Faced with a complex market environment featuring multiple varieties, fewer batches, shorter delivery times and more changes, custom furniture manufacturers are currently pressed for the support of a powerful production information management system. Since the planning and scheduling process is deemed as the core of production information, an information
system is even more imperatively needed. As the traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is used to conduct production planning and schedule management, they poorly meet the corresponding needs of custom furniture manufacturers due to the lack of process data sources and limitations in the system architecture.
Meanwhile, to meet the crying needs of the market, process software vendors within the custom furniture industry have investigated the needs of manufacturers and industrial characteristics of discreet and flexible production. They have developed a dedicated advanced planning and scheduling (APS) system for the furniture industry, which is designed to address the flaws in ERP’s planning module. Using algorithms, the system makes full use of corporate resources to perform intelligent scheduling of the production process, and automatically generate the scheduling and production batch plans, etc. Consequently, such a system facilitates lean production by improving the kitting productivity, panel utilisation and processing efficiency of orders.
Taking a simple process in FinChinasofts production information system for example, a custom order is split through Fin CAD/CAM and the order’s bill of materials (BOM) list is generated; the APS system then divides the parts into special-shaped workpieces and rectangular workpieces according to the manufacturing-
technique. Through the APS systems order and production-scheduling algorithms, the combined batches are automatically generated; rectangular panels and large-scale standard panels are allocated to the panel dividing saw, and special-shaped panels and batch size one panels head to the CNC nesting machine. Finally, the system is connected to the Fin Optimize Cloud Software to quickly obtain the cutting program files required by the nesting machine and saw equipment to begin production.
Nanxing Machinery has successfully combined its equipment and the Fin Optimize Cloud Software to maximise the advantages and efficiency of their machines. This is how the APS system and Fin Optimize Cloud Software work together.
ADVANCED PLANNING AND SCHEDULING SOFTWAREThe APS system has not only addressed the flaws of the ERPmodule but also provided effective reinforcement for the existingERP system. It automatically generates scheduling plans andproduction batch plans through algorithmic calculations toimprove kitting productivity, panel utilisation and processingefficiency of orders. The optimal computing engine can developthe most reasonable scheduling plan even under limitedproduction capacity and provide furniture manufacturers with amore cost-effective scheduling plan.
1. INTELLIGENT ORDER-SCHEDULING ALGORITHM
When an order is received, the ERP system can provide feedbackof current material storage and production capacity of the plantaccording to the real-time scheduling results from the APS system. Through its intelligent order-scheduling algorithm, the system, taking into account the order delivery time, production cycle of parts, equipment capacity, and other planned order-
scheduling constraints, can automatically generate the optimal order scheduling plan. This allows users to achieve the most optimised scheduling of production resources, and thereby improve the overall kitting productivity of business orders and effectively shorten the overall delivery time. By comparing the detailed list of required materials with the material inventory, the system can generate timely feedback on material requirements, lack-of-stock requests and generate inventory for inventory being withheld, guarantee the availability for orders in planning and
scheduling, and ensure just-in-time production with sufficient materials. In addition, special features such as urgent order delivery capability could be also introduced.
2. INTELLIGENT AGGREGATION OF PRODUCTIONBATCHES
The intelligent production-scheduling algorithm generates the production batch plan based on the systems statistical analysis of order material composition, part size distribution, processing
technology characteristics and other factors, combined with the number of parts in the batch, part area and product quantity. For example, if it accounts for 80% of the factory’s large-scale engineering orders, standard rectangular panels will be assigned to the panel dividing saw, and the special shaped panels or batch size one panels that require flexible production, accounting for 20%, will be assigned to the CNC nesting machine to effectively improve the rational allocation of equipment use, material utilisation and workshop production efficiency.
3. SYSTEM INFORMATION SHARING FOR INTELLIGENTPRODUCTION SCHEDULING
The APS system can be integrated with the manufacturing execution system (MES) and third-party ERP to fulfil interactive integration of planned production with material inventoryand production process data. This then allows the continualdevelopment towards intelligent production scheduling thatfeatures system autonomy, self-feedback and self-decisionmaking.The system is remarkably effective in actual order scheduling.The use of the APS system has developed huge advantages (eg,reduced staff, improved efficiency and increased utilisation)under the same restrictions. After having used the APS system,some customers found that batch scheduling optimised bythe algorithm could reduce panel consumption by 1% to 3%compared to the original manual method. Assuming a factorysoriginally consumes 1,000 panels a day, the APS algorithm can
save at least ten panels per day using automatic scheduling. Giventhat one panel costs about US$22.40, savings could reach up toUS$224 daily and US$67,200 annually (based on 300 workingdays per year).
FIN OPTIMIZE CLOUD SOFTWARE
Upon using the APS system’s intelligent scheduling in thepreliminary stage, further improving the panel optimisationrate is the key to success for furniture enterprises. Presently, toimprove the utilisation rate of panels, panel-type whole-housecustom manufacturers across China generally merge multipleorders into one production batch, and optimise the layout ofworkpieces through optimisation software. Cutting optimisationsoftware has also gradually developed into an important tool forprocessing the production data of process-splitting software,and has thus become a must-have product for such softwarecompanies in the industry. However, cutting optimisation softwareof different companies may differ in technical features accordingto deployment plan, supported equipment types and layoutalgorithm, which would directly affect the optimisation efficiency,ease of use and extensibility of the software. This could ultimatelyaffect customers’ user experience.
The Fin Optimize Cloud Software is an online layout optimisationsystem based on a cloud server. The user can log in to thesystem via the Internet on any computer at any time and placeto easily upload and optimise the order data and get the desiredlayout result to coordinate with follow-up production. The corelayout algorithms of the optimisation software also get updatedand maintained regularly to continuously improve optimisationresults, including the utilisation rate of materials and processingefficiency of equipment. Currently, two optimisation algorithms– special-shaped layout algorithm and rectangular layoutalgorithm) – are being applied to the mainstream cuttingdevices, the CNC nesting machine and panel dividing saws,respectively.
ONLINE NESTING CLOUD SOFTWARE – SHAPED PARTSAND BATCH SIZE ONE
An ordinary optimisation software can only complete the layout of rectangular workpieces. For special-shaped panels, theoptimising process is performed by the rectangular outline.As a result, the vacant materials cannot be used rationally,adding to the cost of the enterprise. FinChinasofts CNC nestingmachine optimisation software uses intelligent algorithms toupload data to the cloud for automatic optimisation, achievingnesting of special-shaped panels, filling of layout and requiresless manual work.
By using software to assist the automation equipment, theoptimised utilisation rate and processing efficiency of specialshaped workpieces are greatly improved. In addition to theoptimisation, it can also perform multi-material optimalmanagement, remodification of layout results, adding ofstandard parts, utilisation of material remainder, output reports,XML, CSV+MPR/BPP optimisation and other important features,which facilitate better management, raise production efficiencyand save investment costs. At present, the optimised utilisationrate for traditional rectangular workpieces is about 80%, andthe number can be raised to 90% or even higher for specialshaped parts.
ONLINE SAWING OPTIMISATION SOFTWARE FORRECTANGLE PARTS
The web version of the online optimisation software is easyto use and allows the user to log in for layout anytime fromanywhere, breaking the limitation of time and space. The newlyadded matching header function allows flexible matchingto eliminate the restrictions that previous optimisation softwarehave on part listing. The optimal layout is produced using theAI intelligent algorithm of the cloud server, and a variety ofoptimised formats are supported, including CSV, SAW, NXCUTand XML, to achieve seamless integration with the paneldividing saw.
It is evident that using algorithms to make the most optimalproduction scheduling plans under limited production capacitycan greatly improve furniture manufacturers’ kitting productivity,panel utilisation and processing efficiency. As the core processof production informatisation, an APS system is becomingincreasingly important in lean production.
（The article was extracted from the Panels & Furniture Asia, Nanxing）