In the Production Planning, we typically also include the replenishment step, which takes care to generate supply orders for open external and internal demands. These can be WorkOrders (or ProductionOrders), PurchaseOrders or TransportOrders. For now I will focus on the WorkOrders only.
If a customer order enters the system, it is the best practice in DELMIA Quintiq solutions to allow the planning solution to generate its own WorkOrders. These WorkOrders are created based on available Routings, which typically come from external systems, such as ERP. There can be alternative Routings for the same material to produce, where there can be variation in used resources, input materials, suppliers, etc. The system will select the best option in correlation with the whole planning, and then generate and plan these WorkOrders.
But the question that often pops up, is who owns these WorkOrders in the end. In our best practice, the planning system can have the responsibility to create these, but they are only proposals, and they may change after new inputs have been received. These proposals need to be made persistent in other systems, and most commonly this is the ERP system. The ERP system often needs that information anyway for costing purposes, but it also fits quite well due to the transactional nature of these systems.
But in some cases, it could also make sense to let the MES or MOM system own the WorkOrders, because they typically need these for supporting the production of the materials. This is especially convenient, if these WorkOrders often get adapted while production goes on, for instance because of changing dimensions (not according to plan), changing yields, or orders are combined onto materials (slitting patterns), or materials are combined for orders (welding N:M combinations). In such cases it could make sense to have the ownership of the active WorkOrders in the MOM system. After production finished, it could still make sense to transfer the WorkOrders to the ERP system, for costing and tracking purposes.
So, why not in the planning system, you could ask. My view on this is that the planning system is not very suitable, because of the following reasons:
- The full set of information needed for planning is a subset of what MOM and ERP need
- Planning systems are typically not so much transaction oriented, and historical data is often a burden for the system
- Planning systems might focus only on a subset of the whole supply chain, or leave out related information like logistical activities to transport the materials between production areas or storage areas
So the planning system could be capable to generate WorkOrders internally, use that in the planning, but when these are needed for production, these proposals should best be converted to real WorkOrders (PlannedOrders/ProductionOrders/WorkOrders) in ERP or MOM. And there the WorkOrder life goes on.
