Bill of materials data

§  Remember that the FOQ lot-sizing rule allows multiple orders. That is, if your plan requires 450 units in a given period, current inventory is 75 units, and the FOQ order size is 100 units, then you would request 400 units (four orders) from the vendor or assembly production line.

§  For items purchased using the POQ lot-sizing rule, consider that the time between orders begins at the start of the plans. That is, if the POQ period is 3, you can only have planned receipts (or scheduled receipts) in periods 1, 4, 7, and so on.  Unlike the other ordering schemes where you first determine when a new order must be received and then schedule the order earlier according to the lead time, for POQ you look at future needs that must be satisfied until another POQ order can be placed.

§  Do not schedule MRP planned orders in the line for scheduled receipt items. Scheduled receipts have already been started or ordered on previous MRP plans for delivery in 2010 and you are not allowed to make any additional entries on this line. The values on this line are to be added to the projected on-hand inventory when each scheduled receipt arrives.  Do not reflect the scheduled receipts into planned order releases.

§  Some parts and subassemblies have desired safety stock levels. Be sure to order enough or early enough to ensure these levels are maintained, limited only by any lead-time constraints.  When there is no safety stock, maintain the projected on-hand greater than or equal to zero.

§  Use the power of Excel as much as possible for filling out your MRP forms. Doing so will save you considerable time in completing your assignment and is representative of how these processes are done in industry.  Use the comment function to show the formula for “projected on-hand inventory.”

Hint: Entering new order quantities (planned receipts) when needed is best done manually whenever the on-hand inventory values indicate that you would not have enough unless an order is placed.