MANUFACTURING RESOURCE PLANNING (MRP II)

MRP II is a comprehensive, integrated system for managing the resources of a corporation. It includes processes from business planning to scheduling with suppliers. Actually, MRP II is the successor to material requirements planning (MRP), which is more narrowly focused and considers mainly production scheduling, bills of material, and requirements.

Increasingly, MRP II is used with just-in-time techniques because MRP II focuses more on satisfying the quantitative requirements of work orders than on quality. Together, quantity and quality are satisfied.

MRP II offers many benefits. It reduces the need to keep excess inventory. It also encourages better planning and teaming among all the players. Finally, it encourages improved satisfaction of customer requirements.

for MRP II

• Establish and integrate processes, from business planning to production scheduling.
• Encourage teamwork among the process owners (e.g., engineering and design).
• Document the MRP II system.
• Ensure production control and scheduling disciplines are in place.
• Ensure controls exist to preclude inventory excesses and shortages.