Reference wayRTS
The orthopedic technology manufacturer Ottobock, world market leader in the field of prosthetics and wearable human bionics, has completed a series of optimisation projects and put its planning processes to the test. The Sales & Operations Planning Software wayRTS / waySuite was at the centre of the new cross-plant planning practice.
Transparent demand and production planning
The orthopedic technology manufacturer Ottobock, the world market leader in the field of prosthetics and wearable human bionics, has completed a series of optimization projects and put its planning processes to the test. The previous capacity planning, using “SAP ECC” and “Microsoft Excel,” depended on users’ experience and it was time-consuming. Working with valantic, a new plant-wide planning practice was developed and waySuite was introduced. This sales & operations planning software is now used as standard software alongside SAP; with its help, the work required for overall planning and control has been reduced significantly, while productivity and adherence to deadlines have increased.
Comprehensive sales & operations planning
Optimized planning organization with standardized planning guidelines
Transparent management of capacity-limiting manufacturing tools
ATP/CTP feasibility tests to determine realistic delivery dates
Simulation of production planning scenarios for various material availability and processing capacities situations
Bastian Steffens
Supply Chain Process Specialist, Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA
”It was helpful to involve planners from the other plants as early as during the implementation of the APS software in the main plant and to develop a standardized daily routine and uniform working method in wayRTS. Since the introduction of centralized demand planning, specific production planning is done in each individual plant. We all work with the same lists and views. This gives us a high degree of transparency and defines the inter-plant processes.“
The initial situation
Extensive capacity planning based on experience and relying on SAP ECC and Microsoft Excel was one of the challenges in the Ottobock value chain. That’s why the plan was to introduce waySuite as standard software alongside SAP. The Ottobock project team for the introduction of advanced planning & scheduling software (APS) was aware that processes and software must be coordinated so that a digitalization step such as semi-automated demand and production planning can have its full effect.
Workshops to prepare semi-automated demand and production planning
When the collaboration with valantic began, the planners from the orthopedic technology company also wanted to hear what “best practices” there were – after all, valantic’s supply chain experts have decades of experience with process optimization. For example, a series of PP/DS process workshops (SAP Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling) with representatives from Production Planning and Logistics, Business Process Management, Production/Production Engineering, Purchasing, SAP PP/MM Application Management, and Sales were among the first measures. The previous planning organization, responsibilities, and processes were examined, and optimization potential sought based on representative products and work plans. After the development of a planning guideline, a standardized procedure followed in the use of waySuite.
The company headquarters in Duderstadt, Lower Saxony, and the plant in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, began with the implementation of the software suite for sales & operations planning. The biggest challenge there was with production tools for prostheses: Molds for the production of prosthetic feet increasingly represented a bottleneck in production capacities. Like the production tools, available capacities were mapped in the combination of pool workstations and workplace hierarchies of employees in the real-time APS software wayRTS. This was a prerequisite for ATP/CTP feasibility tests to determine realistic delivery dates and the automatic optimization of production control with the software’s “AI” algorithms. Optimization goals and priorities are formulated for this and the algorithms for automatic optimization taught. They can then take on routine tasks.
Scenario simulation
Cross-plant supply chain branching was one of the topics in the next step, when waySuite was implemented at the Ottobock plant in Vienna. Products for mechatronic knee and arm prosthetics are manufactured here. Production in Vienna, for example, depends on the Ottobock sites in Duderstadt and Blagoevgrad, as it supplies, for example, milled parts and pre-assembled assemblies. Planning is complicated by the large number of product variants. “Our colleagues in Vienna use the software’s scenario technology particularly intensively. In wayRTS, production planning can be simulated in real time for different starting scenarios without this affecting the current planning status. Our colleagues are therefore preparing themselves for various situations with regard to material availability and processing capacities,” reports Supply Chain Process Specialist Bastian Steffens.
Enormous variety of wheelchairs
In Königsee, Thuringia, the hometown of company founder Otto Bock, a wide variety of manual and electric wheelchairs, seating and positioning solutions for adults and children are produced. The custom design of the wheelchairs leads to millions of different combinations. The effort for manufacturing varies, and the aim was therefore to achieve a uniform utilization of workplaces through production planning in wayRTS. wayRTS fetches the parts lists from SAP for this purpose. Due to the high proportion of customer-specific products – more than 90% of wheelchairs are manufactured to order – the variant configuration including the mapping of configuration from quotations was the decisive adaptation of wayRTS.
Balanced production plans over the course of the year thanks to capacitive optimization of workplaces and production tools
Transparency of needs, stocks, and bottlenecks
Reduced planning effort and support thanks to the software's automatic optimization function
Requests or order loads are simulated as real-time scenarios without disrupting productive work
Increased productivity
Increasing on-time delivery in production
About Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA
Ottobock has been developing innovative healthcare solutions for people with reduced mobility for over 100 years. As a “human empowerment company,” Ottobock provides freedom of movement, quality of life, and independence. It is backed by more than 9000 employees at 60 locations worldwide.
As the world market leader in portable human bionics, the company, founded in 1919, is constantly setting new standards and driving the digitalization of the industry forward. Since 2018, Ottobock has transferred its expertise in biomechanics to exoskeletons for ergonomic workplaces. The company’s international activities are coordinated from its headquarters in Duderstadt (Lower Saxony).
In 2023, Ottobock generated sales of EUR 1.5 billion. Since 1988, Ottobock has been supporting the Paralympic Games with its technical expertise.
Anne Wiegert
Senior Manager Marketing & Communications
valantic Supply Chain Excellence