We have been live in IFS for four months now and we use the demand planning module to load a unit forecast into monthly buckets. We have 900 active MS Level 1 Parts that 3 planners are responsible for monitoring, these are broken out into multiple different planner codes.
We don’t have a traditional “Master Scheduler” and would like to know what other users do on a daily basis in regard to the Master Scheduler Lobby, the MS Action Messages and anything else other users find helpful with this specific subset of parts. Myself and the other 2 planners I work with have never been a Master Scheduler, we understand how it behaves and have not had any delays or misfires with the master scheduled items in regard to customer shipments since we went live in IFS.
Essentially what does a master scheduler do day-to-day in IFS?? Are there any best practices?
We run MRP nightly and we update all MS Level 1 parts monthly, the changes month over month are minimal - a monthly forecast might change from 10/month to 8/month.
Any feedback would be appreciated!
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Hi Jeff,
I guess lot of guys can step into this discussion, but since it is a large topic… eeeh you don’t know where to start and stop.
I share a handful tips considering the screens and the setup in the system. But first, what version are you using?
1 - Finding parts that needs more or less immediate actions, using Master Schedule Action Proposals screen
Create a saved query that focus on following messages:
E511 - Actual demand is past due
E514 - Supply is past due
E515 - Negative projected available
E536 - Projected Balance is below Safety Stock
So you should be able to create a saved query by typing in: “E511;E514;E515;E536” and save it with a good name - or of course please go ahead and twist and turn above so it fits you.
It is always good to hunt down orders that are past due. And if we have negative projected available balance we surely would like to find those parts. E536 is similar to E515, but less important, however going under safety stock could threat customer service.
2 - How do you set your demand- and planning time fence? This is a balancing act.
Longer planning timefence
Stability in plans - less nervous MRP
More manual work in Master Scheduling (you have quite a few MS planned parts) - watch out for message E515
Shorter planning timefence
Changes in customer order demands will have impact on the proposed MS for good and bad
Adherence to the voice of the customer
Less manual work in Master Scheduling, but perhaps more at the shop floor since we have to chase more
3 - I think it is good to define both a Backward- and a Forward consumption window for your MS planned parts. Because it is not always that the forecast dates aligns good with the actual demands.
4 - Spend some time in the Master Schedule Grid tab, to move/hide columns so it feels good for you. For example I recommend that when you change your fixed master schedule receipts inside PTF, then it is good to show the column Firm Supply Created, you will notice that when and if you start working with this.
5 - A little bit of lot sizing strategies (of course this is very much related to YOUR business. General: a) Don’t have to small lot sizes in MS, b) try to use lot-for-lot at intermediate levels in the BOM, c) okay to use the more fancy lot sizing rules at the bottom level of the BOM. Well… this is just some tricks to create a less nervous MRP system.
6 - Educate yourself in IFS Master Scheduling and in IFS MRP :-)
I think I should stop now, hope some of it helps.
Good Luck,
Mats at IFS RnD
Hi Mats,
We are using Apps10 I believe:
IFS Aurena framework version: 10.14.20.0
IFS Aurena client version: 10.14.123.0
IFS OData provider version: 10.13.1.0
(My Answers are in purple)
2 - How do you set your demand- and planning time fence? This is a balancing act.
Longer planning timefence
Stability in plans - less nervous MRP
More manual work in Master Scheduling (you have quite a few MS planned parts) - watch out for message E515
We use a standard 130 day planning time fence for all MS Level 1 Parts. The demand time fence we have is anywhere between 5 and 7 days for all MS Level 1 Parts. Our plan is to eventually use the cumulative lead times for the planning time fence - our cumulative lead times vary pretty drastically - from 45 days all the way to 365+ days.
We review the customer order lines screen (we have a query set-up to look at individual planner codes) daily to avoid any potential negative projected available messages.
3 - I think it is good to define both a Backward- and a Forward consumption window for your MS planned parts. Because it is not always that the forecast dates aligns good with the actual demands.
We have backward consumption set to 30 days and forward consumption set to 30 days as well.
4 - Spend some time in the Master Schedule Grid tab, to move/hide columns so it feels good for you. For example I recommend that when you change your fixed master schedule receipts inside PTF, then it is good to show the column Firm Supply Created, you will notice that when and if you start working with this.
I have this column visible in my master schedule grid tab - what data/information can we gather from this tab? I have a gut feeling we arent using this information as well as we can.
5 - A little bit of lot sizing strategies (of course this is very much related to YOUR business. General: a) Don’t have to small lot sizes in MS, b) try to use lot-for-lot at intermediate levels in the BOM, c) okay to use the more fancy lot sizing rules at the bottom level of the BOM. Well… this is just some tricks to create a less nervous MRP system.
We definitely need to review this more strategically. Thank you for this tip.
This information definitely helps, thank you so much!
Hi again,
Your columns in the master scheduling grid looks good. From my point of view I can make following observations for this part:
Your actual demand is higher than the forecast in the near future. Probably a good sign. In MS Action Proposals page you might want to search for: E531 - Insufficient unconsumed Forecast to satisfy Actual Demand. I mean if you have lots of those messages, then you need to look into your demand management system. Also do you have enough capacity to build this parts and all other parts if you have a rising demand trend?
(Much of a master schedulers daily activity is to consider competing demands for the shop floor capacity - Here in the future you might consider to use our RRP-tool)
I can also see that you probably change your supply qty using the shop order page rather than changing your fixed MPS. This is not a problem, however the Total Supply column is then more important to look at. Actually it is possible to change the fixed MPS quantity and then - under the hood - the connected shop order gets updated. Works for Planned and Released Shop Orders. And as you know most of the columns in the grid gets refreshed when you run the level 1 calculation job.
Oooh I realized that the message E532- Insufficient unconsumed Supply to satisfy Actual Demand, is also a good one to follow up. It sometimes goes hand in hand with E515 - Negative projected available.
Many master scheduling customers import demand on a weekly or monthly basis, but many of them run the level 1 calculation every night followed by MRP.
Hi Mats,
Thanks for the response.
My answers are in purple again.
Also do you have enough capacity to build this parts and all other parts if you have a rising demand trend?
I will have to look into the RRP-Tool to better answer this. Our capacity is basically “theoretical” right now.
I can also see that you probably change your supply qty using the shop order page rather than changing your fixed MPS. This is not a problem, however the Total Supply column is then more important to look at. Actually it is possible to change the fixed MPS quantity and then - under the hood - the connected shop order gets updated. Works for Planned and Released Shop Orders. And as you know most of the columns in the grid gets refreshed when you run the level 1 calculation job.
I did not know you could change the supply quantity by changing the fixed MPS in the grid. I will take a look at this today.
Thanks again!
@majose is there any documentation in which these message numbers such as E511 and E514 are listed with the corresponding message description? I can only find the messages without the shorthand numbers.
