QAD Adaptive Applications

Training Guide
MSW Leveling

70-3421-4.3
QAD Planning and Scheduling Workbenches
September 2019
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Copyright © 2019 by QAD Inc.

MSWLeveling_TG_v043.pdf/sl8

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 Contents
MSW Leveling Change Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

About This Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Course Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Course Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Course Credit and Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Organization of Training Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Virtual Environment Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
QAD Learning Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
QAD Document Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
QAD Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 1 Introduction to Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Lesson Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
What is Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Leveling Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Problem for Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Sequencing Versus Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
MSW Example of Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
MSW Example Before Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Leveling within the Production Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Production Order Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
MSW Example After Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Leveling Business Case Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
What Makes Leveling Effective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Chapter 2 Leveling Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Lesson Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Basic Requirements for Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Leveling within the Production Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
iv MSW Leveling Training Guide

Basic Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Leveling Using EPEI and Takt Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Leveling, EPEI, and Takt time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
EPEI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
EPEI Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
EPEI Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Takt Time Example and Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Order Scheduling Performed Using Takt Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Sequencing within Leveling Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Scheduled Daily Capacity, Takt Time, and Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
MSW Example of Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Production Orders Across the Time Bucket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Required Capacity and Setup Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Chapter 3 Leveling Horizon and Time Buckets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Lesson Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Leveling Horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Example of a Leveling Horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Leveling Horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Orders in the Leveling Horizon and Released Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Time Buckets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Time Buckets for Leveling Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Horizon Dates with Leveling Increment of Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Time Buckets within a Scheduling Horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Full One-Week Time Buckets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Leveling Horizon and Time Bucket Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Example of Valve Assembly Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Example of Robotic Equipment Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Leveling Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Partial Time Buckets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Horizon Dates and Partial Week Time Buckets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Partial Bucket with Excluded Capacity and Production . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Partial Bucket with Included Capacity and Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Partial Bucket with Insufficient Capacity for Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Chapter 4 MSW Leveling Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Lesson Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Relationships Between the EPEI and Setup Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
EPEI and Number of Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
EPEI with More Available Time for Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
MSW Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
More Leveling Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

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 Contents v

Example: EPEI Leveling with 2 hours Available Capacity for Setup . . 57

Example: EPEI Leveling with 10 hours Available Capacity for Setup . 59
Leveling Intervals: Calculated EPEI and Minimum Interval Parameter . . . . . . 61
Leveling with EPEI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Minimum Interval Parameter for Production Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Minimum Interval for Production Line Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Minimum Interval Parameter for an Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Minimum Interval Parameter for Item Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Chapter 5 Leveling Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Lesson Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Setting Up to Calculate the EPEI and Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Required and Optional Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Required Setup for Production Lines and Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Setup Option of a Kanban Process and Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Kanban Process Item and Minimum EPEI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Required Calendars and Calendar Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Product Information Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

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vi MSW Leveling Training Guide

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 MSW Leveling Change Summary
Product Name Changes

Starting in September 2019, the new name for QAD’s complete portfolio of products is QAD
Adaptive Applications. Additionally, QAD Adaptive ERP is the new name for QAD’s flagship
ERP solution. QAD Adaptive ERP includes the functionality previously associated with QAD
Cloud ERP and QAD Enterprise Applications - Enterprise Edition, plus the QAD Enterprise
Platform and Adaptive UX which resulted from the Channel Islands program. Going forward, the
terms QAD Enterprise Applications, QAD Cloud ERP, and Channel Islands will be deprecated but
will remain in previous documentation and training materials. QAD’s intention is to—as soon as
possible—eliminate the use of the deprecated terms going forward.

Change Summary

The following table summarizes significant differences between this document and the last
published version.
Date/Version Description Reference
September 2019/2019EE Initial release of document --
viii MSW Leveling Training Guide

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About This Course
2 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Course Description
This course provides training upon the leveling functionality in the Planning and Scheduling
Workbenches for Production Orders. It focuses on the general introduction, basic concepts, setup,
and examples of leveling. For more information about the leveling features, you can refer to the
user guide for QAD Planning and Scheduling Workbenches for Production Orders.

Course Objectives
The overall objectives of the course are to provide a basic background in MSW leveling.
This training guide is organized with several chapters, and each chapter includes a list of learning
objectives for the topics covered in that chapter.
By the end of this training, you should be able to:
• Understand the basic concepts related to leveling, including but not limited to EPEI, takt time,
minimum interval, leveling horizon, and time bucket.
• Describe the relationships:
• Between the leveling horizon and time buckets
• Between the EPEI, the time available for setup, and number of setups
• Between the EPEI and the preset minimum interval
• Between planned capacity, required capacity, setup time, excess capacity, and scheduling
• Set parameters to determine the leveling horizon and time buckets, and calculate the EPEI and
takt time.
• Understand the general processes of leveling.
• Set up and operate the leveling functions.

This course is not intended to take the place of implementation training or consulting. The
complete body of knowledge required to make the business decisions required for system setup
and implementation is beyond the scope of this course.

Audience
This course is intended for:
• Business analysts
• Implementation managers
• Production schedulers
• Production managers
• Operations managers

Prerequisites
An understanding of basic manufacturing principles is beneficial.

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 About This Course 3

Course Credit and Scheduling

This course is valid for 4 credit hours.

Organization of Training Guide

There are five main chapters in this training guide:
• Introduction to Leveling
• Leveling Basics
• Leveling Horizon and Time Buckets
• MSW Leveling Details
• Leveling Setup

Key concepts are discussed at the beginning of each chapter to familiarize you with processes,
work flows, and terminology. For example, in Chapter 3, “Leveling Horizon and Time Buckets,”
concepts discussed include leveling horizon and time buckets.

Virtual Environment Information

The hands-on exercises in this book should be used with the latest QAD Adaptive ERP learning
environment.
When prompted to log in, specify demo for user ID and qad for password. In general, students are
more comfortable with static data they are familiar with such as currencies and addresses.
However, it is up to the instructor to decide which exercise set to use, depending on the audience.

Additional Resources
If you encounter questions on QAD software that are not addressed in this book, several resources
are available. The QAD corporate Web site provides product and company overviews. From the
main site, you can access the QAD Learning or Support site and the QAD Document Library.
Access to some portions of these sites depends on having a registered account.
https://www.qad.com/

QAD Learning Center

To view available training courses, locations, and materials, use the QAD Learning Center. Choose
Education under the Services tab to access this resource. In the Learning Center, you can reserve a
learning environment if you want to perform self-study and follow a training guide on your own.

QAD Document Library

To access release notes, user guides, training guides, and installation and conversion guides by
product and release, visit the QAD Document Library. Choose Document Library under the

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4 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Support tab. In the QAD Document Library, you can view HTML pages online, print specific
pages, or download a PDF of an entire book.

To find a resource, you can use the navigation tree on the left or use a powerful cross-document
search, which finds all documents with your search terms and lets you refine the search by book
type, product suite or module, and date published.

QAD Support
Support also offers an array of tools depending on your company’s maintenance agreement with
QAD. These include the Knowledgebase and QAD Forums, where you can post questions and
search for topics of interest. To access these, choose Visit Online Support Center under the Support
tab.

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 Chapter 1

Introduction to Leveling
6 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Lesson Overview

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 Introduction to Leveling 7

What is Leveling

From the Japanese, leveling reduces “unevenness” (Mura), which in turn reduces “waste” (Muda).
The Planning and Scheduling Workbenches provide the capability to level production orders for a
production line, to create a schedule with smaller production intervals and more frequent
production orders, to smooth requirements within the production scheduling horizon.
Reduced variability, a level schedule with small production intervals, leads to simpler material and
capacity planning. The leveling process determines the mix, sequence, and flow of production, to
create a schedule that can be supported by production resources.

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8 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Leveling Objectives

The primary objective of leveling is to reduce the variability of demand for materials and the
capacity requirements for production resources.

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 Introduction to Leveling 9

Problem for Leveling

The primary reason for leveling production stems from the fact that production schedules are
uneven. This presents fluctuations in the demand for production resources, demand that can often
exceed the capacity for any given day.
What causes uneven schedules? To begin with, the master schedule may contain production orders
that are scheduled by week, with a status of being Firm or Planned, for material requirements
planning and rough-cut capacity planning. While this may be acceptable within the master
schedule horizon, the production schedule may require production orders that are scheduled more
frequently, to level the demand for component materials, and to balance the load on production
lines and work centers.
A typical master schedule is stated as a weekly quantity usually due on the first day of the week.
Since the master schedule is a series of production orders for different items, it usually means that
all the material requirements for all components are due on the same date and all the capacity
requirements for shared resources are on that date as well.
The degree to which demand and capacity variability can be reduced depends on spreading the
master schedule quantities over the week, instead of bunching them on a single day. Yet, if the
process of spreading master schedule quantities is limited to moving large lot sizes, over the
course of the week, the component requirements and capacity requirements may still be lumpy.
This lumpiness can only be reduced by taking more steps to reduce the lot sizes, and as a result
reduce the “production interval,” the amount of time it takes to get back to the first item in the
production sequence.

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10 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Sequencing Versus Leveling

The process of sequencing production orders within a time bucket is not the same as leveling.
Sequencing is not leveling. This explains why the problem of uneven schedules is not solved by
the simple re-sequencing of orders. Sequencing alone provides little reduction of variability or
“lumpiness” of material requirements and capacity requirements.

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 Introduction to Leveling 11

MSW Example of Leveling

MSW Example Before Leveling

This example shows the production line schedule before leveling, the parameters for leveling, and
the schedule after leveling.
There are two items with one order scheduled on the first day of the week. The 31.4 hours of
required capacity for that day exceeds the 8.0 hours of planned capacity.

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12 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Leveling within the Production Schedule

Leveling can be applied to a two-week leveling horizon.

Within the production scheduling horizon, you can:
• Create a schedule with smaller production intervals and more frequent production orders to
smooth requirements.
• Level the demand for component materials.
• Balance the load on production lines.

Master production schedule:

• Contains production orders that extend to the end of the horizon, that may be scheduled by
week, resulting in lumpy requirements for materials and production resources.
• Supports rough-cut capacity planning.

Note Extending the leveling horizon beyond the production schedule may result in excessive
processing times.

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 Introduction to Leveling 13

Production Order Requirements

Leveling schedules production orders within the Leveling Horizon.

The leveling process works by creating a level schedule from “non-fixed” orders, those that have
production order status of planned or firm.
It does this by splitting and/or sequencing the orders to create a level schedule within a scheduling
bucket.
When the leveling horizon contains both “fixed” orders—those that have production order status
of exploded, allocated, or released—together with “non-fixed” orders, the leveling process first
loads the fixed orders using backward scheduling, then it loads and automatically level schedules
the non-fixed orders.
To assure consistent application of measures so as to determine how schedules are leveled, all of
the items on a production line must be either:
• Kanban items identified with a Kanban Process that is identifiable with the production line, or
• Non-Kanban and Kanban items that are not identified with a Kanban Process that is
identifiable with the production line.

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14 MSW Leveling Training Guide

MSW Example After Leveling

In this example, the production orders created during leveling spread across a week for each item.

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 Introduction to Leveling 15

Leveling

The effectiveness of leveling is directly related to the degree that production intervals can be
reduced. Physical and process improvements to the production process, as well as setup time
reduction, are particularly required to achieve this.

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16 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Leveling Business Case Examples

Leveling is commonly used with lean manufacturing, Kanban, make-to-stock (MTS) items, and
finish-to-order (ATO) items.
Leveling is frequently done for Finish-to-Order (Assemble-to-Order) situations where planning is
done through planning bills of material, and could be done for MTO/ETO situations where there
are a few “model” bills of material that are used for planning component materials when having a
customer order or an engineering design.

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 Introduction to Leveling 17

What Makes Leveling Effective

By creating a production environment in which each item is produced as needed, in the smallest
possible quantities, you achieve a regular drumbeat, eliminating the lumpiness of component
requirements as well as the lumpiness of capacity requirements, simplifying the process of both
inventory replenishment and capacity planning.
The value of EPEI is determined by:
• Available capacity for the production line
• Required run time for the scheduled item and quantities
• Setup time for items

A time bucket of one week might have an EPE interval of 0.5 week, where all items are produced
twice a week.

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18 MSW Leveling Training Guide

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 Chapter 2

Leveling Basics
20 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Lesson Overview

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 Leveling Basics 21

Basic Requirements for Leveling

Leveling within the Production Schedule

Within the production scheduling horizon, you can:

• Create a schedule with smaller production intervals and more frequent production orders to
smooth requirements.
• Level the demand for component materials.
• Balance the load on production lines.

Master production schedule:

• Contains production orders that extend to the end of the horizon, that may be scheduled by
week, resulting in lumpy requirements for materials and production resources.
• Supports rough-cut capacity planning.

Note Extending the leveling horizon beyond the production schedule may result in excessive
processing times.

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22 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Basic Requirements

To assure consistent application of measures to determine how schedules are leveled, the
production orders for all of the items that are scheduled on a production line must be either:
• Non-Kanban and Kanban items that are not identified with a Kanban Process that is identified
with the production line, or
• Kanban items identified with a Kanban Process that is identified with the production line.

The production orders within the leveling horizon should primarily consist of “non-fixed” orders,
those with production order status Planned or Firm.
The leveling process works by creating a level schedule from “non-fixed” orders.
It does this by splitting and/or sequencing the orders to create a level schedule within a scheduling
bucket.
When the leveling horizon contains both “fixed” orders—those that have production order status
of exploded, allocated, or released—together with “non-fixed” orders, the leveling process first
loads the fixed orders using backward scheduling, then it loads and automatically level schedules
the non-fixed orders.

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 Leveling Basics 23

Leveling Using EPEI and Takt Time

Leveling, EPEI, and Takt time

The effectiveness of leveling is directly related to the degree that production intervals can be
reduced. Physical and process improvements to the production process, as well as setup time
reduction, are particularly required to achieve this.
By creating a production environment in which each item is produced as needed, in the smallest
possible quantities, you achieve a regular drumbeat, eliminating the lumpiness of component
requirements as well as the lumpiness of capacity requirements, simplifying the process of both
inventory replenishment and capacity planning.
The smallest production interval is called Every Part Every Interval (EPEI). EPEI is an interval
during which every item can be set up and produced within a time bucket. It is calculated from the
time available for production, the current setup time for each part, and the current run time for each
part.
Scheduling is performed using takt time rather than setup and run (or cycle) time.

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24 MSW Leveling Training Guide

EPEI

EPEI is the smallest possible interval during which every item can be set up and produced within a
time bucket.
Determining the value of EPEI is the key to leveling. The value of EPEI is determined by:
• Available capacity for the production line
• Required run time for the scheduled item and quantities
• Setup time for items

There is a way to determine the smallest possible interval and the lot size for each MPS item—
using the time available, the current setup time for each part, and the current run time per part.

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 Leveling Basics 25

EPEI Example

During the 144,000 seconds within the 40 hours of time bucket, there will be 19,500 units
produced, one unit each 7.38 seconds (or each 0.00205128 hours).

Using leveling to calculate the every part every (EPE) interval—the size of the interval that every
item, scheduled for production on a production line, can be set up and produced within a time
bucket.
The interval, the value of EPEI, is determined using:
• Available capacity for the production line

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26 MSW Leveling Training Guide

• Required run time for the scheduled item and quantities

• Setup time for items

More detailed examples for EPEI are included in “More Leveling Examples” on page 57.

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 Leveling Basics 27

EPEI Calculation

EPEI is calculated from the available capacity for the production line, the time required for fixed
orders, the required quantities and run time for non-fixed orders, and the setup time per unit for all
non-fixed orders items. It can be expressed as:
EPEI = Time available for setup of non-fixed orders / Setup time (per unit) for all non-fixed order items

where,
Time available for setup of non-fixed orders = Available capacity for non-fixed orders - Runtime for non-
fixed order quantities

and
Available capacity for non-fixed orders = Total available capacity - Setup and runtime required for fixed
order quantities

In detail, EPEI is calculated as:

EPEI = (Total available capacity in time bucket - Setup and runtime required for fixed order quantities -
Runtime required for non-fixed order quantities) / Setup time (per unit) for all non-fixed order items

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28 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Takt Time Example and Calculation

Takt time is the average pace at which items are produced on a production line. It can be expressed
as:
Takt time = Total time available capacity for production in time bucket / Total quantity required for
production (for both fixed and non-fixed orders)

Leveling schedules orders using takt time within intervals calculated for a scheduling bucket.
Takt time is also used to determine the maximum quantity that can be produced on a day, where:
Daily maximum quantity = Daily available time / Takt time

The daily maximum quantity can alternatively be expressed as:

Daily maximum quantity = Total quantity required for production / Number of working days in a time
bucket

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 Leveling Basics 29

Order Scheduling Performed Using Takt Time

Order scheduling within intervals is determined using takt time rather than the setup or run time.
Takt time is calculated using the time available and the quantity required (and not directly
impacted by setup or run time).

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30 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Sequencing within Leveling Intervals

The production of items within an interval is sequenced by:

• Mfg Seq for Kanban Process and ite
• Run Sequence setup for the item and production line
• Item number

Use Kanban Process Maintenance to set the value for the Mfg Seq parameter for an item.
Use Item Production Line Maintenance to set the value for the Run Sequence parameter for an
item on a production line.
Note For Kanban items, the system considers the Run Sequence setup in Item Production Line
Maintenance instead of Mfg Seq in Kanban Process Maintenance.

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 Leveling Basics 31

Scheduled Daily Capacity, Takt Time, and Scheduling

Takt time is used to level production orders and to determine the maximum quantity that can be
scheduled for a day, as follows:
Daily maximum quantity = time available for the day / Takt time.

The daily maximum quantity can also be expressed as:

Daily max quantity = Total quantity required for production / Number of working days in a time bucket.

Important When the production of an item spans more than one day, it results in multiple
production orders. Be especially careful not to confuse the number of production orders created
for an item, with the number of intervals the item within a time bucket.

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32 MSW Leveling Training Guide

MSW Example of Leveling

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 Leveling Basics 33

Production Orders Across the Time Bucket

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34 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Required Capacity and Setup Time

The required capacity for each day is determined by the setup and run times for orders. When the
production of an item within an interval spans more than one day, setup time is included in the first
order for the item within the interval. Other orders for the item within the interval do not include
setup time.

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 Chapter 3

Leveling Horizon and Time

Buckets
36 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Lesson Overview

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 Leveling Horizon and Time Buckets 37

Leveling Horizon

Example of a Leveling Horizon

Leveling is applied to production within time buckets in the span of time defined for the Leveling
Horizon.
The leveling horizon is a span of time that begins beyond the released master production schedule,
within the production scheduling horizon. The leveling horizon is a period during which leveling
calculations are performed and orders can be automatically scheduled using the MSW, defined by
the Horizon Start and Horizon End dates.
The released production schedule period preceding the leveling horizon consists of production
orders that are “fixed” and scheduled manually, with status Exploded, Allocated, and Released.
Extending the leveling horizon beyond the production schedule may result in excessive
processing times.
Important Although the Horizon End date may extend to the end of the Master Production
Schedule, the processing time to complete the calculations for EPEI and leveling is likely to be
excessive.
A time bucket is:
• A period inside the leveling horizon within which calculations are performed
• A time span determined by Leveling Increments and Number of Increments

Example
• Beyond the current week, if there is a one-week frozen period
• Including the first three weeks following the frozen period

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38 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Leveling Horizon

The leveling horizon is determined by Horizon Start and Horizon End dates, together with the
number and size of time increments (daily, weekly, monthly), specified by the Level Production
Line parameters.
When using an increment of Week, set the Horizon Start date to a day that corresponds to the day
defined in MRP Control (23.24) for the Summary Default day parameter, and set Horizon End date
to a day that corresponds to the day prior to the Summary Default.
Select the Level button on the MSW/PSW to set the parameters for leveling a production line:
• Horizon Start cannot be before the current date.
• Horizon End cannot be after the end of the MPS horizon.

The end of the MPS horizon is determined by choosing Option|Preferences on the MSW, then
updating values in History Horizon and Future Horizon.
Important Although the Horizon End date may extend to the end of the Master Production
Schedule, the processing time to complete the calculations for EPEI and leveling is likely to be
excessive.

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 Leveling Horizon and Time Buckets 39

Orders in the Leveling Horizon and Released Period

Leveling schedules production orders within the Leveling Horizon.

The leveling process works by creating a level schedule from “non-fixed” orders, those that have
production order status of planned or firm.
When the leveling horizon contains both “fixed” orders—those that have production order status
of exploded, allocated, or released—together with “non-fixed” orders, the leveling process first
loads the fixed orders using backward scheduling, then it loads and automatically level schedules
the non-fixed orders.
When the leveling horizon contains both “fixed” and “non-fixed” orders, the leveling process:
1 First loads the fixed orders using backward scheduling.
2 Then loads and automatically level schedules the non-fixed orders, using the remaining
capacity within a scheduling bucket.

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40 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Time Buckets

Time Buckets for Leveling Calculations

The leveling horizon typically contains “non-fixed” production orders with status Planned or Firm
that can be automatically rescheduled by the leveling process.
It is preceded by the released production schedule period which contains “fixed” production
orders—order status Exploded, Allocated, and Released—that are not automatically rescheduled.
Note In reality, the MSW leveling horizon within the production schedule and the master
production schedule may in fact have “fixed” orders with status Exploded, Allocated, and/or
Released.
A future version supports leveling with fixed and non-fixed orders together.
Time buckets for the leveling calculation are determined by the unit of time period, corresponding
to a day, week, or month, together with the number of increments (days, weeks, or months) that are
needed to make up a time bucket.
The size of the time bucket is the multiple of the leveling increment and the number of increments.
• Leveling Increments: Select Day, Week, or Month to determine the unit for a time bucket.
• Number of Increments:
• Enter the number of increments that make up a single time bucket.
• Enter 1 if the time bucket is a single day, week, or month.
• Enter 0 if the entire MPS horizon is one significant bucket.

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 Leveling Horizon and Time Buckets 41

Horizon Dates with Leveling Increment of Week

The default starting day for a 7-day—or one-week—leveling bucket is determined by the value
defined for the Summary Default day in MRP Control (23.24).

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42 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Time Buckets within a Scheduling Horizon

In this example, the scheduling horizon consists of two one-week leveling buckets. Each bucket
consists of 7 days. The starting date for each bucket falls on Sunday, the Summary Default date
defined in MRP Control.

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 Leveling Horizon and Time Buckets 43

Full One-Week Time Buckets

The figure shows how orders scheduled at the beginning of a week are leveled over the one-week
period beginning on Sunday (the Summary Default date).
The time bucket includes the capacity and production for all of the days within the one-week
period.

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44 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Leveling Horizon and Time Bucket Examples

Example of Valve Assembly Production

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 Leveling Horizon and Time Buckets 45

Example of Robotic Equipment Production

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46 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Leveling Tips

Extending the leveling horizon beyond the production schedule may result in excessive processing
times. Although there may be reasons to level the entire master production schedule, the
processing time may not be acceptable.

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 Leveling Horizon and Time Buckets 47

Partial Time Buckets

Horizon Dates and Partial Week Time Buckets

Be careful to select values for the Horizon Start and Horizon End dates that correspond to the
Summary Default day when using increments based on “week,” to avoid partial time buckets.
When there is a partial time bucket, the calculation of EPEI and takt time, and leveling are
determined for a period that is shorter than a full-time bucket. It does not recognize the available
capacity and production that fall on days that fall outside of the partial time bucket that would
otherwise fall within a full-time bucket.
A partial bucket with fewer days can appear at the beginning and/or end of a scheduling horizon.
This happens when either the Horizon Start day of the week does not match the value for the
Summary Default day of the week defined in MRP Control, or the Horizon End day does not
match the day prior to the Summary Default day of the week defined in MRP Control.
In this example, the value for the Summary Default day is Sunday. The horizon begins with a
partial week consisting of four days (Tuesday to Friday) and ends with a partial week consisting of
three days (Tuesday to Thursday), with Monday being an exceptional non-working day.

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48 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Partial Bucket with Excluded Capacity and Production

Orders scheduled at the beginning of the week are not leveled when Horizon Start falls later in the
week.

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 Leveling Horizon and Time Buckets 49

Partial Bucket with Included Capacity and Production

Orders scheduled at the beginning and middle of the week are leveled differently when Horizon
Start falls after the Summary Default day in the week.
Leveling is performed based on the capacity and production within the short time bucket.
Capacity and production orders that fall within the same week but before the partial are processed
ahead of Horizon Start.

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50 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Partial Bucket with Insufficient Capacity for Leveling

Capacity and production orders that fall within the same week, but after the Horizon End, are
excluded by leveling. The figure above shows how orders scheduled at the beginning of the week
cannot be scheduled. Horizon End falls in such a way as to reduce the capacity for the week.

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 Chapter 4

MSW Leveling Details

52 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Lesson Overview

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 MSW Leveling Details 53

Relationships Between the EPEI and Setup Time

EPEI and Number of Setups

Leveling determines the number of EPE intervals for a time bucket. The number of setups and
intervals increases as the available time for setup within the time bucket increases, as a factor of
the required runtime. As the required runtime for the time bucket decreases, the available time for
setup and the number of setups and intervals increase.
• The fewest number of intervals for a time bucket is 1, with each item being set up and
produced a single time within a time bucket.
• The maximum number of intervals within an interval can be high, with items scheduled
multiple times in a single day.
When the EPEI or minimum number of intervals is 1.0, then each part is produced 1 time within
the time bucket.
If the EPEI or minimum number of intervals is 0.2, then each part is produced 5 times within a
time bucket.

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54 MSW Leveling Training Guide

EPEI with More Available Time for Setup

EPEI = 0.2 weeks resulting in five intervals for the one-week time bucket.
Scheduled production does not exceed maximum capacity of 8.0 hr per day.

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 MSW Leveling Details 55

MSW Example

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56 MSW Leveling Training Guide

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 MSW Leveling Details 57

More Leveling Examples

Example: EPEI Leveling with 2 hours Available Capacity for Setup

In this example production quantities are higher, therefore the required capacity is only slightly
lower than production capacity.
• Planned capacity: 40 hours
• Required capacity for run time: 38 hours
• Total time to set up all items for a single interval 0.5 hours
• Time available for setup 2 hours resulting in 4 intervals in the time bucket

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58 MSW Leveling Training Guide

This example illustrates how little excess capacity can result in higher EPEI, fewer intervals, and
fewer orders. The calculated EPEI for week is 0.25, which results in 4 intervals for a one-week
bucket and 12 orders for the week (not exceeding the maximum daily capacity).
The interval segments for items sequenced scheduled across the week, organized by day. With an
interval that spans more than one day, production for an item can be split into multiple production
orders.

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 MSW Leveling Details 59

Example: EPEI Leveling with 10 Hours Available Capacity for Setup

In this example, production quantities are lower; therefore, the required capacity is significantly
lower than production capacity.
• Planned capacity: 40 hours
• Required capacity for run time: 30 hours
• Total time to set up all items for a single interval: 0.5 hours
• Time available for setup 10 hours resulting in 20 intervals in a time bucket

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60 MSW Leveling Training Guide

This example illustrates how greater capacity results in a lower EPEI, more intervals, and a higher
number of orders. The calculated EPEI for week is 0.05, which results in 20 intervals for a one-
week bucket and 46 orders for the week (not exceeding maximum daily capacity).
The interval segments for items sequenced scheduled across the week, organized by day. With an
interval that spans more than one day, production for an item can be split into multiple production
orders.

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 MSW Leveling Details 61

Leveling Intervals: Calculated EPEI and Minimum

Interval Parameter

Leveling with EPEI

EPEI (every part every interval) is the smallest production interval possible when leveling within a
time bucket.
• The interval during which every item can be setup and produced.
• Calculated from the time available for production, the setup time for each item, and the run
time for each item.
The ultimate goal is to get to the shortest possible interval for producing an item while meeting
demand.
Leveling with EPEI:
• Maximizes the number of intervals that every item can be produced within a time bucket, by
consuming the available capacity.
• Minimizes the interval for producing each order.
• Results in greater number of orders, reducing lot sizes, and increasing the number of setups to
fully use the available capacity.
Consequence:
• Production orders may have an order quantity of 1.
• It is possible to have tens or hundreds of orders for every item each day.
• Scheduling when not using Kanban can become very difficult.

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62 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Minimum Interval Parameter for Production Line

Maintain the Minimum Interval parameter in Production Line Maintenance (16.1.1) and Item
Production Line Maintenance (16.1.4). Use the Minimum Interval parameter to:
• Control how frequently items are produced within a time bucket when leveling production,
thereby reducing the number of orders that are created by leveling.
• Prevent leveling from creating more production orders for items within a time bucket than is
manageable, particularly when the available capacity within a time bucket might be high.
The minimum interval:
• Is the shortest number of hours for producing an item.
• Determines the frequency which an item is produced.

The minimum interval can be set to a period of time such as a shift, a day, or week. Setting the
minimum interval to the number of hours for a workday, prevents leveling from creating more than
one order for an item for a day, when the calculated EPEI would otherwise result in multiple orders
for a day or shift.
The leveling process uses the:
• Minimum interval instead of EPEI for scheduling items within a time bucket when the
calculated EPEI is less than the minimum interval.
• Greater of the minimum interval set for the item and production line, the production line, and
the calculated EPEI.
• Calculated EPEI when minimum interval is set to 0.

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 MSW Leveling Details 63

Minimum Interval for Production Line Example

As a general rule, set Minimum Interval for a production line, rather than setting it for items on a
production line.
• Set Minimum Interval in hours to determine the smallest production interval for leveling every
item.
• When the value for minimum interval is 0, the smallest production interval is determined by
the EPEI calculation.
In this example, the production line is set up with the goal of limiting production to 3 intervals per
week. This is done by setting the Minimum Interval to 16 hours for a 48-hour work week.
There are multiple orders for an item within an interval when production spans more than one day.
When this happens, setup appears on only the first order for the item within an interval.

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64 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Minimum Interval Parameter for an Item

As a rule, set Minimum Interval for an item only when there is an exception for that item.
• Set Minimum Interval in hours to determine the smallest production interval for a particular
item.
• Use this function when the minimum interval is not determined by either the minimum
interval set for the production line or the EPEI calculation.

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 MSW Leveling Details 65

Minimum Interval Parameter for Item Example

In this example, item 02101 on production line 02100 is set up with the goal of limiting production
to 2 intervals per week. This is done by:
1 Setting the minimum interval for the production line to 0 to use EPEI to determine the interval
for the production line.
2 Setting the minimum interval for item 02101 to 24 hours for a 48-hour work week.

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66 MSW Leveling Training Guide

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 Chapter 5

Leveling Setup
68 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Lesson Overview

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 Leveling Setup 69

Setting Up to Calculate the EPEI and Leveling

Required and Optional Setup

Note For a production line, all items must be set up:

1 For the production line alone, with setup time and run rate or,
2 For the production line together with a Kanban process, with setup time and cycle time.

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70 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Required Setup for Production Lines and Items

The required setup includes:

• Production lines with production rate (units/hour) and setup time.
• Items and production lines with production rates and setup times when they are different than
defined for the production line itself.
• Production line calendar.

These are needed for the proper calculation of required capacity from the setup time and run rate
for items and the production line (including items for a Kanban process). The required capacity
appears in the MSW Capacity panel.

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 Leveling Setup 71

Setup Option of a Kanban Process and Items

The setup of a Kanban process and items is optional and is not appropriate for push production
items, which are not replenished using Kanban or pull replenishment. It has both pros and cons.
Pros:
• Minimum EPEI for an item and Kanban process is an alternative to the Minimum Interval for
a production line.
• The leveling interval is determined by the larger of Minimum EPEI or calculated EPEI when
EPEI Auto is Yes.
• Fixed EPEI is used instead of the calculated EPEI or Minimum EPEI when EPEI is not
selected (set to No).
Cons:
• Requires implementation of Kanban.

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72 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Setup Option for Kanban Process

Set up the production line and items, together with a Kanban process and item.
• Enter the Production Line for the process, after setting up the production line and items.
• Uptime% and number of Resources determine total available time.
• EPEI Display Option determines how the value for Min EPEI is to be displayed for items and
the Kanban process. If you set EPEI Auto to No and enter a value in the EPEI field in the
Kanban Process Detail frame, the entered EPEI indicates the EPEI interval and is expressed in
the unit selected for EPEI Display Option (Days, Weeks, Months, and so on). The system then
uses this value together with the available time and calendar setup to calculate the number of
changeovers in a leveling bucket.
Note There is no look-up browse or validation for Production Line.

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 Leveling Setup 73

Setup Option for Kanban Process Items

You can use Kanban Process Maintenance (17.1.3.1) to set up Kanban process items:
• The cycle time is used as run time to, together with setup time, determine the time required for
production.
• EPEI is not used when EPEI Auto is selected.
• Leveling recognizes the value for Min EPEI when calculating EPEI.
• Min EPEI can be set to 0.000 or the value specified in EPEI Display Option (Days, Weeks,
Months, and so on).
• Min EPEI is expressed in the unit selected for EPEI Display Option in the Kanban process.

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74 MSW Leveling Training Guide

Kanban Process Item and Minimum EPEI

Setting the minimum EPEI can limit the size of the EPEI used for scheduling, thereby limiting the
number of orders scheduled within an interval. The minimum EPEI can be set up for items that are
defined for a Kanban process and production line. The EPEI time bucket is determined by the
EPEI Display Option for the Kanban process.
The setting for the EPEI Display Option parameter determines how the value for Min EPEI is to be
displayed for items and the Kanban process. EPEI is not used when EPEI Auto is selected. Set Min
EPEI to a value in the unit selected for EPEI Display Option (Days, Weeks, Months).
Note The minimum EPEI cannot be configured for items and production lines that are not
defined for a Kanban process.
Minimum Interval is applied to non-Kanban items during leveling.
You can define the minimum interval for a production line using Production Line Maintenance.
You can also define a specific minimum interval for each item on the production line using Item
Production Line Maintenance.

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 Leveling Setup 75

Required Calendars and Calendar Exceptions

Create calendars for a production line with Production Line Calendar Maint (16.1.13.1).
The system considers holidays, overtime, and downtime. Holidays reduce available time; overtime
increases available time; and shift adjustments, like downtime, reduce available time.

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76 MSW Leveling Training Guide

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