Vacom setzt auf KI-basierte Planung mit APS FEDRA

Improved Delivery Reliability in a Complex Production Planning Process

Guest article from the perspective of AI specialist Vernaio

Production planning is a complex field where artificial intelligence (AI) can make a huge contribution. AI specialist Vernaio provides the required technology (Kayros) for AI-based planning with MPDV’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling System (APS) FEDRA. Find out in this guest article what VACOM has achieved with it.

VACOM Vakuum Komponenten & Messtechnik GmbH  is a vacuum specialist producing a wide range of components tailored to the customer’s needs. The 322-strong company operates worldwide and generates annual sales of more than 35 million euros.

VACOM has 1,200 orders in constant rotation, each containing up to 20 operations. That makes two to three orders per machine per day with a planning horizon of six months. The challenge was to resolve conflicts between meeting all scheduled delivery dates and reducing overall costs while keeping certain constraints in mind. The main focus was on bringing down lead times and setup times. However, manual planning was no longer possible due to the high complexity of production processes.

The solution was an AI-based planning with the Advanced Planning and Scheduling System (APS) FEDRA by MPDV and supported by the Vernaio solution called Kayros . Acting as an integrated component of MPDV’s manufacturing IT, the AI solution Kayros calculated a production plan with 28,000 steps on 700 machines on a standard PC in less than 60 minutes.

Thanks to Kayros, VACOM is now able to identify and avoid capacity bottlenecks well ahead. The total time savings in production planning gained with AI-based planning is about 50 percent compared to the manual one. According to VACOM, they were able to increase production output by at least 10 percent.

You can find the complete Success Story directly at Vernaio.

About Vernaio

The software company Vernaio located in Munich specializes in powerful industrial AI applications. Vernaio can help companies to optimize their production processes, especially by preventing production disruptions before they occur. Vernaio is also an important technology partner of MPDV and is closely associated to the manufacturing IT as the stakeholder of AIMES.

By the way: The mApp AI Planning is the basis for production planning with artificial intelligence.