (limited within a fixed non-zero lead time, or always limited) or with Infinite availability (unlimited) during operation scheduling with IFS Advanced Planning Board (APB) or Work task scheduling with Maintenance Planning Board (MPB).

Hello Martin,

do you have some experiences regarding APB performance in case when all components are set to finite?

Thanks for Your feedback…

Best regards,

Zdenek B.

If you set all materials as finite, the loading time for data to be loaded to APB will increase heavily. The scheduling inside APB is not that much affected (depending on how many materials you have per order of course), but mostly the problem is with the loading. Also i would not recommend to use Always finite 8better to use finite within lead-time), because otherwise many operations will end up unscheduled, which will be hard to understand for the user.

My recommendation would be to use finite within lead-time and to start with the most critical components.