Prentice Hall Handbook of MRP II/JIT Integration and Implementation

It's no secret that Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II) and Just-in-Time (JIT) systems hold the key to fast response to customer demands, lower total costs, and minimum product defects. That, indeed, they are indispensable for achieving world-class performance and competing successfully in the global marketplace. Yet as manufacturing expert and consultant John Petroff has discovered in working with firms in the U.S. and abroad, few manufacturing businesses are taking full advantage of MRP II and JIT to improve their planning, scheduling, and control. And businesses with an MRP I or older system in place aren't sure how to make the smoothest transition to a more advanced and integrated manufacturing operation. In the Handbook of MRP II and JIT, Petroff provides the hands-on guidance and ready-to-use tools that enable any manufacturer to set up the most effective companywide MRP II/JIT-based system while avoiding common and costly mistakes. All this practical information is organized into 12 chapters, for quick access and easy use. Chapter 1 gives you an overview of the main elements necessary to optimize operating efficiency and competitiveness - including two vital prerequisites for implementing Total Management and how to use a powerful but virtually unknown strategy called Time Compression to perform administrative tasks with the fewest delays as they pass from department to department. Chapter 2 shows how to most effectively manage the demand side of your business. Sample strategic, marketing, and sales plans - utilizing new techniques like tracking signals and time-phased order points - make it easy to prepare amazingly accurate forecasts for everything from families of products to unit production at various plant locations. Chapter 3 shows how to apply the newest and best MRP II methods to manage supplies, including multi-level, capacity, and material requirements planning. Plus, model production plans illustrate step by step how you can prevent shortages of parts and components and minimize throughput time. Other chapters give you proven accounting techniques to record key data like work-in-process and accounts payable and better measure costs ... ways to eliminate problems with your Master Production Schedule ... and JIT-based strategies to improve product quality and assure on-time delivery to customers. Throughout the Handbook, real-life examples illustrate how other manufacturing companies of all types and sizes have used MRP II and JIT to achieve dramatic improvements in profits and customer satisfaction.