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JiT Procurement Management
Running the MRP Process

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Merlin MRP Factory 9 Running the MRP Process

1: Scope.

The MRP Process can be invoked at Job Level, from Shop Floor Control, or from Procurement where it can be run for a Job Series, or in Recursive Mode, which will pick up and process all Active Jobs that have not been processed by either of the forgoing options. This can be used as a daily routine to process all Jobs Authorised that day, or, of course, at whatever interval suits your way of working.

The Subassembly Processing Status panel will deal with analysis of Subassembly Shortages, and if the MRP engine identifies it will populate the panel with buttons for Reports that go into detail of what is short, and what needs to have Works Orders and Subassembly Jobs created. With your approval at each step, it will then go on to take care of these for you.

With subassembly production taken care of, the bottom panel will do exactly the same for Materials Shortages in the Top Level Assembly, and for the Subassemblies. Please take note of the Form Detail Panel!

So let go! Click the PROCEED button.

This takes you to Step 2.

2: Subassembly Shortages Processing.

In the Subassembly Processing Status panel, you see what will appear if there are Subassembly Shortages, but for your first run through we have chosen an Assembly with no Subassembly Shortages, which the little dialogue box in the centre tells us. Were there to be any, you would step through the buttons offered as appropriate, to view and/or print the analysis of your shortages and scheduling requirements, allow Merlin to create Works Orders to cover these, and to Create Subassembly Jobs for their manufacture.

You will note that the QUIT button is nowhere to be seen. In order that you won't click it in error prematurely, it won't become active until the whole process is complete, but worry not, you aren't locked in. You can Exit at any time if you need to by clicking the X Exit button at the top right-hand corner of your screen.

You can then come back later, start again, and the MRP engine will check everything again, and pick up where you left off.

So, click that OK button and we move on to Materials Shortages.

This takes you to Step 3.

3: Materials Shortages Processing.

The two buttons you see will to the left of the Materials Processing Panel provide you with analyses of your materials shortages and what needs to be purchased, and when it is needed on a job-by-job basis. These are very similar to the report offered for Subassembly Shortages, the difference, of course, being that the former deals only with Subassemblies, whilst this Step takes care of the Material Shortages, not just for the Top-level Job, but also for the Subassembly Jobs that may have been generated in the previous Step. Click them in turn and view and/or print the reports to see what needs to be procured for what, when and why.

This takes you to Step 4.

4: This is the Job Component Delivery Analysis.

This is the first option, Viewed on Screen. At the top left you can see the Viewer Control Panel, which allows you to move between pages of a multipage report, rescale the image, click the Print button if you want a hard copy, and click the little Door icon to close the viewer when you have finished reading.

This report shows you, item by item, job-by-job, what you need and when you need it, and what you need to procure to make up Shortages, and will Schedule Deliveries of the materials on a Just-in-Time (JiT) basis. The MRP Process is going to do all this for you at the click of a button, raising the POs and also the Delivery Schedules for Suppliers who will accept Call-offs, (where you have ticked the box to confirm this on their CRM Record Card.

We elected to include in-Stock items in this report, which gives you the big picture of materials requirements, but you can choose to exclude them to keep the report shorter and for these items you can see that you obviously don't need to purchase further supplies, and the system will not generate POs for these items.

This takes you to Step 5.

5: This is the Job Component Purchase Requirement.

Of critical importance here is the Days Error column. These show, job-by-job, part-by-part that the Lead Days for delivery of the parts is takes yu beyond the Start Date of the Job. The greatest error is shown in the bottom line, 7 days in this case, so you have two clear options.

Either Reschedule the Job Delivery Date seven days later for the in Sales Orders & Jobs (Merlin will the recalculate the Start and Finish Dates), or check if your Supplier can deliver more quickly. If not, you might try one of your Alternative Suppliers, and if they can help, set the Next Order Purchase to that Supplier on the Resource Record Cards for the Parts in question. If the latter were the preferred option, then this would be a good point to use that X button to leave the MRP Process, and return to it when the supply issue is resolved. Otherwise continue here, and amend the Job dates afterwards.

This underlines the importance of setting the Lead Days carefully for Suppliers and in the Assembly Definition, and for refining the process by including Manufacturing Processes in your BoMs.

For simplicity, let's assume you can amend the Job Delivery Date, and continue here.

This takes you to Step 6.

6: Generating POs and Delivery Schedules.

So, having read the Reports, and perhaps returning here after resolving any supply issues, click the Commence Materials Purchase Sequence button.

You will be offered the Proposed Purchases List to view or print. There should be no surprises here as you have read the Reports, but of course, this is the time to double-check to make sure you didn't miss anything.

Merlin will then offer to Print Purchase Orders? to which reply YES if you are now happy with everything.

This takes you to Step 7.

7: Job Done!

Merlin will now allocate these Subassemblies and Materials to their respective Jobs. This makes sure that these materials can't be taken for other Jobs. Click OK.

You will then see a button offering to Schedule Deliveries. Providing you have ticked the box in CRM indicating that a Supplier accept Call-offs, this will be done for any of these you are using here. If there were none, you will be so advised.

The QUIT button is now active again, and as there is nothing more to do here, just click it to Exit.

Any Questions? Please contact us on the HelpDesk.

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