More Functions in DRP
Distribution requirements planning (DRP) contains the following additional functions that ensure that planning runs optimally, products are available at demand, and that you can thus achieve a high level of service for your customers.
DRP Stability Rules
DRP stability rules are a detailed body of rules that control if and how scheduling agreement releases and purchase orders can be changed, created, and deleted within specified time horizons.
Pre-Season Safety Stock Shift
To achieve a high level of service, you can bring forward the safety stock of products with seasonal demand into a coverage phase.
Virtual Locations for Consolidated Ordering
On the basis of region patterns, at runtime the system combines child locations belonging to the same region with the same parent location to form a virtual location for consolidated ordering. DRP consolidates demands and stocks of the individual location to determine whether a net demand exists at consolidated level.
Supplier Shutdown
During replenishment planning, the system considers supplier shutdowns, for example, supplier vacation times. During a supplier shutdown, the system does not create scheduling agreement delivery schedule lines or purchase requisitions.
Substitution of Remanufactured Products
When planning the substitution of remanufactured products, the system considers the capacity restrictions of your suppliers. If the supplier capacity is not sufficient to cover the demand of the remanufactured products, the system replaces the products to be remanufactured with new (that is, not yet used) products.
Anticipated Demand Coverage
You can use anticipated demand coverage to smooth seasonal demand of a location product.
Future Bill of Distribution (BOD)
Since you cannot change a BOD, but have to recreate it with modifications, you can define a date at which the old BOD expires and the new one begins. As of this date, DRP plans using the new BOD.
Repair or Buy
If you work with high-value products that are less expensive to repair than to procure externally, you can use the repair-or-buy function. The repair-or-buy function allows you to decide whether you wish to repair certain products in all cases or if the system is to make a repair-or-buy decision. The main criterion for this decision is whether sufficient products that could be repaired are available.
Kit-to-Stock
You can plan the procurement and manufacture of kits. When doing so, you can decide for each kit and location whether you want to create the kit internally, that is, at one of your BOD locations, or externally, that is, by a subcontractor.
Reorder-Point-Based Planning
For each location product, you can decide whether you wish to plan for this product using the period-based planning or reorder-point-based planning mode. Reorder-point-based planning is therefore particularly well-suited for slow turnover location products and for location products for which there is no demand history (or no reliable demand history), meaning that the system cannot create any reliable forecasts.
Form-Fit-Function Classes
If you use form-fit-function classes in your product interchangeability work, DRP takes this into account during planning by consolidating the net demands and overstocks of the products in a form-fit-function class at location level and ordering only if there is a consolidated net demand. For more information, see Form-Fit-Function Classes.