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196 CHAPTER 6 The Production Process

Demo 6.3: Review routing for a bike and wheel assembly

MATERIAL MASTER

We introduced the concept of the material master in Chapter 2. Recall that the
material master data are grouped into different views or segments based on
three factors: (1) the process that uses the materials, (2) the material type (e.g.,
raw materials, fi nished goods), and (3) the organizational level (e.g., differ-
ent plants that use the material differently). In addition, the basic data view
contains data that can be applied to all processes, material types, and orga-
nizational levels. In this section we introduce two additional views relevant
to production; specifi cally, material requirements planning (MRP) and work
scheduling. Both MRP and work scheduling data are defi ned at the plant level.
That is, they are specifi c to each plant. Although the data in these views must
be defi ned in the material master to execute the production process, they are
more relevant to the material planning process, which determines which mate-
rials must be produced and when they must be produced. Consequently, we do
not discuss the details of these data instead, we will discuss these data in the
chapter on material planning (Chapter 8).

PRODUCTION RESOURCE TOOLS
The fi nal master data relevant to production are production resource tools
(PRT). PRTs are movable resources that are shared among different work cen-
ters. Examples of PRTs are calibration or measurement instruments, jigs and
fi xtures, and documents such as engineering drawings. It is not feasible or eco-
nomical to keep these tools in every work center because they are not used
very often. Instead, a limited number are available for use in the work centers
as they are needed.

PROCESS

In this section we will discuss the production process in detail (Figure 6-16).
The process begins with a request for production that is typically triggered
by another process such as fulfi llment, which needs to complete a customer
order (make-to-order strategy), or material planning, which has deter-
mined that the company needs to increase inventory levels (make-to-stock
strategy).
The request is then authorized for production by the production supervi-
sor. The next step is to release the order for production so that the materials
needed to produce the bikes are issued from storage. Very often, production
involves the use of external systems, such as plant data collection (PDC) sys-
tems, that utilize data from the ERP system to execute production on the
shop fl oor. In such cases, data about the order are transmitted to the external
system. After the fi nished goods have been produced, the actual production
is confi rmed in the system, signaling that the steps required to manufacture
the materials have been completed. The materials are then moved to stor-
age, and the system reports that they are now available for consumption by
other processes (e.g., fulfi llment). In addition, several activities are performed

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