Introduction
You can create purchase requisitions for stock material automatically using Material Requirements Planning (MRP).
In more concrete terms, using MRP, you can automate procurement planning. The main function of MRP is to guarantee material availability and to avoid delays in order fulfillment. Therefore, it is used to procure or produce the required quantities on time, both for internal purposes and for sales and distribution. This process involves the monitoring of stocks and, in particular, the automatic creation of procurement proposals for purchasing and production. The planning run checks the availability of each material and, in case of shortages, creates purchase requisitions, or delivery schedules if a scheduling agreement exists. Remaining shortages are displayed in the MRP app where the material planner can analyze the situation.
Procurement lead time can be longer than the time available to fulfill a demand. For this reason, you must procure the material in advance and cover your demand from stock. The process starts by creating forecast demands that are interpreted as expected customer demand. The MRP schedule runs. The system creates purchase requisitions or scheduling lines that trigger external procurement. Optionally, you can handle time-dependent stock levels, purchase requisition handover and MRP material exceptions.
Material Requirements Planning (MRP) Runs
As a material planner for external procurement, you can perform the MRP run at material level and display the results in the stock/requirements list using the Monitor Material Coverage - Net / Individual Segments app.
When you start an MRP app for the first time, you have to specify your area of responsibility by selecting a combination of plant and MRP controller. In the app, you can change the area of responsibility in the MRP settings for your user.
During the MRP run, the system compares all receipts with all requirements to find out whether material requirements exist that are not yet covered. If uncovered requirements exist, the system creates new procurement proposals or updates existing procurement proposals thus guaranteeing material availability on time.
The MRP run in this app is performed for the selected material in the selected plant using the MRP run parameters you defined from the user actions menu. You can see the results immediately in the stock/requirements list.
You can use the Schedule MRP Runs app to create and schedule a job for performing your MRP runs. To automate the planning process, the MRP run has to be carried out on a regular basis so you can use this app to create a job that performs this task for you by running this task in the background.