Interpreting and applying demand driven MRP: a case study

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to evaluate Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (DDMRP) in the context of improving the performance of a printing ink manufacturing company. The main issues the company is facing include poor due-date performance, stock levels not corresponding to the actual market needs and overall system instability leading to inefficiencies. The research evaluates the assumption underpinning Material Requirements Planning (MRP) and the Theory of Constraints (TOC) before considering their integration to meet the requirements of this company, with particular reference to a recent development entitled DDMRP. Design/methodology/approach – Case research was used to establish the underlying issues through semi-structured interviews, observation, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data and questionnaires. This analysis was then compared with the assumption underpinning generic TOC solutions before conducting a simulated evaluation to compare past ERP decision making with DDMRP. Findings – DDMRP is shown to embody the concepts of buffer aggregation and buffer management within the context of dependent demand planning, effectively integrating MRP and TOC. The underlying production planning and control issues of the company were found to be consistent with the literature associated with the limitations of MRP and a good fit for the core issues traditionally addressed through TOC applications such as Drum Buffer Rope (DBR). The integration of this aggregated buffer management approach with MRP dependent demand within DDMRP provided further enhancements applicable to the company. This evaluation involved simulation, which shows the merits of DDMRP in the area of standardization of production-relevant decision-making and stock adjustment towards improving availability shown by roughly 45% reduction of high and low inventory alerts and a 95% reduction of stock outs over the period in focus. However, it is acknowledged that the improved simulated performance was not fully attributable to the adoption of DDMRP concepts. Research limitations/implications – The document uses a selection of relevant pieces of the literature from the areas of MRP/ERP, continuous improvement and DDMRP that have the potential to be supportive for assessing DDMRP as a performance improving methodology. However, since the amount of literature available on DDMRP is very limited, a comparison of the results with others’ findings is not possible. Furthermore, the primary data used originates from one specific company only. The resulting case study approach is therefore limited to a single case, which might limit the generalizability of the findings to an extent. However, since many companies are suffering from MRP shortcomings and TOC ideas like buffer management or dynamic buffers have been proven to deliver promising results in many applications, at least an assumption of a certain degree of generalizability could be justified. Further research needs to verify if the findings are replicable in comparable scenarios. Originality/value – DDMRP is a new commercial development that has not previously been the subject of a research study. The value of this research is in evaluating the key features of this planning and control system using real company data. By doing this, it is one of the first published projects in this area

A conceptual framework for smart production planning and control in Industry 4.0

[EN] This article aims to introduce the challenge (i.e., integration of new collaborative models and tools) posed by the automation and collaboration of industrial processes in Industry 4.0 (I4.0) smart factories. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are particularly confronted with new technological and organisational changes, but a conceptual framework for production planning and control (PPC) systems in the I4.0 context is lacking. The main contributions of this article are to: (i) identify the functions making up traditional PPC and smart production planning and control in I4.0 (SPPC 4.0); (ii) analyse the impact of I4.0 technologies on PPC systems; (iii) propose a conceptual framework that provides the systematic structuring of how a PPC system operates in the I4.0 context, dubbed SPPC 4.0. Thus SPPC 4.0 is proposed by adopting the axes of the RAMI 4.0 reference architecture model, which compiles and contains the main concepts of PPC systems and I4.0. It also provides the technical description, organisation and understanding of each aspect, which can provide a guide for academic research and industrial practitioners to transform PPC systems towards I4.0 implementations. Finally, theoretical implications and research gaps are provided.The research leading to these results received funding from the European Union H2020 Program with grant agreements No. 958205 "Industrial Data Services for Quality Control in Smart Manufacturing (i4Q)" and No. 825631 "Zero-Defect Manufacturing Platform (ZDMP)"; the "Industrial Production and Logistics Optimization in Industry 4.0" (i4OPT) (Ref. PROMETEO/2021/065) project granted by the Valencian Regional Government; and the PAI-12-21 open-access support from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.Cañas, H.; Mula, J.; Campuzano-Bolarín, F.; Poler, R. (2022). A conceptual framework for smart production planning and control in Industry 4.0. Computers & Industrial Engineering. 173:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2022.10865911217

A Case Study of the Degree of Collaboration between Various Levels in the Reparable Chain in the United States Air Force

Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment and other logistics processes were developed in the commercial sector to reduce total system costs of production while simultaneously providing reduction in inventory levels, improved customer service levels, greater flexibility in scheduling, greater velocity of inventory through the pipeline, and, as a result, greater profitability (Ploos van Amstel, 1990:1). Many companies including Wal-Mart, Motorola, Target, Johnson & Johnson, and Kellogg\u27s, just to name a few, have seen great achievements since implementing CPFR processes. Can these processes be applied to the Air Force supply chain? This thesis intends to examine the flows and relationships to identify opportunities Air Combat Command Regional Supply Squadron (ACCRSS), Depot Repair Facilities, and Operational Bases. This research will use a case study approach to address the research and investigative questions. Air Force supply chain management has many responsibilities that must be accomplished. This thesis will seek to look at many of the variables but does not promise to cover all aspects or attempt to provide the ultimate solution. It will merely present the literature reviewed and the data collected and try to draw a conclusion as to whether civilian CPFR techniques can be applied to current Air Force supply chain practices

Business strategy driven IT systems for engineer-to-order and make-to-order manufacturing enterprises

This thesis reports research into the specification and implementation of an Information Technology (IT) Route Map. The purpose of the Route Map is to enable rapid design and deployment of IT solutions capable of semi-automating business processes in a manufacturing enterprise. The Map helps structure transition processes involved in “identification of key business strategies and design of business processes” and “choice of enterprise systems and supporting implementation techniques”. Common limitations of current Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are observed and incorporated as Route Map implications and constraints. Scope of investigation is targeted at Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) that employ Engineer-To-Order (ETO) and Make-To-Order (MTO) business processes. However, a feature of the Route Map is that it takes into account contemporary business concerns related to “globalisation”, “mergers and acquisitions” and “typical resource constraint problems of SMEs”. In the course of the research a “Business Strategy Driven IT System Concept” was conceived and examined. The main purpose of this concept is to promote the development of agile and innovative business activity in SMEs. The Road Map encourages strategy driven solutions to be (a) specified based on the use of emerging enterprise engineering theories and (b) implemented and changed using componentbased systems design and composition techniques. Part-evaluation of the applicability and capabilities of the Road Map has been carried out by conducting industrial survey and case study work. This assesses requirements of real industrial problems and solutions. The evaluation work has also been enabled by conducting a pilot implementation of the thesis concepts at the premises of a partner SME

Improving the management of inventory in the Rolls-Royce Energy Aftermarket Business

The market place in which Rolls-Royce Energy currently operates in is highly competitive. This means that the management of inventory is becoming ever more important, especially when the life cycle of Energy gas turbine engines can be as long as thirty years which are supported by Rolls-Royce’s aftermarket business. The purpose of this dissertation is to review and evaluate the management of inventory in Rolls-Royce’s Energy business to determine methods that can be introduced to improve the inventory turnover rate bearing in mind that the company operates an Enterprise Resource Planning system which has standard measures applied that may not necessarily suit all areas of the Rolls-Royce business. The following practical recommendations to improve inventory turnover within the Rolls-Royce Energy business have been drawn from the research findings and literature review: • Implement the ABC inventory classification technique to ensure more focus on the parts that generate revenue for the business. • Implement systems to better manage order quantities in the supply chain to ensure costings are transparent across the whole supply chain. Also ensure that capital is not tied up in inventory that is not going to be utilised. • Materials that are held for insurance type purposes, which although critical for maintaining customer service levels through speed of delivery, impacts inventory turnover, so assess whether these parts could be better managed by being outsourced. This enables parts to be available at short notice but without the inventory sitting on the books

Management accounting software and accounting practices: empirical study on SME enterprises

There appears to be a paradox between the methods of product valuation considered theoretically most suitable and those effectively used by enterprises according to empirical studies already made. This research strives to clarify which factors explain enterprises continued use of theoretically inadequate methods. The study aims to identify the methods used by Portuguese small and medium size enterprises to value products and to analyze if the management accounting software influences the methods used. Accounting managers from 58 enterprises in 11 Portuguese districts were interviewed. The interviewees stated that the management accounting software influences the method of indirect cost distribution, and the association of these two variables is statistically significant. However, the individual analysis of the interviews led to the detection of a third variable, namely the way in which the product valuation was conceived, and this influences the previous two variables simultaneously. This evidence suggests that the conditioning that accounting managers believed was exerted by the management accounting software on indirect cost distribution was in fact the result of the direct influence of a third variable on the first two, namely the way in which the method was conceived.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio