What are the symptoms of a struggling MRP push process?
To see the waste of an MRP push process, just walk onto the factory floor- especially during the last weeks of the financial quarter. The symptoms that you’ll see include: A well staffed materials “planning” or “analyzing” department Complicated BoM structures with “phantom” assemblies and operations “Lumpy” or “whip-saw” dependent demands High volumes of unexpected purchase requisitions and orders Increasing inventory levels Continual parts shortages handled by a full-time staff of parts expeditors Mediocre delivery performance Lengthy production status meetings Resources consumed with the following wasteful activities: frequent MRP regeneration and “back-flushing”, line-balancing, WIP reporting, order confirmation, kitting. You’ll find that achieving quarterly financial and production targets requires overtime, line balancing, expediting, last minute production runs, and even a little smoke and mirrors. This chaos results in scrap, rework and additional labor costs- waste that signif
