FlexProcess Plant Planning executes Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) and Capacity Resource Planning (CRP) at the same time. It utilizes the available resources to produce the required product in the most efficient and profitable way, resulting in reduction of manufacturing costs and increase in customer service level.

Streamlining Production Planning

The planning run gets its information from resources, production models, inventory, sales forecast, master schedules, customer orders, etc. Production orders or purchase orders are generated as a result, according to the primary sourcing method defined for the resource. The Planning Run considers the resource's lot sizing, the time period to summarize net requirements, and date to calculate requirements, to support the effective and efficient planning run process.

Step-by-Step Planning

Planning can be paused during the run to consider the results at the point and respond to recommendations, perhaps making tactical capacity planning decisions after the finished foods level and before intermediate levels are planned. In this way the number of planning runs can be reduced and the planner released to perform additional tasks.

Balancing of Supply/Demand

Understanding and adjustment of the supply/demand balance is critical to reduce the inventory level in the plant. Accurate planning is particularly indispensable where lead time reduction or customer responsiveness is required. FlexProcess provides tools to examine the important supply/demand relationships, from the material receipt to product shipment. For example, delays in the delivery of raw materials or production schedule can be checked for their impacts on product shipments, and changes in the order specifications and shipping schedules can be checked for their impacts on raw materials purchase orders and production schedules.