| # Assembly planning overview The Assembly Planning module is used to plan the assembly of product variants, and to generate assembly orders in Assembly Control. Assembly Planning does this for assembly lines in a mixed model flow production environment, which is characterized by high volumes, and many variants of complex products. Before you can use Assembly Planning, you must set the APL parameters in the Assembly Planning Parameters (tiapl0500m000) details session. If you use Infor Integration for some integrations, you must specify the bus components in the Company - Bus Components (tiapl0501m000) session. Note that the behavior of several sessions depends on one or more of the following parameters: Is Master Company External Assembly Parts and Operations External Product Variant Structure Test Mode The main processes in Assembly Planning are as follows: The product variant is generated. The product variant structure is generated. The assembly part requirements are calculated. The assembly orders are created. The following sections provide an overview of these processes. For detailed information, refer to the online Help of the related sessions, and to the related topics listed at the end of this document. Step 1. The product variant is generated The product variant is generated on sales order entry. In the Sales Order Lines (tdsls4101m000) session, the sales order line specifies the generic item that is sold, and other data, such as the required offline date, price, and so on. One of the specifications can also be the effectivity unit, which can be used to configure the product variant. For production purposes, the information that is entered on the sales order line is stored in a product variant. The product variant represents the specific product that is sold. You can view the product variant in the Product Variants (tiapl3500m000) session. Several processes can only run in the master company of a generic item. Therefore, you must define which generic items are produced on which assembly lines in the Generic Item - Assembly Line (tiapl2500m000) session. If this is not defined, you cannot enter a sales order line, for example, because no product variant can be created. In the Generic Item - Assembly Line (tiapl2500m000) details session, you can also specify a basic sales price and cost price. Step 2. The product variant structure is generated So far, the product variant is only a reference to the product without production data. This production data must be determined by solving the relations to the generic sub-items and engineering modules that make up the generic end item. These relations are solved based on effective dates and/or units. The generic sub-items and engineering modules are retrieved from the generic BOM, which you can view in the Generic Bill of Material (tiapl2510m000) session. The result of this process is stored in the product variant structure, which is displayed in the Product Variant Structures (tiapl3510m000) session. The relations to generic sub-items are solved when the product variant is generated, that is, on sales order entry. The relations to engineering modules are solved in a separate process. You can run this process through the Generate Product Variant Structures (tiapl3210m000) session. However, the Calculate Assembly Part Requirements (tiapl2221m000) session, the Generate Assembly Orders (tiapl3201m000) session, and the Refresh and Freeze Assembly Orders (tiapl3203m000) session can also run this process. The assembly parts and operations that are required to assemble the end item are stored below the level of the engineering modules. In the Flattened Assembly Parts and Operations (tiapl2520m000) session, you can view the parts and operations per engineering module. The operations are defined in the Operations (tiapl1500m000) session. Operations are assigned to line stations in the Operation Assignments (tiapl1510m000) session. Note the following Generic sub-items can also have their own generic sub-items. To each generic item one or more engineering modules can be related. If the External Product Variant Structure check box is selected in the details of the Assembly Planning Parameters (tiapl0500m000) session, only the relations between the generic items are solved. The relations to the engineering modules are delivered from an external source. In LN, the flattened parts and operations are delivered from an external source. Therefore, the External Assembly Parts and Operations check box in the Assembly Planning Parameters (tiapl0500m000) session is always selected. As a result, you can maintain the data in several sessions only if you work in test mode. Product variants that are no longer required, can be deleted by means of the Purge Product Variants (tiapl3200m000) session. Step 3. The assembly part requirements are calculated If the product variants and product variant structures are generated, the assembly part requirements can be calculated, and assembly orders can be created. Assembly part requirements are calculated, based on the product variant structures and the flattened assembly parts. The assembly part requirements are calculated for product variants whose planned offline date falls in the demand time fence. The demand time fence is defined in the details of the Assembly Planning Parameters (tiapl0500m000) session. The calculation is based on segment schedules that indicate on which date the assembly parts are required for each segment, based on the offline date of the assembly order. Segment schedules are displayed in the Segment Schedules (tiapl4500m000) session. When the assembly part requirements are calculated, they are transferred to Enterprise Planning. Step 4. The assembly orders are created Assembly orders are created for product variants whose planned offline date falls in the assembly order time fence of the roll-off line. The assembly orders are created by Assembly Planning, but are stored and executed in Assembly Control. In a multicompany situation, assembly orders are created for each company. Assembly orders can only be created for assembly lines that are actualized, which means that the lines are released for use in the production process. Only assembly lines that are valid can be actualized. You can both validate and actualize assembly lines in the Actualize Assembly Lines (tiasl1231m000) session. You can also validate the assembly lines in a separate session: the Validate Assembly Lines (tiasl1230m000) session. Assembly order creation uses the concept of line-station variants (LSVs). LSVs store the materials and operations per line station. You can use the Refresh and Freeze Assembly Orders (tiapl3203m000) session to refresh and freeze assembly orders. Orders that are refreshed, are updated with changes in the product variant or product variant structure. Orders that are frozen, are no longer updated automatically. Frozen orders can only be updated manually in Assembly Control. The update of assembly orders also applies the concept of LSVs. The update actually determines whether the LSVs that can be created based on the new product variant and/or product variant structure, would differ from the existing LSVs. If that is the case, new LSVs are created, where required, and sent to Assembly Control. In the Product Variant - Assembly Lines (tiapl3520m000) session, you can view on which assembly lines a product variant is assembled. The session also displays whether the required assembly parts are already allocated in Assembly Control, and whether the assembly order on the specified assembly line is frozen. Note that on another assembly line, the same order can be not frozen or only partly frozen. Related topics Assembly control overview Segment schedules To store finished generic items |