frePPLe vs Phoenix APS

frePPLe is supply-chain planning software for forecasting, inventory, production and replenishment. Its production plans account for limited material supply and resource capacity, and planners can adjust jobs in an interactive Gantt chart. Forecasting uses statistical and AI techniques, with method selection and team review and editing. Inventory planning calculates safety stocks and reorder quantities, creates replenishment orders, and supports item segmentation and tailored rules. The multilingual Community edition is a browser-based application. Integrations include REST API, CSV, Excel and direct database access; Community also includes two-way Odoo integration. Community and Enterprise provide Ubuntu Linux binaries and Docker images, while Enterprise can be installed on customer hardware. Platforms listed are API, Linux, self-hosted and web. Community users rely on DIY support through a user group; Cloud and Enterprise list professional support. The product offers a 15-day trial and a free scheme for academic use by contacting the company. Subscription pricing is based on active item-location pairs, and Cloud lists a maximum of six scenarios.

Phoenix APS helps planners build feasible production schedules across machines, people, and tools while accounting for calendars, setups, dependencies, and material availability. It enforces capacity limits on machines, lines, and human skills, and models parallel, alternative, and sequential routings at operation level. Machines, operators, and equipment can be scheduled together. Calendar handling includes closures and working-time changes, while dependencies support finish-to-start relationships with configurable lags. Material checks use bill-of-material availability with Fixed or Proportional quantities and AtStart, Uniform, or AtEnd laws. Planners can change assignments and rules to see the impact; infeasible jobs can be parked with reasons and retried using targeted relaxations. The interface includes a Gantt timeline, operations table, quick filters, and a what-if solver. HTTP JSON endpoints let ERP or MES systems send master data and retrieve dated plans. The maker describes the approach as heuristic and rule-based, aimed at fast, explainable feasible plans, with optimization modules on the roadmap. A free beta evaluation installer is available for Windows, but its temporary license does not permit production use. The project is described as personal and non-commercial.