The first part of our blog series "PAILOT for electronics production" explained why classic ERP systems reach their limits in electronics production and how networked planning measurably increases efficiency and adherence to schedules. The topic of the second part is "Assembly & personnel: APS (Advanced Planning & Scheduling) as the key to flexible production planning."
The importance of manual assembly in the PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) process
In PCBA production, manual assembly is often the last step in the production process. Unlike automated processes such as wave soldering or SMT, there are many manual steps and variants involved here. This quickly makes planning with Excel imprecise, confusing and time-consuming. Deadline delays occur above all when qualifications and personnel resources are not taken into account.
Planning with staff availability & qualification
The consideration of individual employee qualifications is important to ensure that products are only manufactured by sufficiently qualified personnel (thus avoiding errors). However, qualifications also have a significant impact on adherence to deadlines and flexibility. If qualifications are not taken into account, this can lead to individual employees becoming a bottleneck. In addition, only by systematically taking qualifications into account can it be ensured that this flexibility is intelligently utilized with several qualified employees. Assembly processes can only be managed efficiently through planning that maps personnel resources and also takes flexible personnel, shift capacities and individual qualifications into account.
How APS systems intelligently take staff shifts and qualifications into account - and when this makes sense
APS systems (Advanced Planning and Scheduling) supplement classic ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning) with detailed scheduling under realistic capacity conditions. They take into account personnel, machines, materials and deadlines simultaneously and plan against limited capacities. This is in contrast to planning against unlimited capacities in the MRP run of ERP systems. The plans created in this way are therefore more realistic and the resulting deadlines are compared against the available capacities and are therefore much more reliable.
A modern APS not only takes into account available capacity in hours, but also qualifications, shift models and priorities. Thanks to simulations and scenario analyses, alternatives can be run through - for example in the event of machine failure or short-term demand. Such tools are particularly relevant for variant-rich production and small batches - precisely where manual planning reaches its limits.
APS is not a replacement for ERP or MES (Manufacturing Execution System), but acts as an intelligent bridge: It retrieves data from the ERP (e.g. inventories, orders, personnel data), creates a realistic plan and, if desired, transfers it to the MES for execution and, in return, retrieves real-time data for continuous fine-tuning. The result: greater adherence to deadlines, better resource utilization, reduced throughput times.
Practical examples from the PAILOT application (STARTEAM)
PAILOT supports companies in electronics production, such as in PCBA final assembly with many manual steps. In practice, it quickly becomes clear how crucial the combination of dynamic shift planning, consideration of qualifications and seamless integration into ERP and MES systems is. Planners can run through "what-if" scenarios, react flexibly to shift changes or last-minute orders and have transparent assembly plans in view at all times.
The example of STARTEAM Global shows how this works in practice: the introduction of PAILOT has increased capacity utilization in production by 10% - and at the largest bottleneck, 36 drilling machines with six drilling heads each, by up to 20%. At the same time, delays were reduced by up to 43%. The key was the switch from local priority lists to cross-departmental planning. The result: less planning effort (reduction from four to two planners), better use of resources and significantly better adherence to deadlines.
Takeaway: With PAILOT, companies work more flexibly, transparently and efficiently while optimally integrating their existing systems.
Conclusion
Manual assembly is indispensable in the PCBA process, but it is also complex in terms of planning. Only APS systems such as PAILOT enable detailed planning that intelligently takes into account personnel availability, qualifications, shift models and last-minute changes. They combine deadline-oriented ERP rough-cut planning with operational MES implementation - and thus form a responsive, consistently optimized planning process that noticeably increases efficiency and adherence to deadlines in practice.
