Production planning with multiple resources (Dynamic resource management)

This is a tough one, but it is worth the read.

Some times you need more than one resource to perform a production operation and maybe these two resources can be used in other combinations to perform other operations. To get an optimal production plan that takes all this in to account is important, and with AX 2012 this is achievable.

To solve this, we use the secondary operation type in the routes to handle multiple resources and competencies to make resources work across different tasks/jobs with variation in properties.

Take for instance a simple production line with welding and assembly.

You have:

• 5 workers (2 can assemble, 2 can weld and 1 can both weld and assemble)
• 4 assembly stations
• 3 welding stations
• 4 welding torches

How do you set this up?

Resource groups:

•  Factory workers
•  Welding tools
•  Welding stations
•  Assembly station

Note: I’ve only created generic groups even through not all Resources within a Group is eligible for an operation. If you have multiple sites you might want to create one factory worker group for each site and added resource group to your requirements. As these might not be swapped around within a day. If you want to move a resource from one site to another it is easily done. For instance if you need a resource to be moved from site 1 to site 2 for a couple of days to fulfill some big orders.

Capabilities and Certificates: To be able to dynamically plan resources between different tasks and still be able to group them we need to apply some type of data. This is done by using capabilities (can be shared between any type of resource) or HR properties like competencies, skills, certification and so on. In this example we use a weldig certificate as a requirement for beeing able to plan a resource on a welding job. Read more about setting up capabilities

Note: On resources that can perform multiple tasks it is smart to use prioritization on the capabilities to ensure that they don’t move around too much and is put to work where the perform the best.

Route setup:
Routes would with the old model contain two operations (10 Weld – 20 Assemble) and two lines.
10 – Weld
20 – Assembly

In the dynamic model we will have two operations (10 Weld – 20 Assemble), but we use five lines.

10 – primary – Welder
10 – secondary1 – WeldTorch
10 – secondary2 – WeldLoc
20 – primary – AssWorker
20 – secondary1 – AssLoc

Resource requirements:
Operation: Welder
Resource type: Person
Certificate: Welding

Operation: WeldTorch
Resource type: Tool
Capability: Weld

Operation: WeldLoc
Resource type: Location
Capability: Weld

Operation: AssWorker
Resource type: Person
Capability: Assembly

Operation: AssLocation
Resource type: Location
Capability: Assembly

Notice that I didn’t allocate a specific resource group or Resource.

The planning engine will now take in to account all my resources and dynamically assign my Assembly/Welder where he is needed most.

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Give your planning engine the information that it needs to give you the best suggestions for operations. Use multiple resources where applicable and Dynamics Resource planning for optimal results.