A reappraisal on advanced planning and scheduling systems

Purpose – This paper sets out to present a reappraisal on advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems in industrial settings and propose an effective approach for APS implementation. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is adopted, and a research framework comprising human‐, technological‐, and organizational‐dimensions is developed to analyze the evidence database which includes business flows, system design documents, archival records, post‐system assessment, participant‐observation and semi‐structured interviews. Findings – The findings indicate that real‐world production planning problems are ill‐defined, complex and dynamic. A post‐implementation evaluation reveals major pitfalls in the technology‐dominant approach, whose negative ramifications are usually overlooked. Besides, these APS implementation pitfalls are found to be attributable to the real‐world context, human factors and organizational aspects. Research limitations/implications – Despite advances in information technology (IT) and computer modeling techniques, humans still play critical roles in the production‐planning processes – especially in a complex and dynamic manufacturing environment where incomplete, ambiguous, inconsistent and untimely data make automatic planning unrealistic. A rational human‐computer collaboration scheme under an effective organizational structure would be in a better position to take advantage of the IT. Originality/value – This paper presents a humans‐technology‐organization‐framework of real planning systems, which is employed to analyze a case of APS implementation. Practical insights are extracted as a result of this field research, and a realist approach is proposed to cope with the problems and pitfalls of APS implementation in industrial settings.