Preactor takes a breakthrough approach to the planning process. Whereas most planning systems use a spreadsheet type grid to calculate the production load with some simple load levelling to push overloads from one week to the next, Preactor’s uses its detailed scheduling roots to search for available capacity.


When used in a long term planning system Preactor is set up with a high level model of the process. The forecast demand is usually planned at SKU (finished product) level and the process capacity is typically represented as weekly or daily ‘buckets of capacity’, with the resources representing departments, cells, plants or entire factories.   The inputs to the planning system are the forecast demand, initial stock and the target stock level required at the end of each day or week. The target stock levels can either be entered as a number of items, e.g. 10,000 cases, or in Days of Cover (DoC), e.g. 14 DoC, in which case Preactor analyses the forecast and real demand over the next DoC period to determine the required stock level.

The available capacity is also entered through a calendar system set up in either daily or weekly mode for each resource, where resources may be departments, cells, plants or entire factories.
Typically the production load is backward scheduled, so Preactor will start by trying to load the demand onto the available resources into the week or day it is ideally required.  Preactor also includes the concept of a ‘Make Window’.  The Make Window defines how early you are prepared to make the product because there may be shelf life issues to take into account. If capacity cannot be found within the Make Window, then alternative resources will be considered.

The planner can then use the system to change planning parameters and capacity in each period to see the impact on deliveries, stock levels, and capacity utilization over the planning horizon.