The fourth phase of Demand Driven MRP is to release jobs to production when allocated materials become available.
Summary
Open purchase orders are tracked and expedited to ensure that jobs get released on time. Jobs are released to live production per planned start dates when allocated materials become available. Job Release is the heart of the scheduling system that moves the job planning dates from tentative to firm.
Actions
1. Expedite POs to release jobs on time
Open purchase orders are tracked and expedited to ensure that jobs get released on time.
POs are tracked in the PO Schedule screen
POs in progress are tracked in the Purch - PO Schedule screen. PO lines are displayed in ascending Due Date order so that late POs are displayed at the top of the list.
A Days Past Due value indicates a late PO
A late PO is identified by a Days Past Due value, which is the number of calendar days that have elapsed since the PO line’s Due Date.
The Supply Dependencies inquiry lists delayed jobs
When a late PO is causing a delay to one or more job start dates, the icon in the Dependencies field becomes visible. Click the icon to launch the Supply Dependencies inquiry, which lists each delayed job and the number of days that have elapsed (or are expected to elapse if there is an Expected Date) since the job start date.
Dependent jobs cannot be released
Dependent jobs listed in the Supply Dependencies inquiry cannot be released to production in the Jobs - Job Control Panel - Release Jobs screen until the late PO is received and all other materials are fully allocated.
Expedite late POs with suppliers
It is essential that late POs are expedited so that dependent jobs can be released to production without further delay. A late PO is expedited by communicating with the supplier and applying appropriate pressure to get the PO delivered as soon as possible.
Enter an Expected date
If the supplier furnishes an updated estimated delivery date, enter that date in the Expected date field. This causes the Expected date to differ from the Due Date, which indicates that you have communicated with the supplier. The Expected date establishes a new updated supply date for the planning system.
Track POs on a daily basis
PO tracking is an essential process because jobs cannot be released and started without materials. Late POs must be tracked and expedited on a daily basis because each day a new set of POs can potentially become late and delay dependent jobs.
2. Release jobs to production when materials become available
Jobs are released to live production per planned start dates when allocated materials become available. Job Release converts tentative planning dates to a firm plan.
Newly created jobs are assigned New status
When a job is first created through MRP, it is assigned a New status. It is important to distinguish New status jobs, which are waiting to go into production, from Released status jobs, which are in live production. New status jobs have tentative Planned Start and Job Finish dates, whereas Released status jobs have an actual Released date and a firm Job Finish date.
Never reschedule New status jobs
Never manually reschedule dates against New status jobs because these are tentative dates that will be automatically rescheduled during the job release process. New status job dates were established during MRP generation and are aligned in a multi-level, time-phased manner that prioritizes jobs for materials allocation in job release.
A job cannot be started without materials
A job cannot physically be started until all its required materials are on hand and are not allocated to other jobs. Job materials may include subassemblies, purchased components, and raw materials.
The Release Jobs screen allocates stock on hand
New status jobs are released to live production in the Jobs - Job Control Panel - Release Jobs screen. Whenever the screen is launched, a batch process allocates available stock on hand first to Released status job components and then to New status job components in Planned Start date order.
Jobs with a green Material icon are ready for release
When the Material icon is green in color, stock on hand is fully allocated to all the job’s components and the job is at or past its Planned Start date. Such jobs can safely be released to live production because the allocation process ensures that materials will be available for issuing to the job when needed and won’t be grabbed by other jobs.
Auto-Select option
You can click the Auto-Select button to mass-select all jobs with a green Material icon.
Jobs with a yellow Material icon are ready for early release
When the Material icon is yellow in color, stock on hand is fully allocated to all the job’s components, but the job is not yet at its Planned Start date. If you wish to release the job earlier than planned, manually select the Release checkbox.
Jobs with a red Material icon must be delayed
When the Material icon is red in color, the job is at or beyond its Planned Start date, but stock on hand is not fully allocated to all the job’s components. In this case job release must be delayed until allocated materials become fully available.
Material Allocation Inquiry
You can click the icon in the Material field to launch the Material Allocation inquiry, which displays all the job’s components and indicates which ones have an allocation shortage. Against each component you can click the Stock Status inquiry to view inbound supply and other competing demand events for the item.
Each released job is given an updated Job Finish date
When a job gets released, its status changes from New to Released and the job is given an updated Job Finish date relative to its actual Released date. This process makes the master job schedule self-adjusting and ensures that all Released status jobs have realistic finish dates.
Jobs should be released throughout the day
Job release is not a once a day process. Whenever subassembly jobs are received to inventory in the Job Receipts screen, the job release process should be run so that any higher-level jobs dependent on the subassembly item can be released in timely and sequential fashion.
The “golden rule” -- never release without material
The “golden rule” of scheduling is -- never release jobs without material. Releasing jobs without fully allocated materials causes a host of problems, including corruption of the self-adjusting rescheduling process, distortion of job priority calculations, misallocation of materials, and reintroduction of inefficient “rob Peter to pay Paul” practices.
