​Material Requirements PlanningEmpowering MRP concepts through education and support services

Looking to work with a MRP Expert?

You already have an successful & established business, but new opportunities have surfaced which are causing you to re-think your strategies or optimize your processes.

Material Requirements Planning and the supporting processes are extremely powerful in optimizing cash flow, profitability, labor, and cost reductions. 

Why do business’ struggle with MRP and Planning Systems?

How do business’ overcome the complexity?

By following a strategic plan to address all phases of the implementation within an organization.  

We’ve created  a “RoadMap” to lead our clients through these phases. The great thing about our RoadMap is it can be applied to endless implementation, not only MRP and Planning Systems. 

Roadmap to Excellence

5 Point Strategy to Reduce your Labor Costs

The Roadmap to Excellence

Phase 1: Build Organizational Commitment

A Planning System or equivalent will have a dramatic impact to a business, hopefully in a positive way. When an initiative has a global impact to a business it’s critical to have organizational commitment before starting. This process will vary from business-to-business, some will require a presentation to the Executive level or maybe a business case or project analysis needs to be drafted. If you can’t get commitment from the top level of a business there is little chance the project or initiative will succeed. to its fullest extent.

  • Top Level Management Approach
  • Create a “Sense of Urgency”
  • Educate company leaders and power users

Phase 2: Document the Process

A Planning System requires many complex systems and processes  to work together for the entire system to function properly.  When performing any type of implementation or change, visually mapping out the existing and proposed processes is important step. This will allow you to analyze the process to identify gaps also cross-department conflicts.

  • Name 
  • Scope
  • Inputs & Outputs
  • Visualize the Process in a Workflow
  • Document the Gap Analysis between Current & Proposed Process

Phase 3: Define KPI’s

You will need to have the proper Key Performance Indicators identified to enable you to measure you continued effectiveness. Remember, just because you can measure it doesn’t mean it’s valuable, worthwhile, or a KPI. KPIs are just that they are “Key” Performance Indicators. Make sure when defining your KPIs they aren’t conflicting each other. If they do, you will enable siloed functional areas or departments to develop.

  • Determine the Most Important Objectives
  • Delivered In-Full & On-Time (DIFOT)
  • Cash to Cycle Time (Velocity)
  • Labor Utilization, Efficiency, and Productivity
  • Inventory Days of Supply
  • Safety Stock Levels
  • Forecast Accuracy
  • Indirect Labor Hours

Phase 4: Cross Functional Collaboration

In Phase 4 we need to promote collaboration between functional experts, departments, and disciplines. This is so important for a Planning System, since you are working with so many systems & process, internal & external to make it work seamlessly.  Really an MRP System is nearly as large in organizational reach as an ERP system, so the same thought needs to be invested into the collective efforts. 

If the proper collaboration isn’t developed there is significant business risk through excessive costs, missed shipments, and other failed commitments.

  • Different Functional Expertise Working Toward a Common Goal
  • Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement
  • Increase Teamwork by Building Relationships
  • Improve Communications

Phase 5: Identify Key Disciplines 

In this segment of the Roadmap to Excellence we identify and determine our Key Disciplines. These could be specific to the MRP or Planning System or it can also extend deeper into the business.  An example of this might be a subject matter expert in developing an accurate forecast based on your industry.  These key areas are more than system knowledge, these also include the conceptual knowledge of the planning discipline

  • MRP
  • Scheduling
  • APS
  • Root Cause Analysis

Phase 6: Change Management

When you have your Planning System working in a stable manner, you need to have a Change Management system in place. This doesn’t mean you need to implement a complex Change Management system. This could be as simple as a home grown system, in the end you only need a system to  manage and control changes. Ad-hoc changes can have adverse effects toward the stability and accuracy of your Planning System. 

  • Set the Expectation Change will Happens
  • Understand the ”How Will it Affect Me” Idea
  • Don’t Try and Make Negatives into Positives
  • Embrace the Change Cycle
  • Pay Attention to the Resistance Prone Team Members
  • Protocols in Place to Review & Approve Process Changes

How to identify and overcome the 7 Deadly Sins of MRPReceive this transformational FREE eBook!

In this powerful guide, you’ll learn to identify and overcome the 7 most critical MRP problems. Best of all, you’ll get innsights to help you overcome these issues to open the door to MRP Excellence.

Our Strategy...

Our strategy is to focus efforts and resources on clients who understand change isn’t easy and are committed to success. We understand your success is a collaboration between 4 key areas. Successful organizations have embraced these areas and made them the foundation of their culture.

  • Data – A business generates a tremendous amount of information and most business’ aren’t analyzing this data. Today being data driven is required to achieve optimal success.
  • Productivity – If your teams are busy and not productive, you’ve got a problem. You need to be measuring productivity against all departments. 
  • Training – Team members need to be continually trained. Training is more than showing someone how to do something. Proper training with work instructions and visual workflows will yield a positive ROI.
  • Engagement – Everyone in your organization needs to be engaged in the success of the company. An engaged team member is shown how to decrease operational costs by reducing lost-time and increasing productivity.

If you’re looking for a company to work with you to improve your business, contact us for a no obligation conversation

RSS Business Resources, LLC   1275 Glenlivet Drive, Suite 100    Allentown, PA 18106-3107