Applied Composites

Applied Composites, a global leader in aerospace and defense composites manufacturing, found that rapid business growth exposed critical weaknesses in their production planning infrastructure. As their customer base expanded, so did workforce requirements and scheduling complexity — factors that compounded quickly in aerospace, where tight tolerances, long-lead materials, and regulatory traceability leave little room for operational disorder. The company struggled to maintain visibility into material availability, coordinate job sequencing across available machines, and ensure adequate staffing coverage. The result was a disorganized shop floor, worker stress, and missed orders — a direct threat to customer relationships in a sector where delivery performance is a contract-qualifying criterion.

Applied Composites partnered with Lean Scheduling International (LSI), a certified Siemens Digital Industries Software partner with domain expertise in discrete and process manufacturing scheduling, to implement Siemens Opcenter APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling). The existing approach — a patchwork of spreadsheets and ERP-generated production reports — lacked real-time material visibility and could not model the constraint interactions inherent in composites manufacturing, such as autoclave capacity, cure cycle sequencing, and workforce qualification requirements. Opcenter APS replaced these tools with a dedicated scheduling engine that integrates with ERP data to generate feasible, constraint-aware production schedules. LSI's industry-specific implementation methodology accelerated configuration and user adoption, ensuring the system reflected Applied Composites' actual production constraints rather than generic scheduling logic.

The implementation of Opcenter APS eliminated the disorganized planning environment that had been causing missed orders and worker stress. Applied Composites gained real-time visibility into material availability, enabling schedulers to build feasible plans before committing to delivery dates. Job sequencing across machines became structured and constraint-aware, reducing the manual coordination burden on planners. Key operational improvements included:

• Eliminated missed orders driven by scheduling oversights and material shortfalls
• Reduced planner workload by replacing manual spreadsheet reconciliation with a purpose-built scheduling system
• Improved workforce utilization by aligning staffing plans with machine availability and job demand
• Decreased shop floor stress through clearer, more reliable daily work assignments

• Spreadsheets and standard ERP scheduling modules are insufficient for high-mix aerospace composites manufacturing, where constraint interactions — materials, capacity, workforce qualifications — require dedicated APS logic.
• Growth-induced chaos is a predictable inflection point; companies should evaluate APS readiness before disorder affects customer delivery performance.
• Selecting a systems integrator with industry-specific APS experience significantly reduces configuration time and improves fit between the software model and actual production constraints.
• Successful APS adoption depends on integrating with existing ERP data flows; without reliable upstream data, schedule quality degrades regardless of the tool.
• Measurable improvements in planner workload and shop floor morale are often early leading indicators that an APS implementation is succeeding before formal metrics are established.