Re: Less than a Whole number -- BPCS-L

More thoughts.

In addition to modifying MRP250, we have modified the creation of shop order paperwork ... but if this interests you, be warned ... modifying the SFC52* stuff is several orders of magnitude more complicated than modifying the MRP25* report. Back when we were on the S/36 I did modify MRP, which is yet another bunch of orders of magnitude more complicated to do ... I do not reccommend even attempting that.

When we create shop orders, they can come from SFC500 onsies, MRP needs, and there is a JIT path, but at one point all paths are using some common software, and that is where we did our modifications.

My idea is that at the time of creation of shop orders, your modification would look at FMA children of each order and do a round up of quantity needed there, which I do not consider to be an elegant solution. There is also the issue of BOM children of the round up, which in turn might have shop orders already released for not enough.

Also there are lead times for the materials being used by the shop orders ... you want Purchasing to know about the extra requirements some time before the shop order calls for the extra consumption. We have modified reports used by Purchasing to help guide them in what is to be ordered. This is something you might consider.

Our requirements are volatile, since some customers alter due dates and quantities due, at a time that our production to their needs is in progress. We have reports of orders in the works, where MRP requirements have changed since the orders were launched, so that those orders can be adjusted as needed.

In your case, there would have been an increase in what is to be made, which has downstream implications that MRP can find for you.

From: Al Mac
We are on 405 CD MM.
I suggest that, depending on why you want to make the extra, you take a look at minimum balance safety stock levels and order policy code, and practicality of modifying a few key programs.

You can set safety stock for customer end items, raw materials, in between ... MRP calculates what is needed both for the BOM requirements and to replenish safety stock. I am not happy with the MRP300 pegging etc. that does not really tell people WHY a requirement exists, when it is due to safety stock replenishment.

Order Policy A means discrete ... the customer orders quantity X, we are to make quantity X ... but there are many other Order Policy Codes that call for quantities to be made repetitively that are a better match to factory efficiency. You need to study them to see which are a good match to your reality.

We also use a concept that we call box size. This is the quantity of the item that the customer wants in each shipping container. We have placed this quantity in an unused field of the item master, then display it various places for the convenience of production planners, so that they can release orders based on multiples of this stocking value.

When we release new shop orders, most of them are released in association with MRP250 report, which we have modified to * Identify what customer this stuff is being made for ... our final assembly factory area is divided based on customers and groups of customers * Identify what volume shop orders are already active on this same item ... it may be simpler to increase volume of an open order requirement than to launch another order * Identify when this is an item that engineering is working on and may not yet be completed ... it is better to communicate with them and get new orders released when engineering is caught up * and other stuff Now you too could modify this, but in your case it would be to round up the yield fractions depending on item class ... we make wiring harnesses, so when we get some fraction of a foot of wire, that is perfectly legitimate.

We are using yield on certain item classes to try to address a perceived problem with under reporting of scrap, and we also have the same annoying fractions. We have a requirement to report to General Ledger the extra scrap consumed this way, which I accomplish via a report at time of shop order purge, showing this extra yield data from FMA on orders coded for purge, before and after the purge ... due to how labor is reported, sometimes an order gets coded closed before all the material has actually been posted. - Al Macintyre http://www.ryze.com/go/Al9Mac Find BPCS Documentation Suppliers http://radio.weblogs.com/0107846/stories/2002/11/08/bpcsDocSources.html BPCS/400 Computer Janitor at http://www.globalwiretechnologies.com/ Replacement company id (same company, new domain) http://www.globalwti.com/
We are on the 6.0.4 version of BPCS, we are trying to set up something
that will allow us to build 2% more than what is forecasted. Example:
the forecast is for the finished goods item (in this case a vending
machine), we have a component say a tray that gets welded and then
painted before it goes to the assembly line to be assembled into the
finished good. If the finished good requires 6 per each finished good
per the BOM, and we forecast that we are going to build one, then the
requirement for the welded and painted part is 6 each provided there is
no inventory on hand. We would like to be able to build 7(or 2% of the
6: which is .12) we can not build .12 of a unit. We would like the
system to indicate to the planner that they need to open the order for 7
instead of the 6.
So, what we have done is used the yield found in the item master,
however this creates fractions because of the way BPCS calculates
things.So what the planner sees in the MRP540 and the MRP300 is 6.12.
Is there not some program or programs within BPCS that we could turn on
or off the decimals depending on the unit of measure? These decimals
appear in the MRP records, the INV records. I have checked the archives
but was unable to find anything. The only thing that I was able to come
up with is that the FMA records would need to be changed to make the
inventory more accurate but the FMA records only cover material
requirements for shop orders.
Could someone lead me in the right direction? Anything would be greatly
appreciated
Susan A. Wyatt
Production Control Coordinator
The Wittern Group
8040 University Blvd
Clive, Ia  50309
515-271-8412
Fax 515-274-5775