Production Planning

Main Process

 

SAP ERP uses MRP (Material Requirements Planning) techniques to create un-constraint production plans for discrete and process manufacturers.

The main function of MRP is to guarantee material availability, that is, it is used to procure or produce the requirement 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 in form of production orders or planned orders.

In doing so, MRP tries to strike the best balance possible between

• optimizing the service level and
• minimizing costs and capital lockup.

Multiple monitors are available to evaluate the planning results.

Production Planning for Process Industries (PP-PI)

Production Planning for Process Industries (PP-PI) provides integrated planning for batch-oriented process manufacturing. It is primarily designed for the chemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage industries as well as the batch-oriented electronics industry.

The component PP-PI supports:

• The integrated planning of production, waste disposal, and transport activities within a plant
• The integration of plants within the company: Vertically by means of an information flow, ranging from central business applications down to process control and horizontally by the coordination of planning between production plants, recycling and waste disposal facilities, and production laboratories.

SAP SCM – which can be integrated seamlessly - offers more sophisticated planning techniques and algorithms.

The economic use of resources is an objective for many areas of a company. Capacity planning supports planning in all its phases:

·           long-term rough-cut planning

·           medium-term planning

·           short-term detailed planning

Capacity planning comprises the following partial components:

·           Capacity Evaluation

In the capacity evaluation, available capacity and capacity requirements are determined and compared with each other in lists or graphics.

·           Capacity leveling

The objectives of capacity leveling are optimal capacity commitment and the selection of appropriate resources

Graphical as well as tabular planning tables are available to display the capacity situation and to carry out capacity leveling.