Multi Site MRP
by Matt Hook on Jun 12, 2012
Overview
We are adding multi site logic into MRP for the latest release.
MRP will now calculate supply and demand relevant for each site individually.
Each site will have a Customer and Supplier automatically added against them to facilitate
transfers between sites via Shipments and Goods Receipts.
For each Product you can set up default replenishment options for each site individually. For
each product and site that you specify replenishment defaults, you can specify a source
"replenishment site".
When a supply for a site is needed, if there is a source replenishment site specified, then
instead of raising a PO or MO, MRP will raise a pending Transfer from the source
replenishment site to the site where the supply is needed.
In the source replenishment site, this extra transfer demand will be included in MRP,
meaning that the replenishment site will also procure for the extra stock that will then be
transferred to the site that has the demand.
If you do not add a site default for a particular site/product combination then MRP will
assume that product to be part of the MRP run for the default site. This ensures that we
maintain the existing functionality of MRP for existing customers.
Once MRP has generated pending Transfers for each site, you can use the Inventory
Transfers to confirm and process any transfers generated by MRP.
Processing a Transfer will create a sales order for the Customer linked to the site that needs
the demand and by profile a shipment too.
Finalising the shipment for the transfer will move the stock batches into a NULL location
with a system type to denote that they are "In Transfer".
At this point the system will automatically create a Purchase Order for the Supplier
associated to the source site.
Once the stock has arrived you can create a Goods Receipt for the Purchase Order. This will
move the stock out of the NULL In Transfer record into stock at the destination site.
Example
An example product TestOctagon, is procured from the Octagon site and is needed
throughout 3 different sites Riverside, Birmingham and Reston. The reorder points can be
set on individual sites, in this example Reston will reorder to ensure stock is at 30 within the
Reston site itself, this overrides the default reorder point.
Note that if no record is present for a particular site for a product, then MRP will procure for
the default site as per existing V7 functionality.
MRP can then be run for all sites. This will run MRP for each site in order of an MRP
Sequence on each site. In this example we will want to run Riverside, Birmingham and
Reston before Octagon, to ensure that any transfer requests from the 3 satellite sites will
then be fed into the Octagon MRP run.
Once MRP has run you will end up with a list of Requirements in Inventory Review that can
be broken down by site. Here we have a demand from Birmingham for the Octagon site as
per the reorder point of 20 for Birmingham:
Next looking at Reston we have 2 demands for transfers, the 30th April transfer as a result of
the reorder point of 30 is due straight away. The 28th April transfer is a result of a Firm Sales
Order that has been placed for the Reston site, this transfer is due in the day before the
Sales Order is due:
Next we look at Riverside. This has no reorder point, so there is no initial transfer required.
There are 2 Firm lines on these requirements, the Sales Order is due on 29th May and there
is also a Firm transfer on the 28th May for 7. This is a transfer that has been previously
firmed up so is now counted as Firm supply.
The result of this is that we need a new proposed transfer of 3 to satisfy the sales order
demand of 10:
Finally, we look at the Octagon site. This is the site where all the Transfers will be sourced
from. This means that all the transfers specified above will be included as demand within the
Octagon site. Note that Transfers out will take into account the leadtime from the
Product/Site default, this is not shown here yet:
The 4 Transfer rows all show demand for other sites to be satisfied by the Octagon site. MRP
fills these demands by proposing POs as normal so that the stock will be available for the
Transfers.
The Inventory Transfers screen allows you to create Transfers from one site to another.
Below we have created a Transfer from Octagon to Reston. Once you have specified the
Transfer you wish to make, all the items that MRP is proposing you should transfer from
Octagon to Reston will appear in the list. You can include the items you want to Transfer and
then process the Transfer:
Once the Transfer is processed it will generate a Sales Order and unfinalised Shipment for
the Customer associated to the Reston site:
If you run MRP again at this point you will see that the previously proposed transfers have
been converted into Firm Transfers on Reston and Firm Sales Orders on Octagon:
Once you have physically shipped the stock, you can finalise the Shipment.
Finalising the shipment will move the stock batches into a NULL location with a system type
to denote that they are "In Transfer". The system will automatically create a Purchase Order
for the Supplier associated to the Octagon site (the Source site of the Transfer). Once the
stock has arrived you can create a Goods Receipt for the Purchase Order. This will move the
stock out of the NULL In Transfer record into stock at the Reston site.
Issues to discuss
How do we deal with drop shipments? Currently the transfer will be created in the middle of
the drop shipment process.
How do we deal with back to back orders, if a product has a source replenishment site then
we don't want to make/buy it at the current site. It would need an order created at the
source site and a transfer created to the current site.