Sales and Operations planning (S&OP) / Master manufacturing Schedule (MPS)
S&OP
A S&OP (Sales and Operation Plan) is a document created by the company’s management, sales managers, manufacturing managers, etc., which provides a forecast of the company’s sales over the medium to long term.
With this document, it is easier to manage manufacturing resources and also to review workloads to be in line with the planned manufacturing.
In AOS, the S&OP is generated for a product category, a company, and a period. You can establish forecasts based on a history by defining a reference period and a growth coefficient on it.
Access: Manufacturing → S&OP/MPS → S&OP → +
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Enter a name. For example, S&OP 2024.
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Category: define a product category. For example, server.
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Enter the company. Once you have filled in these fields, additional fields will appear.
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Period: select the period for which you want to forecast sales. It's possible to generate S&OP for manufacturing periods.
Manufacturing periods can be configured beforehand from the Manufacturing Periods menu.
Access : Manufacturing → Configuration → Manufacturing periods
- Forecast on historic: enable this option if you want to generate a forecast based on history. Here, you will be able to re-use the historical periods from the previous year, for example 2023. Note that in this case you need to have data for the selected historical period. You don't have to use this function, as you can create a forecast by modifying a line in the "Sales and Operations Planning Lines" table.
It is a good idea to use the S&OP by activating the historical forecast. Otherwise, you may prefer to create forecasts directly from the Forecast menu.
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Growth Coefficient: when "Forecast on historic" feature is active, "Growth coefficient" field will appear. Add a growth coefficient. The coefficient is used to directly define the sales forecast compared to what was sold during the historical period.
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Generate Sales and Operations planning lines: click on the "Generate Sales and Operations planning lines" button to generate lines. This fills the "Sales and Operations Planning Lines" table. The lines are retrieved for each period. It is possible to modify each of these lines. The breakdown of these lines depends on the breakdown of your period, and can be monthly, quarterly or annual. Once you have generated these lines, you can generate more precise forecasts.
The gear icon at the end of the lines allows you to generate sales forecasts for the various products in the header category. These details will be at the end date of the period of the S&OP line and the precise quantities remain to be defined.
- After generating the lines :
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The “Generate MPS forecasts” window will open.
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Additionally, enter the stock location that should meet these forecasts.
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In this window, it is possible to generate forecasts only for products with a stock location.
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Confirm the forecasts: click on the button to confirm the forecasts.
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You will find your sales forecasts in the associated menus. However, it's always possible to modify a line.
As you can see on the S&OP lines, columns are reserved for actual data, for what was actually achieved during these periods.
In V8.0, these fields are filled in via import or manual entry to keep a record.
In V8.1, to calculate these values, there is a batch process that you will find among the manufacturing batches. The batch data will be used to fill in the table.
Modify a line
When there is a need to modify a line on the S&OP sheet, click on a line contained in the "Sales and Operations Planning Lines" table.
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A pop-up window entitled "Sales and Operations Planning Line" will open.
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Sales forecast: fill in the "Sales forecast" field if, for example, you expect to achieve a specific sales figure. For example, 100,000 euros.
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Generate MPS Forecast: click on the "Generate MPS Forecast" button. Clicking on this button opens another window, "Generate MPS forecasts".
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If necessary, in the "Generate MPS Forecast" window, adjust the quantity of products to match the forecast figure.
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Stock location: select the stock location. You can forecast by stock location.
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Compute total forecast: once you have entered the data, click on the "Compute total forecast" button.
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Confirm Forecasts: click on the "Confirm Forecasts" button to confirm the calculated forecast. This will result in the creation of a forecast line. If the forecast amount is higher or lower than the forecast amount previously indicated, the system will subsequently display a message warning you that the amount is not correct. Click on the "OK" button to confirm the difference.
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Access: Manufacturing → S&OP/MPS → Forecasts. Here you will find the forecast line that has just been created following the calculation and confirmation of your manually made forecasts.
Create a forecast
Create forecasts manually using the Forecasts menu (Access: Manufacturing → S&OP/MPS → Forecasts) instead of launching S&OP.
Access : Manufacturing → S&OP / MPS → Forecasts → +
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Select a product, for example, a hard disk.
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Forecast Date: select the forecast date. This date can apply to both S&OP and MPS.
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Stock Location: select the stock location.
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Quantity: enter the desired quantity.
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Confirm: click on "Confirm".
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Once the forecasts have been generated, it becomes possible to start working on the Master manufacturing Schedule (MPS).
MPS
Introduction
Access: Manufacturing → S&OP/MPS → MPS
The Master manufacturing Schedule (MPS) is one of the important steps in industrial planning. MPS includes planning the products that will be produced, at what time and in what quantities.
The objective of the Master manufacturing Schedule (MPS) is to create a realistic plan that minimizes overstocking, while maximizing delivery reliability.
In Axelor, it runs like an MRP. Just select the filters (products, categories, etc.), and then start the calculation.
The MPS allows filtering the location and products you want to work on. The goal is to forecast the finished products that will be produced over the year.
MPS will work with finished products.
The MPS has an impact on MRP and supply.
Once you have created the forecasts, you can create a Master manufacturing plan (MPS ).
At Axelor, in terms of functionality, the MPS is similar to the MRP (material requirements planning) since it also applies the stock rules when calculating.
Define stock rules from the Stock Rules menu. Access : Stock management → Configuration → Stock rules → +
Create a MPS
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Give a name. For example, Server.
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Stock location: select a stock location. The MPS sees the existing forecasts and expected sales orders that will result in Manufacturing. Consequently, the MPS will plan the Manufacturing orders.
Unlike MRP, MPS will not generate purchase orders.
Sometimes users prefer to use the MRP, which allows Manufacturing orders to be planned and generates purchase orders at the same time.
Please note that the MRP can use MPS.
You can separate the MPS and the MRP in order to distinguish the roles of each, for example one employee can be in charge of Manufacturing planning, while the other is in charge of purchasing.
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Display products without a proposal: Activate this option if you need to display products without a proposal.
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Select products, product categories and product families. You can also select sales orders and forecasts.
When you select a product on the MPS sheet, make sure that it is a finished product.
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Run calculation: when you have entered all the necessary information, run the calculation (Tools → Run calculation).
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Results: the result lines will be displayed in the "Results" table. Select everything, or just few lines. Note that you can always modify a line.
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Generate proposals: click on Tools → Generate proposals. This allows you to generate Manufacturing orders.
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You will be able to select between "Generate proposals for selected lines" and "Generate all possible proposals".
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You will find the Manufacturing orders generated by clicking on the Manufacturing Orders menu (Manufacturing → Manufacturing Order).
When you have a lot of lines to process and therefore a lot of proposals to generate, be aware that this process will take time. The processing time will depend on the number of stock rules to be checked and the number of stock locations (i.e. all the sub-locations in the stock will be checked).
For example, the system may take several hours to generate proposals for a company with 6,000 locations and 3,000 products. However, it is perfectly possible to let the system process the request and work on another project from a new tab.