Title: A simulation-based finite capacity MRP procedure not depending on lead time estimation

Authors: Tommaso Rossi, Margherita Pero

Addresses: Institute of Technology, Carlo Cattaneo University – LIUC, C.so Matteotti, 22, Castellanza (VA) 21053, Italy. ' Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, Milano 20133, Italy

Abstract: The two main limits of material requirements planning (MRP) systems are: (1) MRP does not take into account production capacity constraints and (2) lead time values are pre-defined input of the procedure. The approaches developed so far solve the first limitation by considering capacity constraints out of the procedure. Target of this paper is to define a new MRP method that overcomes these limitations. In particular, the proposed procedure, through a simulation model, allows to obtain a plan, which complies with resources capacity and which does not need to receive estimated lead time values as input. The proposed method has been applied to a case presenting all the elements of complexity of the MRP phase. A comparison of the performance of the new procedure with the traditional one shows that the new one takes effectively into account capacity constraints and provides feasible plans.

Keywords: capacity constraints; lead time estimation; MRP; simulation; material requirements planning; modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2011.041343

International Journal of Operational Research, 2011 Vol.11 No.3, pp.237 - 261

Published online: 14 Feb 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article