APICS - TPA - March 1998 - Letter From the Editor

March 1998 • Volume 8 • Number 3

Letter From the Editor:

An Integral Issue

With the crush of the holidays well behind us and the first glints of spring making brief, yet promising appearances, most us have firmly re-ensconced ourselves into our everyday routines. Thoughts at this point of the year typically turn toward improving our operations and thus bettering our work-day scenarios. And the critical issue here is scheduling.

What's the best way to do it? How is the competition doing in this respect? What do I need to do make it happen, or improve our existing process?

This topic is of such importance to the resource management field that we cover it twice a year (March and August in 1998). In this month's issue, the primary focus is on the burgeoning field of advanced planning and scheduling (APS), with two articles dissecting the technology and underlining its core aspects for success.

The first of these articles, by Ursula Hess, explores the importance of using actual production information to effectively plan and schedule. This may seem a no-brainer at first, until one realizes that classical manufacturing systems, as well as many APS systems, do not utilize such seemingly critical information. Hess goes on to explain the impact of factual information on the planning and scheduling process, as well as detailing the system design and benefits of a real-time APS system.

Eric Dullin also explores the realm of APS by looking into the functionality of systems that embrace the entire process flow, thereby spanning the enterprise. He looks into the effects of the enterprise- and plant-centric approaches to scheduling to determine which portions of each system are preferred and why, and how a combination of these scheduling tactics can more powerfully bolster your company's supply chain (article begins on page 52 of the print edition).

At the heart of the scheduling process lies a long-running difference of opinion: Which is better, JIT or MRP? Pull vs. push. Bob Millard confronts this issue by looking at the origins of both systems and examining them in light of current computer system technology and better demand forecasting.

With these three articles covering the topic of scheduling, you should get a good grounding not only about where the process is headed in even the most cutting-edge environs, but also gain a better understanding of the origins of today's most widely used scheduling methods.

The Next Installment
I trust you enjoyed the first in the series, "APICS Across America," which highlights the educational impact of the 270 APICS chapters throughout North America. February's issue featured Boeing Commercial Airplane Group's DCAC/MRM business reengineering project, and APICS' educational role at the company. Boeing has been in the news a great deal lately, and it looks as if the DCAC/MRM project may not only serve to streamline the company's production processes, but may also be a primary factor in enabling Boeing to better fulfill the demand for new airplanes. It will be interesting to see how the company reacts to meet the expectations of this rapidly evolving marketplace.

This month's feature deals with the true value of APICS education and how it helped to improve the author's career and brighten the fortunes of the company with which she was employed. Not only did the author expand her job potential with APICS education, she has parleyed her knowledge into an advanced position with another company. See how this former planner used APICS education to become manager of production and inventory control.

David Greenfield, editor
[email protected]

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