Hi Roger!
At my last XA job (Fleetwood Folding Trailers - no longer in existence), we used
American Viking Enterprises Indented Item Availability Analysis (I2A2) as a
"poor man's MRP" for those items - it worked quite well for limited items. (
http://avef.net/avem91.htm ). It goes through the indented BOM and checks for
item availability of all components and tells you what is short and what you
need to order (and it looks at allocations). Then we just looked at the longest
lead time of unavailable parts and added the lead time of the actual end item to
get the projected ship date. We also used it at the end of model years to
determine what we could build to consume "left over" parts.
As I said, it worked VERY well for us, for just a couple "special order" items.
That approach wouldn't be practical for a large number of end items, however.
Another product that I have looked at (but not used) is a product called "OTTO",
available from Systems Plus, Inc. (www.systemsplus.com) It does a whole lot more
than I2A2 (way more than I want to type here). Interestingly enough, I happen
to know that there is an on-line demo of the product scheduled for tomorrow
(talk about serendipity!), although for some reason the demo isn't listed on
their webinar page. But, I went to the registration site and here's that link.
(
http://events.meetingbridge.com/Register/?06123191691 ). Note: I haven't
used OTTO, but I have looked at it - my company wouldn't spend the money for
OTTO, even though we liked it. From the demos I have seen, it's quite a slick
solution! If we could have afforded it, I'm sure we would have purchased it.
Dale (Cork) Gindlesperger, CPIM
(And no, I am not affiliated with either company I mentioned above!)
________________________________
From: "Roger.Blocher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <Roger.Blocher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: MAPICS ERP System Discussion <mapics-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wed, October 13, 2010 2:37:02 PM
Subject: Re: [MAPICS-L] Available to Promise and special order items
We are trying to formulate a plan to help customer service (and ultimately
customers) with planning for the availability of special order items.
"Special order" in the sense I am using it refers to items that
* have no on-hand inventory and
* no forecast or supply plan until an actual customer order is received
(no P.O., no M.O., no forecast, no firm planned orders and no planned
orders
The standard MAPICS available-to-promise function depends on:
* on-hand quantities
* on-order quantities (either from purchase orders or production orders)
* firm planned orders (from MRP), or
* planned orders (from MRP).
We would need to take the standard lead-time, apply that to a current
calendar and then determine a date this product would be available
(assuming a re-supply order is placed 'today') .
Are some of you handling "special order" items today in a way to easily
project a 'legitimate' promise date during order entry?
Thanks
................................................................................................
Roger Blocher
MIS Manager
TECH International
P.O. Box 486
Johnstown, Ohio 43031-0486
P: 740-966-8009
F: 740-966-8090
http://www.tech-international.com
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