ERP 2.50:Configure Material Requirement Planning (MRP)

Contents 1 Introduction 2 MRP Concepts 3 Planning method 4 Planner 5 Manufacturing Plan 6 Setting up a planning method 7 Setting up a planner 8 Assigning a planning method and planner to a product 9 Creating a manufacturing plan 9.1 Defining the header 9.2 Adding lines to the manufacturing plan 9.3 Processing the manufacturing plan 9.4 Creating a purchasing plan 9.5 Adding lines to the purchasing plan

Introduction

Material Requirement Planning (MRP) is the process of stock management and production planning with the following objectives:

• Making sure that the materials and resources required to fulfill orders are available.
• Maintaining a low level of inventory to prevent company assets being tied up in stock unecessarily.
• Planning the efficient flow of materials and products in and out of the company.

This chapter explains how to use Openbravo ERP to set up an MRP process. To learn more about the theory of Openbravo ERP's MRP functionality, consult the Functional Documentation. To see MRP examples have a look at How-to MRP article.

MRP Concepts

Planning method

The planning method of a product affects how requirements for that product are forecasted. You can select the criteria, called transaction types, that are used to assess whether new stock is required or not and how much. You can also specify the timescale over which the transaction types are considered. There are five transaction types.

• Material requirement: requirements are based on requisitions raised for the product in the given time period.
• Pending purchase order: requirements are based on purchase orders raised for the product in the given time period.
• Pending sales order: sales orders raised for the product in the given time period.
• Pending work requirement: work requirements which use the product.
• Sales forecast: sales forecasts predicting how many of the items will be sold in a given period.

So, for example, you can specify that stock levels of product A are assessed as follows by monitoring sales orders over a 4 week period.

You can also apply a weighting to a planning method which moderates the forecast of the transaction type - so if a particular transaction type forecasts that 100 units will be required, but with a weighting of 0.9, the revised forecast will be a requirement of 90 units.

Planner

Setting up planners gives you an additional means of filtering products for inclusion in a particular manufacturing plan. For example, if different people are responsible for planning different products, you can set each individual up as a planner and allocate them to their respective products. However, if required, you can use the Planner window to filter on different criteria.

Manufacturing Plan

A manufacturing plan enables you to manage the manufacture of a particular product by forecasting and controlling:

• Stocks of raw materials
• Machinery and equipment required to produce the product.
• The time required to produce the product.

Where a product is made from other products for example bill of materials products, all the required products are included when the manufacturing plan is processed.

Setting up a planning method

1. From the Application menu, select Material Requirement > Setup > Planning Method
2. Click New.
3. In the Name field, give the planning method a name.
4. In the Description field, type a brief description if required.
5. Click Save.
6. Select the Lines tab.
7. Click New.
8. From the Transaction Type list, select the transaction type you want to use for this planning method.
9. Define the time period over which requirements for the product will be considered. You can specify the time period in the two ways:
   • Days from start: the number of days from the start of the planning period.
   • Days to end: the number of days until the end of the planning period.
   • In the Weighting field, type a weighting that will be used to moderate the requirements forecast. A weighting of 1 means the requirements forecast is unmoderated. A weighting of less than one means the requirements forecast is reduced, so, for example a weighting of 0.9 would reduce the requirements forecast to 90% of the original figure. A weighting of 1.5 would increase the requirements forecast to 150% of the original figure.
10. Click Save.

Setting up a planner

1. From the Application menu, select Material Requirement > Setup > Planner
2. Click New.
3. In the Name field, give the planner a name.
4. In the Description field, type a brief description if required.
5. Click Save.

Assigning a planning method and planner to a product

For each product that you want to include in a production plan, you must specify the planning method. You can also specify a planner if required.

1. From the Application menu select Master Data Management > Product.
2. In grid view, select the product you want to work with.
3. Select the Org Specific tab.
4. From the Planning Method list, select the planning method you want to use for forecasting requirements of this product.
5. From the Planner list, select a planner if you require one for this product.
6. Click Save.

Creating a manufacturing plan

First, define the product or group of products that the manufacturing plan will produce:

Defining the header

1. From the Application menu, select Material Requirement (MRP) > Transactions > Manufacturing Plan.
2. Click New.
3. In the Name field, give the manufacturing plan a name.
4. In the Description field, type a description of the manufacturing plan.
5. The default document date is the current system date but you can edit it if required.
6. In the Time Horizon field type the duration of the manufacturing plan in days.
7. In the Safety Lead Time field, type the safety lead time on the manufacturing plan. The safety lead time brings the deadline forward to allow for unexpected demand or delays in the production process.
8. From the Planner list, select the planner you want to use for this product.
9. If the product is being produced for a particular business partner, select it from the Business Partner list.
10. If the product is being produced for a particular business partner category, select it from the Business Partner Category list.
11. If the manufacturing process produces a particular product category, select it from the Product Category list.
12. Click Save.

Now define the materials required to manufacture the product.

Adding lines to the manufacturing plan

1. Select the Lines tab.
2. Click New.
3. From the Product list, select a product required in the manufacturing plan.
4. In the Quantity field, type the quantity of products required in the manufacturing plan.
5. In the Planned Order Date type the intended date when the product will be ordered.
6. From the Transaction Type list, select the transaction type used to plan stock requirements for the product.
7. Click Save.
8. Continue adding lines to the plan for other stock required in the manufacturing plan.

Processing the manufacturing plan

When you have created all the lines required for the manufacturing plan, click the Process manufacturing plan button to create material requirements and work requirements based on the contents of the plan.

Creating a purchasing plan

1. From the Application menu, select Material Requirement (MRP) > Transactions > Purchasing Plan.
2. Click New.
3. From the Organization list, select the organization which will make the purchases in the purchase plan.
4. In the Name field, give the purchasing plan a name.
5. In the Description field, type a description of the purchasing plan if required.
6. By default the document date is the current system date. You can change it if required.
7. In the Time Horizion field, type the time period in days of which the purchasing plan will be effective.
8. From the Vendor list, select the vendor who will supply the products in the purchasing plan.
9. From the Planner list, select the planner you want to use for the purchase plan, if required.
10. If the purchasing plan is to purchase parts for a product category, select it from the Product Category list.
11. If the purchasing plan is to purchase products from a particular business partner category, select it from the Business Partner Category field.
12. If the purchasing plan is to purchase products from a particular business partner, select it from the Business Partner field.
13. Click Save.

Adding lines to the purchasing plan

Now select the specific products to be purchased as part of the purchasing plan.

1. Select the Lines tab.
2. Click New.
3. In the Product field, type or look up the product you want to purchase.
4. In the Quantity field, type the amount of the product you want to purchase.
5. In the Required quantity field, type the amount of the product required by the purchasing plan.
6. In the Planned Date field, type the planned date that the product will be required.
7. From the Transaction Type list, select the transaction type used to plan this product.
8. If a requisition already exists for the product, select it from the Requisition Line list.
9. If a sales forecast exists for the product, select it from the Sales Forecast Line list.
10. From the Business Partner category, select the business partner from which the product will be purchased.
11. Click Save.

Category: Configure MRP