Infinite Bucket MRP Module

16.3.1 Overview

pc/MRP's Infinite Bucket MRP module generates an action.dbf file containing dated action items (buy, make, issue, etc.). Once the action.dbf file has been generated, the data can be used to print out various purchasing and manufacturing scheduling reports. All action items are pegged (contains the driving sales/work order number).

16.3.2 Activating pc/MRP's Infinite Bucket MRP Module

pc/MRP's Infinite Bucket MRP module can be activated by the phone by contacting Software Arts at 408-226-7321 and obtaining the activation code number for this module. Once you have obtained the activation code number, click on the Configuration Option in pc/MRP's top menu bar, selection Module Activation, and enter the activation code number when prompted.

16.3.3 Generating MRP Action Items

To generate MRP requirements, select "Optional" from pc/MRP's top menu bar. Select "Infinite Bucket MRP". Select "Generate MRP Action Items" as shown in the top window above. The second window, shown above will allow you to select the inventory areas (stores, area2-area11, and WIP) to fill the requirements.

We recommend companies using the stock room's "I" type issue method to issue stock to manufacturing and "L" type issues to cover breakage and items missing on the BOM, do not select the "Include WIP" option. The items in WIP have already been issued to existing sales and work orders on the floor and do not need to be reissued. If you use the default and do not "Includes WIP", pc/MRP will generate action items to fill shortages for sales and work orders that have already been issued to manufacturing. The BUY and ISSUE action item dates for shortages for sales/work orders that have been issued to manufacturing the floor will be time phased from the date the report was run and not based on when the sales order is due. The reason for this is to get the parts in as early as possible since the sales/work order is on the manufacturing floor being built.

We recommend companies using the stock room's "L" type issue method instead of the "I" type, to issue stock to manufacturing, select the "Include WIP" option. This is the only method that will work for those companies using the "L" type issues only. Selecting Include WIP has the drawback of creating issue action items for parts and assemblies that have already been issued. If you do "Include WIP", pc/MRP will generate action items to reissue sales and work orders that have already been issued to manufacturing.  With pc/MRP versions 8.16C and higher a file named “MrpAllowWip.Flg” must exist in the pc/MRP directory to enable the Include WIP option.   This file can be created with Note Pad.

You must also select the items that will drive the demand open sales, open work orders and/or open sales quotes.  

Work orders do not need to be created for sales orders as the stockroom can issue parts directly to sales orders.

If you do create work orders to fill existing sales orders, create work orders for sub-assemblies and  check the work orders as consumable.   Make sure the work order’s date required is prior to the sales order’s date required.   Check both Sales Orders and Work Orders to drive demand.

If work orders are not meant to keep the plant busy and not fill existing sales orders, do not check the work orders as consumable.   Check both Sales Orders and Work Orders to drive demand.

If  sales orders are checked as requiring dedicated work orders, pc/MRP will expect to find dedicated work orders for a all the sub-assemblies that go into that sales order.  It will display an error list if the dedicated work orders are missing or have incorrect quantities.  

In addition, you can generate your labor requirements, if you check the labor requirements box and you have labor entered into your BOMs.

When generating an MRP pc/MRP will proceeds as follows:

· Enters ONHAND records in the action and available dbf files.

· Enters PO records in the action and available dbf files.

· Allocates completed work and sales orders that have not shipped.

· Allocates parts below min from avail and enters BUY records if not available.

· Process all open sales orders, work orders and sales quotes in date required order creating BUY, ISSUE, MAKE, and SALE action items based on onhand quantities, BOMs, and lead times.

When generating an MRP pc/MRP will generate the following types of action records.

· SALE.....Existing open sales/work order for a part/assembly number

· ONHAND...Existing on hand quantity - minqty of a part/assembly number

· PO.......Existing open purchase order for a part number

· BUY......Computer generated buy requirement for a part number

· ISSUE....Computer generated stock issue requirement for a part/assembly number

· MAKE.....Computer generated make assembly/subassembly requirement for an assembly

· LABOR....Computer generated labor requirement generated after on hand quantity has been allocated

Note:   If pc/MRP generates a "MAKE" action item for an assembly and the driving sales/work order is listed as "MINQTY", you should create a work order for that assembly and rerun the MRP with the new work order(s). To see what will drive the BOM minimum quantity, enter ‘MINQTY’ in the selection box for SO/WO# when you select the All for a Sales/Work Order Number.

When generating a "BUY" action item, pc/MRP will use the standard order quantity (for part numbers) if the standard order quantity is greater than the quantity required. It will place the excess in the avail.dbf file to fill additional purchase requirements.

If you select, Include Labor, when you generated your MRP, pc/MRP will generate LABOR action items once the onhand quantity and purchasing quantity of action items has been allocated. To see your total labor requirements, make sure the on hand quantity of labor action items is equal to 0.

Once the Infinite Bucket Module has finished generating the action items, it will zero out and then update the quantity available field for each part in the part master. The quantity available field will contain the quantity available after allocation (onhand+POs-issues and sales action items). A negative quantity in this field indicates that the part needs to be purchased and BUY action items were generated.  However, please note that the BUY action items may not equal the qty available as the BUY action items can be increased by the standard order qty. While the QTY AVAIL field is the total of the ONHAND + existing POs - issues - sales. If the current on-hand quantity is negative, pc/MRP will consider the current on-hand quantity to be 0 when calculating the new quantity available. When pc/MRP re-calculates the quantity available field for assemblies and sub-assemblies it does not increase the quantity available for make action items. It simply takes the on-hand quantity (it will use 0 if the on-hand quantity is <0) and subtracts the quantity of the SALE action items. It does not increase the available quantity from MAKE action items as these assemblies are consumed by higher-level assemblies reporting directly to a sales or work order. If it is a top-level assembly for a sales or work order, it does not increase the quantity available as the sales or work order is not available until it is returned from stock as finished assembly.

pc/MRP will assign the driving a sales/work order to an existing PO action items based on the earliest sales/work order that needs to allocate parts from that PO. pc/MRP does not carry over the related document number into the avail database file. As such, the Infinite Bucket reports may indicate a sales order with an earlier due date requires this PO.

Sales Quotes with a date required less than the current date would not be used for the MRP run. pc/MRP will insert the sales quote into the error file notifying you that the MRP run did not use this sales quote.

pc/MRP version 8.16C and higher will not allow users to check “Include Inventory in WIP” checkbox unless an empty text file created by Notepad named “mrpallowwip.flg” exists in the pc/MRP directory (usually pcmrpw).

pc/MRP version 8.16D and higher create a MrpInProgress.Flg file when ever an MRP is generated.   This file will keep others from using the Infinite Bucket Module while the file is in existence. The MrpInProgress.flg file is automatically deleted after the mrp generation is complete or the MrpInProgress file is over an hour old and a user tries to access the Infinite Bucket Module.

pc/MRP version 8.20F and higher check for exclusive use of the action dbf file prior to allowing a person to generate an MRP.   If the person generating the MRP gets an error message indicating the action dbf file is in use, it means another person is printing or displaying an MRP report.   The person trying to generate an MRP must wait until the person generating an MRP report is finished.   

16.3.4 Print/Display Action Item Reports

Selecting Print/Display Action Item Reports brings up the following screen:

16.3.4.1 Non-Consolidated Reports

Not checking the "Consolidation" check box will print/display all individual action items. The non-consolidated reports can provide daily lists or schedule of action items. This type of report can be used to see exactly what is going on for a particular part number or sales order. An example of a non-consolidated MRP report follows:

The non-consolidation report MRP (mrp2.frx) uses the action.dbf and includes the following columns:

· Action (sale, PO, on-hand, Buy, Issue Make)

· Driving Sales/WO

· Driving Sale/WO item #

· PO# (only for PO action item)

· PO Item # (only for PO action item)

· Vendor ID

· Part/Assy #

· Part/Assy Description

· Action Quantity

· Running Total (only if all items are included and the following is true)

o Running Part Total (all action items for a part number sorted by date)

o Running Total (all action items or all for a part sorted by part number)

· Start Date

· End Date

· Review

§ All versions will contain a Y if the scheduled delivery date is less than the current date or the lead-time exceeds the scheduled delivery date.

§ Versions 7.01AA, 7.03T, 7.06D, 7.43E, and higher will contain an S if it is a shortage on the mfg floor for a sales or work order that has already been issued.

Software Arts recommends printing the following non-consolidated report after generating an MRP. Deselect the Consolidated Check Box, if checked. Select "All" (action items) and include all action items (Initial Onhand Quantity, Purchase Orders, Buy, Issue, Sale, Make, and Labor) sorted by part number (sub-sorts by date). This provides a list of to do action items for each part number with a running onhand total since the part number sort is sub sorted by date.

If there is a question about a part number's action item quantities, run the following non-consolidated report. Deselect the Consolidated Check Box, if checked. Select "All for a part number" and include all action items (Initial Onhand Quantity, Purchase Orders, Buy, Issue, Sale, Make, and Labor) sorted by date. This provides a list of to do action items for that part number with a running onhand since the action items are sorted by date.

Running totals are incremented by onhand, PO, and BUY action items. Running totals are decremented by issue and sale action items. Running totals are NOT incremented for MAKE action items driven by a higher-level sales/work orders as these subassys go into the higher-level assemblies for the driving sales/work order and not into inventory. If a sales or work order is created for a MAKE action item, the running total will be increased as that item must go back into stock and will be issued to another sales or work order later.

16.3.4.2 Consolidated Reports

Checking the "Consolidated" check box allows you to print out consolidated MRP reports. These reports will consolidate and sub-total the action items based on the consolidation period selected. As a result, the consolidated reports are shorter than the non-consolidated reports but they not as detailed. If you wanted to create work orders for sub-assemblies, you could run a monthly consolidation report, create consumable work orders for every sub-assemblies make action item whose due date was the first of the month, and then regenerate your MRP. Please note, that it is not necessary to create a work order for every sub-assembly with pc/MRP. An example of a consolidation report follows:

pc/MRP IB-MRP Consolidated Example Report

The consolidated MRP report (mrp2cons.frx) uses the mrp2cons.dbf file and includes the columns shown above.

16.3.4.3  Excess Inventory Report

Selecting the Excess Inventory Options will print/display a report similar to the report shown below.

The above columns consist of the following action item quantities

· The onhand action item qty into onhand qty column

· The sum of the make and PO action item quantities into the make qty column

· The sum of the issue and sale action item quantities into the usage qty column

· The minimum qty into the minimum qty column

· The onhand + make - usage - min quantities into the excess qty column

This report uses action.dbf (parent) and partmast.dbf (child) to create an exectmp.dbf file. It then uses the exectmp.dbf file and the mrp2execs form to create the report. This report uses program code (and not report code) to total up the column quantities.

This report adds an additional issue transaction for make transaction types when the part number does not equal the top assembly number. This keeps subassemblies for sales and work order subassemblies from showing up as excess. The excess inventory report dooe not print/display parts or assemblies that are not in excess.  Checking the include checkboxes to include initial onhand quantities, purchase orders, etc. will make sure these action items are included in the above quantity calculations.

pc/MRP Versions 7.80Z, 7.83R and higher will display items without excess inventory if you select, “Include All Items”.    The Excess Inventory for items with out excess inventory will = $0.00.

16.3.4.4 Pre-Shortage Report

This report lists all Buy and PO action items including the push pull dates for the Purchase Order action items. This report (mrp2cbpp.frx) uses the action.dbf as the parent database file and purchase.dbf and mrppart are the child dbf files of the action.dbf file. The Issue action items will only be displayed if there is a problem with the issue (a capital "Y" in the review field).

16.3.4.5 Push Pull Report

The Infinite Bucket Push Pull Report lists each PO with its scheduled delivery date and pc/MRP's recommended delivery date. This report has the option to zero-out cancelled POs. This report (pushpull.frx) uses avail.dbf as the parent database with mrpso.dbf and mrppart.dbf as child database files.

16.3.4.6 Issued Shortage Report

pc/MRP's Issued Shortage Report lists all issued stockroom shortages. It uses the Action Item data base file, action.dbf. It sets both mrpstock and mrpso as children database files. When it locates a make action item for the top assembly of a sales/work order, it will insert a record into TempShrt.dbf for every stockroom part number issued to that sales/work order. The TempShrt.dbf record contains the sales order's mrpso.issuedtmf, mrpso.orqtyreq, mrpso.qtyassm fields and the stockroom's mrpstock.qtyissued, mrpstock.qtyreq fields. The routing dbf is a child of the TempShrt.dbf. The report MrpShrt2.frx will use the tempshrt.dbf and display all stock room shortage records where the qtyissued < qtyreq. This report must be run right after an MRP run and not days later as it captures the shortages on the day the MRP is run.

16.3.4.7 MRP Buy Report

The MRP Buy Report uses the action data base file with the partmast.dbf as the child file. It displays buy action items using the Mrp2Buy.frx report form.  This report uses the average cost from the partmaster.

16.3.5 MRP Time Line

The MRP Time Line can be used to display or print a graphical representation of the MRP requirements.

The MRP Time Line can display All actions, Buys, open Purchase Orders, Issues, Makes, and Sales.  Actions can be further separated by specific part numbers, sales or work order numbers, and specific date ranges.

16.3.6 MRP Item Graph

Choosing Item Graph from the menu will present a graph similar to the on show below.

Now, as you set up your graph parameters, the graph appears.

The print button in the upper right corner allows printing of the graph and / or data.

16.3.7 Automatically Create Purchase Orders

If the purchase buy requirements report looks good, selecting "Create Purchase Orders" will automatically generate the POs required to fill the buy requirements. Users can select a date range for generating POs. Selecting Order per requirement will generate a PO for every buy action item generated. Selecting "Daily Orders" will consolidate all POs for the same part number required for the same day into one PO line item. Selecting "Weekly Orders" will consolidate all POs for the same part number required for the week into one PO line item.

Selecting "Process Defaults" will allow you to set the defaults for the above screen. When the "Create POs" function generates a PO, it puts a Y in the PO_MAKE field for that BUY action item in the action data base file. This allows you to use the date range function without worrying about creating duplicate POs. The function that automatically created purchase orders is limited to 100 line items. pc/MRP will create multiple purchase orders if the 100 limit is exceeded.

With version 7.82 and lower, pc/MRP will only select VENDOR 1. With versions 7.83 and higher, pc/MRP will allow you to select VENDOR 1 or the vendor with the BEST PRICE for the quantity ordered.

16.3.8 Trouble Shooting The Infinite Bucket Module

If the quantities in the Infinite Bucket reports appear to be wrong, please do the following:

If any errors are reported after the MRP run was generated, correct the errors and re-generate the MRP.

To view the errors found select Display Generation Errors from the Infinite Bucket menu.

If the quantities still seem wrong, select one of the part numbers involved and run a non-consolidated report.

Include all action items for a specified part number sorted by ending date. This report will clarify where the quantities are coming from. Repeat this step for any other part numbers you wish to verify.

16.3.9 Automatically scheduling MRP runs with pc/MRP's plug-in

This plug-in has been replaced with the pc/MRP Scheduling Interface in Version 8.00

16.3.10 Using pc/MRP for Capacity Planning for Labor and Workstations (Machine Control)

To implement capacity planning for labor and workstations, you must associate inside labor parts with their respective workstations.  In others words, you could have an inside labor part called “Wire Crimping Labor”.  Another inside labor part might be called “Wave Soldering Labor”.  Each inside labor part would have a unit of one hour and a cost for one hour of labor.  Add these inside labor parts to your BOMs.  For example, one specific cable assembly may require .05 hours of crimping labor.  After you generate an MRP, print a weekly consolidated MRP Report.  This report will display the number of labor hours required per week for each workstation.