I have the following problem at hand (BaaN IVb)

Because of packaging constraints, our factory tends to overissue parts to production orders. The parts come on rolls of several thousands, the whole roll is issued to the Production Order and the remaining quantity gets backflushed at the end of the run.

Now a common scenario is that we have (say) 4 orders with differrent start dates:

Order A 12/20
Order B 12/21
Order C 12/22
Order D 12/23

For whatever reasons, orders A through C are kept on hold. Order D is released and a roll (the only roll) is issued to the Production Order. If after that any of the previous orders get released, Baan will notice a shortage (all inventory is allocated) and MRP generates messages to the buyers, even though there is enough physical stock around to fullfill all orders.

It all makes sense, but its not how we want it to go. These particular items are expensive and it is creating unnecessary inventory levels. Is there any way we can make this work using standard Baan?

1. We do not use MPS.
2. The only unit used in the process is 'each'.

Hi there,

the obvoius solution would be not to release the roll to production in Baan! If I understand it correctly the parts are going to be backflushed anyway. Instead production should leave an IOU chit for the estimated rest quantity at the warehouse! This way Baan won't experience a shortage and MRP won' fire. Maybe not the most elegant of solutions in this IT day and age, but if it works... :rolleyes:

Not all the parts will be backflushed.
But say a roll has 3,000 eaches on it and we run an order for 234.
The whole role has to be taken from the warehouse (physically) and put in WIP. If this is done while other orders are still pending, then shortages are created for the orders wih an earlier start date.

If the orders were released in the right order, it would not be an issue because MRP takes the 2,766 expected returns into account. Unfortunately, orders are rarely released in chronological order.

I hope I understand you correctly, but you're using:
a) the backflushing principle
b) WIP-warehouses
After transfering the entire role (via DRP/RPL?) to the WIP-whse, MRP will react when safety stock levels/re-orderpoints are hit. Perhaps making the WIP-whses nettable might solve your problems?

but as it stands, the WIP warehouses proved unworkable because of high volumes.

The problem remains, why does MRP see a shortage when only the actual amount should be allocated, regardless of how much was released?

What do you have in the inventory roll or each?. If it is each then, MRP should be allocating the number of eaches it requires for the production order. Other should still be available to you.

All units are in 'each'. MRP apparently uses the actual issued inventory for order D (in my example), but does not see availability of the overissued quantity until the planned order start date. Therefore, planned orders A through C still have a demand that can't be fullfilled by the 0 inventory at that time.

By the way, I was incorrect in saying that we use the backflush method. The overissue actually creates a negative material requirement instead.