Advanced Planning and Scheduling compared to MS Project within Pharmaceutical manufacturing

Many people have tried to use project planning software for production scheduling but quickly run into difficulties. In the article below, I have tried to summarise some of the key differences between Access Orchestrate Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software and project planning software.

Multiple batch production

When describing a batch footprint, there are some similarities between Advanced Planning and Scheduling software and a list of tasks in a typical project. The diagram below shows an example.

Although there is a list of tasks that can occur on one of the 20L Bioreactors, Advanced Planning and Scheduling software also understands that, for a single batch, the set of tasks must occur on the same Bioreactor. This is important because in a scheduling problem we need to see more than a single batch. We need to see how the batches mesh together. The diagram below shows two 20L Bioreactors feeding four 100L Bioreactors.

Alternative manufacturing routes

The above example shows that a batch can be processed on any on the 20L Bioreactors and any of the 100L Bioreactors. Access Orchestrate’s usage of Resource Groups is an easy way to manage these alternative routes. Alternative routes are not necessary for project management and are therefore not offered in project management software.

Shared equipment and resources

A production suite may often be required to process different products, with a different batch footprint and a different choice of alternatives for the processing vessels. With Advanced Planning and Scheduling software you simply enter the different products as Items and use the Process form to enter the different processing steps. With the Resource Groups form you can set up different alternative routes for the different products.

Multiple resources constraints

A simple project management tool will often tell us how many hours are needed for each resource but that’s not enough for production scheduling. Advanced Planning and Scheduling software can confirm what resources we need for each task and shows us clearly WHEN we need them. Advanced Planning and Scheduling software will ensure there are not any conflicts.

The diagram below shows a simple example where each CIP step also requires a CIP skid. Advanced Planning and Scheduling software ensures that our detailed plan is feasible and that the CIP skids are not a constraint.

With Advanced Planning and Scheduling software you can define as many resources as you need to accurately reflect your process. Pharmaceutical production schedules often include Rooms, Process Equipment, multiple teams of Process Labour, CIP skids and Maintenance Labour.

Clean hold times and process hold times

Access Orchestrate has a simple method for limiting the maximum time between process steps. This is often used to reflect the Clean and Sterile hold times as well as the in process hold times. So, if a task is moved on the plan, the hold times are respected, and any problems are clearly highlighted.

Bill of Materials

Orchestrate can take a Bill of Materials for each product, either by reading in from an existing ERP system or by entering it directly into Orchestrate’s menus. This means we can use Orchestrate to help plan the components that are required to support the main production batches.

Buffers, media, stock and expiration

In particular, we may hold some stock solutions in media and buffer and we may wish to monitor when we need to make up a fresh batch. If we make it too early, then the buffer will expire before we use it. If we make it too late, then we delay the main process train. Orchestrate includes expiry, and stocks in order to help manage this problem and information about the planning requirement is clearly presented in Orchestrate’s demand planner.

Material dependencies

A key requirement n managing buffer stocks and the production of sub components is being able to see how the various batches link together. The example below shows a media batch being linked to several production tasks.

Utilities

As well as being used for day to day scheduling, Orchestrate is often used for capacity planning where a key question is whether or not the plant’s utility system can keep pace with a new production demand. For example “if we increase to 3 batches per week can the WFI system cope?”

The diagram below shows a particular output from Orchestrate, the contents of a WFI tank. Simply by moving tasks on the plan, the tank contents are updated so we can instantly see that the schedule has on tank contents.

User Specific Views and Real Time Updates

By defining views that are user specific Orchestrate can highlight different areas of different people. In addition, we can link Orchestrate to Shop Floor Data Capture (SFDC), Manufacturing Execution Software (MES) or we can update Orchestrate’s task status manually. In either ca keep pace with real time and highlight tasks that have been started, completed etc. The example below shows that a media batch has not been completed as expected, so the production needs to investigate and take action.

If you would like to understand more about Access Orchestrate Advanced Planning and Scheduling Software or techniques used by Master Schedulers within the Pharmaceutical industry, please message me and I will be pleased to share my experience.