News and Events
News
September 2009: 78 supply chain managers and production planners attended the “6th summit production planning and user convention” in Dresden which was organized by OR Soft Jänicke GmbH. They work for 36 different companies ranging from A as in Aluminiumschmelzwerk Oetinger to Z as in Zentis. 13 current and prospective customers of OR Soft presented the solutions implemented at their site or the plans to implement a solution and talked about various topics such as detailed scheduling, supply chain management, controlling and simulation as well as about new infrastructures for better performance.
The experts appreciated this opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences, while OR Soft feels encouraged by the positive feedback to its products and by the good ideas for future services and software products, which will help us to further improve our products and services according to what our customers need.
The lectures can be requested here.
July 2009: OR Soft continues to be successful despite the actual economic situation
OR Soft has been a profitable company, completely free of debt year after year since its foundation in 1990 and will also finish this year profitably.
In 2009, 60 employees work at OR Soft, 95% of them holding a university degree.
While a lot of companies have frozen their IT budgets for this year, their IT teams got the time and the opportunity to initiate new projects which improve their ability to compete for the future. Taking advantage of this situation, OR Soft offers extended terms of payment, licenses on approval and projects in advance performance. Thus, OR Soft’s customers can already now continue to enhance and strengthen their business by improving their processes thanks to the implementation of new software.
OR Soft provides solutions with reasonable costs and fast implementation. Thus, the company even benefits from the actual cost awareness and the demand for fast implementation of risk-free solutions for a better production planning and supply chain management. Recently finished or almost finished projects with Merck KGaA, CSL Behring, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma, H&R Wasag and DHU Arzneimittel, as well as newly started projects with Daiichy Sankyo Deutschland, Merckle ratiopharm and Zentis, prove that OR Soft’s clients are now and still investing to improve their profitability in the future.
May 2009: Research project software code validation leads to better quality
since mid 2008 OR Soft is the most important partner for a research project at the University of Halle. A nine-man team is working on transforming the latest findings in software protocol inspection into one software component that all developers at OR Soft can use on a daily basis. The result of this project is a software prototype that applies mathematical validation to the software quality assurance.
OR Soft expects this new quality assurance measure for the Manufacturing Workbench to be in effect by the end of 2009. The level of innovation and the relatively early stage of the research in the field of validation will allow OR Soft to bring their own software to the next quality level not later than the producers of medical equipment bring theirs.
February 2009: OR Soft Manufacturing Workbench Version 7
18 years of scheduling experience are reflected on the new Version 7 of the OR Soft Manufacturing Workbench; a complete re-branding of the forerunner product called SCHEDULE++.
Having developed a very stable and highly functional Version 6.6, OR Soft has concentrated its efforts for the last two years to develop the subsequent version V7. V7 has a high reaction speed and also a release-safe possibility helping you tackle every kind of scheduling problems.
The new Version 7 is already being used in two introductuctory projects and two pilot phases.
December 2008: SCHEDULE++ / OR Soft Manufacturing Workbench Release 6.6.2
OR Soft released almost simultaniously a last release of Version 6 together with the first release of Version 7. These releases are available to all customers within a maintenance contract with no license costs included.
This means that for every new project both the classic architecture-based Version 6 and the new Version 7 will be availble, undertaking the best possible quality for all the projects. Both versions can run parallel considering that they are based on the same interface.
November 2008: New Handling Rules for APS Software - OR Soft will work together with the Technical University of Dresden (Department of Media Sciences) and the University of Halle-Wittenberg (Department of Software Engineering) in a project funded by the BMBF to develop better user-interface concepts for APS systems. The project will help develop a new and revolutionary version of OR Soft Manufacturing Workbench that will facilitate the usage of the software for the client.
August 2008: OR Soft will release both the version 6.6.2 and the new version 7 of the OR Soft Manufacturing Workbench to the market simultaneously on December 2008. While the version 6.6.2 is based on an already approved Technology, it will also be distinguished by its additional functions and improved multiple user operations for a higher number of clients; as well as being fully compatible with MS Vista and MS Office 2007. The version 7 is based on an architecture that has been fully revised. This one has a more flexible configuration, uses concepts of current operating systems, and processor technology much better. It can load SAP data via services (eSOA) and BAPIs as well as it can provide supplementary planning functions. These include the multi-plant demand planning (IBB) and the batch-based blend optimization (aluminum, oil, and comestibles) functions in the production planning process. Both versions can be used next to one another.
July 2008: OR Soft will release a configuration of the OR Soft Manufacturing Workbench with the Shelf-Life-Cockpit to the market in August 2008, which will support the monitoring and planning of expiring materials during the production process. The cockpit can be easily installed and administered from the company’s IT and does not require an extensive implementation project. The standard software distinguishes itself from the alternative ABAP program through a better overview of the dynamic data with drill down possibilities based on a local RAM-copy of the data model and a high-performance user interface.
June 2008: More than 70 current and prospective users from diverse industries assisted the OR Soft 5th User Conference this year. For those who were not able to take part in the event, but would still like to find out more information about the new and future developments of OR Soft, there are 11 project presentations and 3 general ones from OR Soft and SAP respectively free of charge.
May 2008: For another year, OR Soft was present as a partner of SAP and as an exhibitor for the 10th year in a row at the annual Berlin and Orlando Sapphire events, which are the largest and most significant SAP fairs. Particularly at this year’s show, OR Soft’s presentations were primarily focused on showcasing its software product: the Manufacturing Workbench – the only SAP-endorsed business solution for Supply Chain Management and Advanced Planning and Scheduling available world wide. The positive response and reactions of the visitors from OR Soft’s demonstrations at the fair supports us therein, that the cooperation between SAP and OR Soft in the fields of SCM and APS enables contributions to better meet the needs and demands of the customers in the SCM environment.
Due to growing international activities, OR Soft took part at the Sapphire in Orlando, Florida, USA as well. There are roll outs scheduled in the USA and Latin America that are to be completed before the end of this year. To better meet the requirements to provide global support to our customers, the OR Soft executive board has decided to offer a 24/7 worldwide support beginning at the second term 2008 to elaborate services offered for global acting customers.
December 2007: OR Soft can look back on a successful fiscal year 2007: The number of users of OR Soft product shows an increase of about 25 per cent, the number of employees increased by more than 15 per cent and the expected growth of turnover by more than 25 per cent as compared with 2006. Thus, OR Soft could further fortify its position as leading provider of APS and SCM software particularly as supplement to SAP products in Europe. At least the same dynamic development that could already be seen in the previous year is expected in 2008. The further intensified partnership with SAP provides the ideal framework for it. SAP recommends OR Soft’s Manufacturing Workbench as APS and SCM Add-on to SAP ERP and as SAP endorsed business solution.
November 2007: OR Soft Jaenicke GmbH today announced its Manufacturing Workbench has become an SAP-endorsed business solution. The announcement comes after collaboration with SAP AG over the last several years in the areas of supply chain management (SCM) and advanced planning and scheduling (APS). Read more about the SAP-endorsed business solution Manufacturing Workbench.
May, 16th 2006: SAP announces the new Industry Value Network for Consumer Products. OR Soft is a proud member of this network delivering added value to SAP clients with detailed scheduling and advanced planning solutions.
May, 12th 2006: OR Soft joins the SAP ESA Community. Thus, OR Soft will actively share its knowledge about production logistics, SCM and APS when designing new composite applications in the SAP NetWeaver ecosystem. Furthermore, being part of the SAP ESA Community grants OR Soft access to the most recent information about ESA, XI and SAP NetWeaver.
May, 08th 2006: SAP announces the first Industry Value Network for Chemicals. OR Soft is one of the only 10 software companies worldwide contributing to this SAP network with solutions tailored to the specific requirements of the chemicals industry. OR Soft Manufacturing Workbench provides advanced scheduling and planning as well as simulation features for the SAP NetWeaver ecosystem.
Publications and Lectures
The following articles and lectures are available via e-mail request:
"Solution for flask scheduling in a foundry", Casting Plant & Technology 1/2009, S. 38-42
"PTQ Biofuels roundtable", biofuels plant & technology 2008, S. 5-7
"Integration of Scheduling with ERP-Systems", Book "Logistics of Chemical Production Processes", S. 263-277
"Advanced Planning and Scheduling for the oil and petrochemicals industry", Hydrocarbon Engineering 10/2007, S. 59-63
"Visual representation of material flows in chemical plant systems - An approach based on SCHEDULE++", Book "Supply Chain Optimisation", 247-261
"ESA and Industry Value Networks: Customer Value with Industry Ecosystems", SAPPHIRE Paris, a lecture held by SAP AG
"Improvement of production processes through production performance management at Boehringer Ingelheim", ACHEMA, a lecture held by Dr. Heider from Boehringer-Ingelheim