Distribution Resource Planning (DRP) (SAP Library

Distribution Resource Planning (DRP)

Purpose

The objectives of Distribution Resource Planning (DRP) in the SAP System are:

To improve customer service levels by anticipating customer demand at distribution centers and providing finished products at the correct location when customer needs arise.
To provide an accurate requirements plan for manufacturing.
To optimize the distribution of available stock in the distribution network using the deployment function.

During the net requirements calculation the system compares the available stock and the planned receipts from the source of supply with the planned independent requirements and the incoming sales orders. If there is a material shortage (available stock is less than the quantity required), the system creates an order proposal.

The DRP process can be used for the entire supply chain including the production plants. DRP includes the production and purchasing in the planning process for the production plant.

Prerequisites

In order to perform a DRP run, you must:

Set up a distribution network, including identification of quota arrangements and lead times.
Define MRP parameters in the material master record for all materials in the distribution network.

Process flow

Schedule the DRP runs for your network as you would a planning run.

Select or change the appropriate segment of your distribution network.
Within Flexible Planning create a requirements forecast for distribution centers and plants.
After the forecast results have been transferred to demand management, the relevant planned independent requirements are generated.
These planned independent requirements are converted in the various variants of the DRP run into concrete purchase requisitions or orders.

A DRP run on a single material is the same as single-item, single-level planning in the planning run. Since the deployment plan involves finished goods, only single-material, single-level planning of individual materials without explosion to lower levels is available.
A DRP run for a single plant is the same as total planning in the planning run. Single-plant planning involves planning all the materials in a certain location that are relevant for requirements planning.
A DRP run using mass processing allows you to process several locations at once such that the whole supply chain is planned.

Result

The DRP run results include purchase requisitions and orders or scheduling agreements. You can use these results to plan how the distribution centers in your network should be supplied.

The DRP run in the distribution centers creates calls for stock transfer purchase requisitions in the supplying plants.

A DRP run for the supplying plants creates planned orders for production.