Every business production planner and operations manager understands why effective resource management is a critical component of success. Despite this, even global brands struggle to manage resources in a way that ensures product demand is met consistently.
A perfect example of this is Procter & Gamble’s US launch of its Tide pods in 2012. The initial launch date was scheduled for the third quarter of 2011, but the brand postponed the launch until the following year, as it needed extra time to increase production to meet customer demands. Commentators astutely identified that this weakened the brand’s market position and gave competitors an opportunity to derail the launch.
This is just one instance of why traditional approaches to resource planning are often ineffective. “Instead of manufacturing product in line with actual consumer demand, many traditional manufacturing philosophies promote the use of forecasts to predict demand,” Roger Fleury, managing director of resource management software specialist Ardent Solutions, explains. “As P&G’s launch shows, these forecasts are often inaccurate. Taking a demand-driven approach is simple in principle, but requires a fundamental shift in business culture and mentality to fulfil its potential. While there are five core components of DDMRP, the sixth precursory factor is for operations managers and planners to open their minds to the possibility that the traditional methods are often incompatible with modern markets.”
Beyond that, the five components of DDMRP are simple. Split into three stages, position, protect and pull, the components are: strategic decoupling, setting buffer levels, dynamically adjusting those buffers, demand-driven planning and collaborative execution of orders. But what do these mean?
Position
The first and most important step is to strategically set the decoupling points in the supply network. These should be set to dampen variability in supply and demand adequately, which can be determined by considering factors such as the lead times, operation capacity and inventory flexibility at each point of the supply chain. “Effectively, production planners should aim to set decoupling points where they provide the most flexibility and compression of lead times,” Fleury adds. “Planners can then use DDMRP software to manage the chain by decoupled segments, rather than one overall lead time.
“For example, imagine the manufacturing of a product takes ten weeks and involves three core phases that can be broken down into subassembly, assembly and customisation. Business planners can align decoupling points accordingly between stocking components, finalising assemblies and delivering product.”
This can then be managed as a three-week lead time to accumulate raw stock, a further six weeks to create the subassembly and the rudimentary assembly, and then a lead time of one week to paint or configure the assembly and deliver a finalised product.
Protect
To protect the supply chain, a buffer is set at every decoupling point. These buffers will hold inventory, whether it is raw stock or subassemblies, in preparation for the next phase of the supply chain. Yet it’s important to note that this does not mean excessive volumes of inventory are placed everywhere, at the expense of the business. “The amount of inventory permitted in a buffer is calculated with a formula that accounts for lead times and the average daily usage (ADU) of stock, ensuring that only a carefully calculated and strategic quantity is held,” Fleury continues. “Each buffer is structured with a traffic-light system; green is the heart of the order generation aspect of the buffer, determining the frequency of order generation and the minimum size of each order; yellow is the heart of the demand coverage in the buffer; and red is the safety embedded in the buffer position.
“The system enables business planners to easily identify when action is required and stock needs to be replenished. The optimum range for inventory will be in the primary coverage zone, which is the yellow segment.”
The dynamic adjustment comes into play in response to the variability of operating parameters or planned future events. As DDMRP software provides frequent updates on ADUs, the buffer levels automatically adjust in response to this. The levels are intentionally flexed or lessened in anticipation of known future events or seasonal changes, allowing for more agile resource management.
Pull
The factor that sets DDMRP apart from traditional MRP is that there is a greater and more effective focus on the customer pull. The demand-driven planning component of DDMRP means that orders are only generated by the most relevant demand signals, which is to say qualified sales, rather than predicted queries or leads. As Fleury goes on to explain, that demand is only allocated in the DDMRP system once an order is placed. “This prevents over and under-stocking, keeping production in the optimal inventory management range and avoiding the unexpected distortion of the supply chain caused by demand oscillations, commonly referred to as the bullwhip effect,” he says. “This demand is calculated through the daily application of the net flow equation. Simply put, this is the volume of qualified-sales-order-demand subtracted from the cumulative quantity of on-hand and open supply. This provides a net flow position that, if in the yellow buffer zone, triggers a supply order.
“Planners and managers execute these orders through DDMRP software such as DDMRP for Dynamics, which is a remodelled version of traditional Dynamics MRP that can be quickly set up on existing systems to facilitate demand. This provides a clear overview of buffer levels and the status of on-hand stock.”
The key distinction of this software is that it determines priority based on buffer status, rather than due date. For example, if only 20 per cent of on-hand stock is available, but the due date is six weeks away, it will be deemed higher priority than an order due in four weeks, but with 65 per cent on-hand availability. This allows for better stock management.
While still in its infancy, DDMRP is proving an effective means of mobilising businesses for volatile and rapidly changing markets. It has already benefited global businesses from British Telecom to Coca Cola, so it’s safe to say that DDMRP is no buzzword — it’s a revolution in resource and stock management.