Hi,

After reading some books and articles about MRP, I would like to ask some questions to people who are projectleaders of ERP (Baan :D) implementation projects.

It's about comments made by Mr. Oliver Wight in 1981 in one of his books. I would like to know if these thoughts are still correct.

Please respond if You are a projectleader or you know people who might be able to help me out.

Looking forward to your answer.

regards,
Luuk Jurriens
Leiden, the Netherlands

Mr. Oliver Wight has a lot of very good ideas that apply up to now. Others have to be adjusted to current situation though.
Like any other methodology, the implementor must be able to adjust accordingly to ensure success.
I still use his quick slice approach to implementation as a guide and the Baan methodology has shades of these.
I'm not sure which book and quote you are referring to but there are indeed materials in his books that can be done quicker, maybe better, with todays tools.

In 2001, we had asked an Oliver Wight certified professional to assess one of our clients. The client had implemented Baan internally but encountered problems when their business model changed and they lost their key resources. We were not surprised that he concluded that the client was not prepared for ERP implementation.
The materials that he used were mostly the same as that I saw when I had my MRP II course.

Hi,

Literature states that ERP is an extention of the original MRP II suite/system (what is an extension of the MRP system). Are there more differences?

There are companies who sell MRP products, and universities that teach students about MRP. So is it fair to say that the co-exist in the same market? If so, why use the two different names?

Looking forward to your answer.
Luuk Jurriens
Leiden, the Netherlands

Hi,

You're correct, ERP (enterprise resources planning) is an extension of MRP II (manufacturing resources planning). Some call ERP as ERM (enterprise resource management).
MRP II focused mostly on the manufacturing portion of business but included key functionalities in finance, and logistics.
Since many enterprises have multiple business concerns, this resulted to integration issues. Thus, it is not far fetched to see companies with a few MRP II systems, supported by specialized software, etc.
ERP is an attempt to be the one-all solution to this. However, reality does not make it cost effective for each software vendor to have all the expertise. Hence we have CRM, PLM, Business Intelligence et. al.. Despite these additions, the basic principles from inventory control, materials management, and manufacturing management still apply.
To where this all leads up to will surely produce another set of acronyms.

Cheers !

Dear Foxguard,

Thank you for answering.
You state that ERP is sometimes also called ERM, can you refer to an article that reproduced this information?

Regards,
Luuk Jurriens
Leiden, the Netherlands

Luuk,

Don't confuse the commerce with the concepts. MRP, MRPII and ERP are concepts, basically on how to manage a manufacturing organisation.

Software vendors will grab whatever buzzword is around to describe their products or invent their own to distinguish themselves from the competition.

As for what they teach in universities: things are getting better, but in general universities are not famous for cutting edge teaching or being in touch with the outside world. When I studied mechanical engineering in the eighties they still seemed to prefer rivets instead of welding.

ERP systems like Baan have been used succesfully outside the traditional manufacuring world, showing they are capable of managing more than just traditional manufacturing.

Equally, they have been implemented less than succesful in manufacturing environments such as process industry or aircraft / aerospace industry.

You just cannot capture the functionality and limitations of these systems in a three letter word.

Disclaimer:
These are my views, but I have been wrong in the past and on occasion even changed my view ;)