Companies have changed considerably over the years and the tools used to plan the reordering of materials, also known as Material Requirements Planning or MRP, devised in the 1950s, which at the time revolutionised the world of manufacturing, are now ineffective for many of the needs of modern companies. Today, in fact, the times expected by customers have been reduced, the supply chains have increased considerably both in terms of complexity and length and the products have become more varied and complex.
The MRP or Material Requirements Planning
MRP also has its disadvantages, and its biggest flaw is what the industry calls “nervousness,” the characteristic in an MRP system that occurs when small changes in higher-level records, or in the main production schedule, cause significant changes in timing or quantity in lower-level schedules or orders.
Nervousness in turn leads to the bullwhip effect, a phenomenon known for decades in the Supply Chain that consists of the amplification of variability. Unfortunately, the more nodes in the supply chain, the worse the bullwhip effect. Thus, as supply chains become more complex, the greater the impact of variability on delivery times, service levels, and inventory levels becomes.
| CHARACTERISTICS OF SUPPLY CHAINS | 1965 | TODAY |
| Complexity of Supply Chains | Low | High |
| Product Lifecycle | Long | Short |
| Time tolerated by the customer | Long | Short |
| Product complexity | Low | High |
| Product customization | Low | High |
| Product variety | Low | High |
| Parts long lead time | Some | Many |
| Forecast accuracy | High | Low |
| Pressure for low inventories | Low | High |
| Transactional clutch | High | Low |
An advanced tool for material planning
Today, however, there is the DDMRP, a Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning solution, used by manufacturing companies that have the ambition to manage the supply of materials in the best way to guarantee production the availability of materials in the right place at the right time. The DDMRP solution allows manufacturing companies to overcome the difficulties of modern Supply Chains, which MRP solutions cannot guarantee. In fact, companies that aim to improve their performance and competitiveness have already added modern Demand Driven solutions to the MRP solution, obtaining immediate benefits.
The benefits of DDMRP software
Thanks to the Demand Driven MRP solution, manufacturing companies are able to create feasible plans, having visibility into real critical issues and being able to act in time where necessary. In fact, the DDMRP tool, thanks to advanced techniques and methodologies, allows you to reduce variability, eliminate forecast errors, eliminate so-called system nervousness and optimize inventory levels.
Thanks to CyberPlan’s DDMRP solution, in particular, companies use intuitive workflows, ensure the correct priority to orders in an easy and effective way and create feasible plans thanks to a particularly fast and powerful execution process. The Cybertec solution, certified by the Demand Driven Institute, is seamlessly integrated with the rest of the CyberPlan suite and benefits from the same unique features ranging from extreme data processing speed to easy and intuitive user interface.
Equip your company with a modern tool for sourcing materials
Today, purchasing and production planning departments can use advanced tools such as DDMRP software to plan the supply of materials in an extremely precise and timely manner, avoiding interruptions in the production flow and stock outs, as well as excess inventories and obsolescence of materials. Learn how to seamlessly integrate CyberPlan’s DDMRP tool into your business to enhance its management skills by having an expert contact you who will be at your disposal.