Page 195 - Orlicky's Material Requirements Planning

174 PART 2 Concepts

arrival in stock and departure there from. Under the following options in the treatment
of receipts and disbursements, the posting of transactions is
1. Initiated on report from the stockroom
2. Initiated on report from the receiving dock
3. Triggered by shop floor events
4. Anticipated from other transactions
Reporting from the stockroom is the normal practice. Receipts of purchased items
alternatively may be reported from the receiving dock, but if the stockroom is to be
bypassed entirely, such transactions signal both a receipt and a disbursement. The post-
ing of receipts and disbursements to inventory records can be triggered by certain desig-
nated events on the shop floor. Completion of the last (or other designated) operation on
a shop order may be considered as a receipt or a simultaneous receipt and disbursement.
Completion (receipt) of a parent order may be treated as a disbursement of component
items. A production report (mentioned earlier in this section in connection with assembly
lines) may be broken down and translated into component-item disbursements. A dis-
bursement also can be anticipated from the posting of a related transaction. For example,
the release of a parent planned order may be treated as tantamount to component-item
disbursement.

THE DATABASE

In a computer-based system such as MRP, files constitute the foundation on which the
superstructure of the application is built. As with any foundation supporting a structure,
it codetermines the soundness and utility of that structure. The effective operation and
efficiency of an MRP system is, to a considerable degree, a function of system file quali-
ty. This quality, in turn, is reflected in the relative accuracy, “up-to-dateness,” and acces-
sibility of file-record information.
The importance of file organization and file management to the success of a com-
puter-based system is great, particularly so because of a universal tendency on the part
of management to underestimate both the importance and the requirements of this part
of the system. Lack of file integrity is one important reason why some MRP systems
installed in industry have failed to live up to expectations. Emphasis therefore must be
put on system files and their organization, maintenance, and accessibility. Computer soft-
ware manufacturers have invested heavily in the development of file management pro-
grams (database software), tools that help greatly in coping with the problem of main-
taining file integrity.

Problems of File Maintenance

A computer-based system such as MRP will not work satisfactorily with poor files, but in
the average manufacturing company, the files in question, at the time the system is being