Shelf Life on Raw Materials and MRP Calculation MD04

[former_member1177346]

Hi SAP experts,

I am currently working as a material planner for a larger pharma company. I have found it increasingly difficult to plan purchase orders when the MD04 doesn't take account for expired batches in the future. What I have found, was that the current stock is not changed when the batch expires. This is something I would like to resolve.

Is there a way for MD04 to plan process orders or planned order while taking account for batch expiry dates?

I hope that I have made myself clear, but in case I didn't, I will try to give a an example.

I have drawn 2 examples, one without this "warning" or calculation in the system (current) and one with an MRP that calculates shelf life for its materials. The first MRP will place a planned order at 24.12, though once we will get to that date, we would have experienced stockout, as the stock is obsolesce by the 19th of December, meaning that reserv at 22th December would be delayed. At that point, it will be too late to react. If the system had given shelf life information to the MRP, it would have proposed a PLA.OR on the 18th, which would be preferable.

Sure, placing a safety stock on this particular example would have helped, unless the safety stock also expires...

Therefor I would like to hear you out, are there a way for me to resolve this? How can I get the MRP to take account for shelf life and for the futures expired dates?

[former_member30]

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[Lakshmipathi · Accepted solution]

As already stated, MRP does not validate the expiry date since it is not functioning at batch level. To achieve your requirement, you can consider implementing BAdI MD_CHANGE_MRP_DATA. Have a look at this blog

[former_member1177346 · Accepted solution]

Thank you Lakshmipathi,

I will further investigate from your link! Very usefull

br

[DominikTylczyn]

Hello mlhjnz

Previous answers by ppioentry.ppioentry and lakshmipathi.ganesan are correct - MRP doesn't consider batches. It only considers stocks on material level.

However you can use QA07 transaction (report RQAAAS10) to block expired batches or batches close to expiration date. This way they will be excluded from MRP visibility. That would take care of batches that are close to expiration date. You can schedule RQAAAS10 as periodic background job to have the batches blocked automatically.

I think you should not have this problem with batches that have expiration date further in the future. If you do, it means that your stock level coverage is longer that shelf life period. That's highly unlikely unless your stock levels are much too high as compared to requirements.

Best regards

Dominik Tylczynski

[former_member1177346]

Hi Dominik,

Thanks for your reply. Also thank you for your advice. However, I was looking for a solution for planning ahead, when procuring materials, rather than just blocking soon-to-be expired materials.

it would be wrong to assume that all materials have perfekt conditions. In this case, several materials that I am managening have long leadtimes, short shelf life and volatile spending. Inventory levels can only get your so far, as they expiry period are similiar (or shorter) than lead time, thus expires before consumption. The issue is to plan orders according to the MRP, when neither the MRP nor the "buyer" knows what the stock level will be at the end of the lead time. Consequently you will have situationens where there are to little stock, as you procured materials in anticipation of stock, that wouldnt be there when the delivery came.

br

[DominikTylczyn]

Hi mlhjnz

I can understand your challenge. The point here is that MRP doesn't consider batches. Would you share your solution when you implement one - a blog post maybe?

Best regards

Dominik Tylczynski

[former_member184701]

as far as I know MRP does not care about SLED.

there is no a standard way to resolve your difficulty.

you can setup a daily background job checking batches expiration dates, etc., etc.

good luck:)

[former_member1177346]

Thank you for your comment Oleg!