In today's globalized world, much is demanded of companies in discrete manufacturing. Fast delivery despite supply bottlenecks, increased customer focus and accelerated product life cycles have long been the order of the day. Both over- and under-scheduling can have disastrous consequences, because the competition never sleeps and the customer is in a hurry. But how do you manage to be as flexible as possible in production? SAP's new capacity planning tool pMRP promises a reliable solution.
The solution is called SAP pMRP
SAP pMRP is a new S/4HANA product for simulative and interactive long-term requirements planning and stands for Predictive Material Requirements Planning. The tool enables planners to evaluate capacities at any time and map reliable forecasts. Based on the data entered, future capacity bottlenecks are identified and possible solutions are shown in simulation mode. The simulation provides production planners with a basis for decision-making under a wide range of conditions or prerequisites, making the consideration of capacity limits many times more accurate. As a result, capacity problems can be greatly reduced or completely avoided.
And this is how it works:
- The basis for the capacity calculation is the so-called planned independent requirement. This is made up of planned independent requirements and the actual sales orders.
- Based on the data entered, the system evaluates the bills of material and determines the requirements.
- The required components, purchased parts and resources are compared with the available materials and capacities.
- The result of the calculation shows negative capacities and bottleneck factors in the form of warnings or diagrams.
- In simulation mode, the tool suggests possible solutions such as modified demand planning, prefabrication or make-or-buy decisions. By selecting one of the solutions, the new result is immediately displayed.
- Finally, the business objects are adjusted according to the system proposal and the planning change is carried out.
Advantages:
- More accurate planning thanks to interactive real-time calculation
- Reduction of additional costs thanks to the pMRP's indication of capacity problems during ongoing operation and in long-term planning
- Full control through direct feedback in practical monitoring
- Minimization of total stock levels
Features at a glance:
- Long-term simulation: Simulation of capacity and component requirements in a long-term scenario.
- Direct feedback: If problems or messages occur, they are quickly identified by appropriate warnings.
- Fast setup: No configuration or master data is required.
- Simple propagation: Transfer of planning data to lower BOM levels, no consideration of lot sizes and basically plan-controlled.
- Complete pegging structure: Direct assignment between requirements and receipts across all BOM levels.
- Detailed planning at plant level: Detailed plant-specific planning, consideration of additional plants per stock transfer.
- No additional license fees.
- Only usable in FIORI, no corresponding transactions available in GUI.
No configuration and no license costs
No separate configuration or master data is required to use the pMRP tool. The required data is used directly from the operative system. In detail, these are materials, bills of material, work centers, stocks and others.
A separate license is also not required to use SAP pRMP: The tool has been available in the system since S/4HANA Release 1909 and can be used at no additional cost.
Summary
With pRMP, SAP offers a solid and up-to-date free solution for monitoring current utilization and avoiding capacity bottlenecks. The tool enables both early detection of capacity overloads and optimal reactions to current unexpected demand situations. Thanks to the clear FIORI interface and the intuitive operation of the tool, the functions of SAP pMRP can be learned quickly.
With SAP pMRP, capacities can be evaluated and reliable forecasts mapped at any time. In this way, capacity problems can be greatly reduced or even avoided.
