Problem with MRP planing Function.

[Former Member]

All,

I have a problem with MRP planning and I am wondering has anyone either came across this issue before, Or have a solution?

I work in a bakery, with production of around 3.5 million breads a week over many different SKUS.

Currently we work on a weekly forecast with a1-3 day lead time For customers.

As ye are all aware our MRP works on the basis of opening balance- Sales+ Production= Closing balance.

For the sales part it works by consuming the forecast, the more sales orders we get in the less forecast we have.

Here's my problem,

The sales forecast due date falls on a Monday, which means after the Monday the sales forecast cancels itself. which leads to the problem of only being able to plan on a Monday. is there a way we can change the due date to being the full week?

*Please note our week starts on a Monday and ends on a Sunday.

Kind Regards,

Louise

[Caetano · Accepted solution]

Hi Louise

By forecast do you mean planned independent requirements? In this case, the PIR will be always placed on the start of the period. This is a basic pre-requisite of the system design.

One option can be the creation of PIRs using period P.

BR
Caetano

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

HI Caetano,

Thanks for the reply, by forecast I mean our planned sales.

DO you think this could work? Are these the same as posting periods?

Regards,

Louise

[Former Member]

Louise,

The sales forecast due date falls on a Monday,

This is common.  Assuming that you build to forecast, and assuming that the actual demand date of the forecast falls on 'Monday', this would mean that the business model is that you build your product during the previous week according to the forecast, and then you sell it via sales orders on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday of the current week.  On Monday, you have a substantial amount of stock, and by Friday, all of that stock that you built (during the previous week) for the forecast should ideally have been sold via sales orders.

On Tuesday, you no longer care about this week.  It is now time to begin building toward NEXT week's forecast.

which means after the Monday the sales forecast cancels itself.

Well, that's an odd way of putting it.  Sales Forecasts don't generally 'cancel' themselves.  You may, however, have configured your system such that you ignore forecasts before 'today', since it typically makes no sense to build toward a forecast that lies in the past.  When you build to a forecast, you typically build toward future planned requirements.  The past is past.

which leads to the problem of only being able to plan on a Monday.

I don't understand this statement.  Unless there is infinite capacity, on Tuesday, most companies would begin building toward NEXT week's forecast.  This would happen throughout the week.

is there a way we can change the due date to being the full week?

anything is possible.  As alluded by expert Caetano, some companies spread the weekly forecast requirement such that it is equally distributed during each workday of the week, instead of just creating a single demand on Monday.  MD67.

Best Regards,

DB49

[Former Member]

Dogboy,

Thanks for the reply, and the explanation. Unfortunately after reading your reply I understand what Caetano was telling us to..

I Tested this scenario (Spreading forecast over the days of the week) and unfortunately it didn't work for the company....  It resulted in a lot of confusion and Mistakes regarding planning...

have you heard of any other company having this problem?

Thanks again Dogboy,

Louise  

[Former Member]

Louise,

Have I ever heard of any other company having the problem of

"...a lot of confusion and Mistakes regarding planning...." 

Well, that is quite a broad question, so I will respond with an equally broad answer.  The answer is yes, of course I have heard of such companies.  In fact, I don't think I have ever heard of any company that does not suffer from 'a lot of confusion and mistakes'.  I believe that confusion in general is the natural state of humanity; clarity is a rare treasure indeed.

Some sages say we are created without knowledge, and the path to enlightenment is difficult because we are surrounded by illusion.  Enlightenment in general is eagerly sought by many but achieved by few.  Mistakes are one of the defining features of Saṃsāra.

Getting back to the topic of this post; do you have any specific questions you would like to ask about the specific topic in the first post of this thread?

Best Regards,

DB49

[Former Member]

Dogboy,

Apologies for the Confusion, what I meant was have you heard of other companies with the Same MRP problem that we are having?

Regards,

Louise

[Former Member]

Louise,

Hmm.  I don't really understand why you think the current solution is a problem.  What is the replenishment lead time for these materials anyway? 

It seems that you don't want to build toward a daily plan for the current week (my earlier suggestion), yet you don't want to build toward a weekly plan for the current week on Mondays.

First tell me what are the business scenarios that would make you want to change the existing solution:

1.  Why would you want to replan your PIRs for THIS week on Tuesday (or Wednesday or Thursday) of this week?  Didn't you create supply elements for these requirements during last week's planning run?

Or

2.  If daily planning for the current week is not suitable for you, why not?

Best Regards,

DB49

[Former Member]

Dogboy,

This shouldn't be a Problem But at the Moment we are both Under-Producing and Over selling, Which means our Production Plan is Continuously changing.
We can have a product put on the Plan and shipped in 24 Hours.

a daily Forecast should Work but its a lot of extra work for Example

• We now have a weekly forecast giving to us by sales.
• Depending on customer we get between 3-7 orders a week but this depends on there demand.
• If we have a daily forecast on the Days no orders are placed it will cancel the forecast.

When explaining all this I can see that its not a major problem from a system Point of view, But both Company/owner wants the System working with a Weekly forecast and A due date of the Last day of the Week.

Iv recently had help from a SAP consultant I explained our Problem and he came up with a Solution. His solution was to trick Our sap system Into thinking The due date was a Sunday (the last day of the Week). this had only a negative effect as

the sales orders from the Monday- Saturday were not consuming The forecast. Which made the System think we were closing with very Low stocks.

If you have any questions just ask,

I know it seems odd but at the Moment we are relying on Excel for back up, which means we are Double jobbing.

Kind Regards,

Louise

[Former Member]

Louise,

When explaining all this I can see that its not a major problem from a system Point of view, But both Company/owner wants the System working with a Weekly forecast and A due date of the Last day of the Week.

One of the jobs of a functional analyst is to warn the client of the adverse consequences of his own ignorance. 

I am not going to give a treatise on the relationship between forecasting, sales, and consumption.  Your client evidently has told you what he wants. I will assume that you DO know the adverse consequences, and have  walked him through how this will affect his business.

One way to have 'weekly' forecasts which places PIR demand on Fridays, without using an enhancement, is to use a Planning calendar.

Create a Planning Calendar; MD25.  The calendar should be created in weeks; with the end date of each week as Thursday.

Assign the Planning calendar to the Material Masters; MM02 tab MRP2.

Create the PIRs with Planning period "K".  Now, each requirement date will fall on a Friday in MD04; and MRP will use these dates for planning and for consumption of sales docs.

I also recommend that you re-read expert Caetano's answer, where he said

.....the PIR will be always placed on the start of the period. This is a basic pre-requisite of the system design.......

Best Regards & Good Luck,

DB49