Implementation of an Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) System

• [SITUATION]:
In a major mining company, within the Iron Ore business unit, the Iron Ore Supply Chain Business Unit aimed to begin a transformation journey toward a more optimized and technology-driven supply chain. Until then, supply planning processes heavily relied on manual tools (Excel and basic solvers) and the experience of analysts to build demand fulfillment plans for both domestic and export markets.
To address this, the company launched a project to develop an APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling) system capable of generating supply plans for the iron ore chain across multiple planning horizons:
➢ Short term: monthly horizon with daily buckets;
➢ Medium term: annual horizon with monthly buckets;
➢ Long term: multi-year horizon with yearly buckets.

The system was expected to balance supply and demand through what-if scenario simulations, reflecting push or pull production dynamics while considering logistical constraints (different capacities across transport modes) and ore quality requirements. The ultimate goal was to minimize costs by optimizing ore blending to meet customer specifications (chemical and physical parameters such as moisture, granulometry, Fe, SiO₂, Mn, P, etc.).

• [TASK]:
I was assigned to support this strategic initiative from conception to delivery, collaborating with IT, operations, process consultants, and software developers. My key responsibilities included:
• Working with the process consultancy to review and detail all supply chain processes;
• Technically evaluating and selecting the best development partner alongside the project team;
• Ensuring that the development team’s work created measurable business value;
• Defining and refining system functionalities and user stories;
• Communicating the strategic vision and direction of the product to both the team and key stakeholders;
• Inspecting, configuring, testing, and validating system outputs to ensure alignment with acceptance criteria and business goals.

• [ACTION]:
To achieve these objectives, I:
➢ Facilitated multiple design workshops with process experts and IT teams to map the end-to-end supply chain and define system requirements;
➢ Created structured documentation for the APS functional scope and user stories, prioritizing based on business impact;
➢ Led evaluation sessions with potential software vendors, contributing to the selection of the development partner;
➢ Collaborated closely with developers to ensure the solution addressed specific challenges such as ore blending logic, transport bottlenecks, and inventory balancing across sites;
➢ Conducted iterative testing cycles, validating the results and signing off on development stages upon meeting performance and accuracy criteria.

• [RESULTS]:
The APS system was successfully implemented across all planning horizons, delivering a flexible and scalable model capable of simulating complex supply chain scenarios with accuracy. It became a core tool for optimizing production, blending, and logistics decisions within the Iron Ore business and later served as a blueprint for adaptation in other business units (such as Potash).