Re: Forecast vs. build

Al Macintyre also using 405 CD

No exact answer, just areas to think about.

We are a make to order job shop and engineer to order in which it takes a 
while to get the engineering right on brand new customer parts, but we know 
early on what raw materials will be needed.  Once the customer approves our 
samples, they need production NOW.  We enter the BOM as soon as we have an 
idea, although the BOM will be revised once the Routings are defined, and we 
enter the customer order or forecast, which means that MRP drives raw 
material demand through Purchasing while Shop Floor Control is supposed to 
know to disregard requirements where there are no Routings yet.

Our Order Type Policy is for Customer Orders to consume Forecast.

We currently use safety stock on some raw material items.
We have been discussing, but have not implemented, safety stock on 
sub-assemblies where the setup times are high & the items are often needed.

The big problem that I see is where Production Planners want to release 100% 
Shop Orders that MRP says is due, when in fact we have customers that are 
slow to decide if samples are right or need further design work & other staff 
at same customers are asking for the parts like yesterday.  There needs to be 
clear communication ... this data is in BPCS but do not do it yet.  Also we 
have to be careful with effectivity dates.  They default to date of entry, 
but need to be back dated so MRP will correctly plan the new stuff.

>  From:    David_Baxter@siemon.com
>  
>  Looking for ideas  or suggestions -
>  Currently using 4.05 CD
>  Question - how can I drive the lower levels to forecast and at the same
>        time only build a select few (A items) of our finished goods to
>        forecast?
>  
>        I want to load and maintain forecasts for the majority of our
>        finished goods SKUs to drive lower levels and to predict future
>        demand/capacity but, I only want the very highest selling items to be
>        actually built to that forecast. For the rest of our finished goods
>        items I want to build to actual customer orders only. As long as we
>        drive to forecast I will have the lower levels available when needed.
>        The demand code and demand time fence settings work well if you do
>        not want to build lower levels to forecast. However, I want to build
>        and stock the lower levels to forecast.


Al Macintyre  ©¿©
MIS Manager Green Screen Programmer & Computer Janitor of BPCS 405 CD Rel-02 
running on AS/400 V4R3 http://www.cen-elec.com Central Industries of 
Indiana--->Quality manufacturer of wire harnesses and electrical 
sub-assemblies

Y2K is not the end of my universe, but a re-boot of that old Chinese curse.
The road to success is always under construction.
Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
Murphy's Mom brought wrong baby home from hospital so it should be Kelly's 
Law.
When in doubt, read the documentation, assuming you can find it.
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