Insight Works is a leading global supplier of distribution and manufacturing software for Dynamics 365 Business Central and a trusted partner of Bond Consulting Services (BCS). Insight Works has a worldwide client base and dozens of solutions such as Shop Floor Insight, Advanced Inventory Count, Warehouse Insight, Dynamic Ship, WMS Express and many more, to automate operational processes and increase productivity leveraging Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Insight Works recently released their MxAPS solution for Advanced Finite Capacity Scheduling in Business Central. MxAPS makes planning and scheduling simple for a variety of industries through its repeatable and systemized processes, advanced capabilities and customizable features. Continue reading to learn more about the immense benefits and powerful capabilities of MxAPS below!

How Does MxAPS Help with Planning and Scheduling?

The Graphical Scheduler tool in Business Central enables users to create schedules for their organization, but it is very time consuming and often frustrating as it requires manual effort of dragging and dropping important data into the calendar.

MxAPS simplifies and automates this process of building a schedule by enabling users to leverage the Generate Production Schedule tool in which they simply enter information such as the start date, schedule duration, and any relevant filters, hit a button, and then the updated schedule will generate within 10 seconds or less.

After creating a schedule, users can run “what-if scenarios” in their schedule, such as comparing which orders will be late and which will be early, to optimize resources and equipment and determine which schedule you actually want to execute.

Additionally, users can graph the generated schedules in the Graphical Scheduler tool in Business Central to visually see the layout of time, equipment required, employees scheduled and process segments for setup of the project. MxAPS supports color changes, tooling changes, breaks, cool down time, and many other instances so you can have an end-to-end view of what your schedule should look like.

For instance, an automotive company can test different segments to determine the appropriate welding stations and machines to use for a particular project before involving your customer or other members of your team. MxAPS will tell you the exact capacity you need to execute your planned schedule and if there will be any potential issues or overloads throughout the duration of the project. After running the schedule and reviewing the important statistics and graphs, users that are satisfied with the schedule can press “Commit Results”, and MxAPS will automatically update the schedule start and end times in Business Central and send the schedule to the shop floor for execution.

MxAPS enhances Business Central’s already powerful features by enabling users to generate a Production Schedule in a few short seconds compared to several days of planning and manual input. Simply submit your schedule, review and compare the results, send it to the shop floor and then you are free to focus on what matters most for your business.

Several top organizations across a variety of industries such as Mitsubishi Motors, The Washington Post, Johnson & Johnson, Haynes International and many more, are already utilizing MxAPS for their planning and scheduling needs and are loving the results! MxAPS has enabled its users to achieve a 50% increase in throughput, a 10-30% reduction in direct and indirect labor hours, a 50% reduction in setup time, and a 15-25% increase in resource utilization among other impressive results.

The MxAPS stand-alone application for Business Central on-premises is available now and can be installed at any time. The MxAPS cloud-based application for the Business Central cloud will be available on AppSource beginning in June of 2021 with Advanced Constraints available in August of 2021. Check out the full list of MxAPS’ powerful capabilities below!

The Powerful Capabilities of MxAPS:

1. Finite capacity for forward scheduling
2. Automatic machine center selection
3. Automatic machine alternates for special cases
4. Order sequencing
5. Configurable scheduling rules
6. Lot splitting by number of lots or lot quantity
7. “Net Change” rescheduling for equipment downtime and priority changes
8. Planned equipment maintenance scheduling
9. Advanced process modelling
10. Non-production scheduling
11. Multi-segment setup reduction
12. Advanced constraints for material, labor, tooling and more

To learn more about MxAPS and other Business Central applications from Insight Works, please visit the Insight Works website and contact their team.

For more information on how you can leverage MxAPS and Dynamics 365 Business Central to increase success for your business, please schedule a free consultation with our BCS Team or contact sales@BondConsultingServices.com to reach out to our expert team of consultants.