Can shop control be used without an accurate inventory?
Job release is the foundation of shop control because it determines when jobs go into live production and reschedules job finish dates when needed to update the master schedule with realistic supply dates. Job release is dictated by material availability, which requires an accurate inventory. Furthermore, shop control is designed to work in conjunction with a coordinated master schedule, which requires MRP generation that also depends on an accurate inventory for net demand calculations.
If you are operating with an unreliable inventory, you will be unable to use DBA with any success. There are two key practices you can implement to correct this problem:
•Make BOM accuracy an absolute requirement in your company culture. Whenever BOM errors are encountered during the course of a job, make sure the parent BOM gets corrected for the benefit of future jobs. BOM errors are the source of many inventory problems.
•Issue material in real time using the Material icon in the Work Center Schedule screen instead of after the fact at time of job closing. This takes no extra time because material must be issued at some point anyway. Real time issuing eliminates potential delays to job receipts and will give your personnel confidence that inventory numbers have reliable meaning.
