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Pull planning

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Pull planning is one of several planning methods you may use when planning and controlling manufacturing.

Pull planning checks the items against the time axis. Order proposals for either manufacturing OR purchase orders are created for items with a shortage. Pull planning creates order proposals for one level at a time, starting with the parent item. (Compare with MRP where requirement for all levels is calculated at the same time.) For this reason, Pull planning is not suited for items with long lead times or unreliable forecasts.

Flowchart

You can create manufacturing or purchase orders from the order proposals. The manufacturing and purchase orders can be re-scheduled through a re-schedule proposal if necessary.

Types of analyses

When working with order proposals in Pull planning you analyse the items according to shortage or priority. (See Release manufacturing orders during pull planning or Release purchase orders during pull planning for information about how to work with the shortage and priority analyses).

Click to expand each section.

Shortage analysis

The shortage analysis calculates the stock balance situation within total lead time (lead time + order period). If the calculated, theoretical quantity on hand is lower than zero, or lower than desired stock levels, the shortage analysis displays an order proposal for the item. The proposal specifies the quantity that is needed and suggests a date for manufacturing or purchase of the item.

The shortage analysis accounts for the items where action is needed within the total lead time. The shortage analysis works according to two basic principles:

Order point controlled

  • Planning method is set to 4 on item or warehouse level.
  • Order point controlled items often have long lead times.
  • The information needed in order to release orders is retrieved from the item.
  • The shortage codes for order point controlled items are:

Shortage codeDescription

0 Shortage
1 Below safety stock
5 Below 1/2 ROP (re-order point)
7 Below ROP (re-order point)
9 Coverage within TLT (total lead time)

Order controlled

  • Planning method is set to 5 on item or warehouse level.
  • Order controlled items often have short lead times.
  • The information needed in order to release orders is retrieved from the min/med/max table, from MRP and from the Quantity on hand calculation. See Set up shortage analysis values for pull planning for information about how to set up this information.
  • The shortage codes for order controlled items are:

Shortage codeDescription

0 Shortage
1 Below safety stock
5 Below minimum quantity on hand
7 Below medium quantity on hand
9 Coverage within TLT (total lead time)

Shortage dates and proposal quantity

Depending on the shortage code, different shortage dates and proposal quantities are set:

Shortage codeShortage dateProposal quantity

0 The most critical date. The proposal quantity will be one EOQ. If a multiple quantity is defined in the Item file, the proposal quantity will be adjusted to the nearest higher multiple. For example, if the EOQ is 40 and the multiple quantity is 25, the proposal quantity will be 50 (25 +25).
1 The order period end date (first part of the TLT). The proposal quantity will be the difference between on hand and safety stock. However, the proposal quantity cannot be lower than one EOQ adjusted to the nearest higher multiple. For example, if the difference between on hand and safety stock is 10, EOQ is 20 and the multiple quantity is 15 the proposal quantity will be 30 (15+15).
5 The order period end date (first part of the TLT). The proposal quantity will be the difference between on hand and 1/2 reorder point. However, the proposal quantity cannot be lower than one EOQ adjusted to the nearest higher multiple.
7 The total lead time end date. The proposal quantity will be the difference between on hand and reorder point. However, the proposal quantity cannot be lower than one EOQ adjusted to the nearest higher multiple.

Priority analysis

The priority analysis handles items that are priority planned. The items are sorted in order of priority, where a priority value below zero denotes a critical item. Critical items must be manufactured or purchased immediately to prevent shortage.

The following formula is used for the calculation of priority:

The values used in the priority calculation are retrieved from the MFG control file.

The result of the calculation is a priority value indicating the number of days the stock will suffice. The ambition should be to keep the priority values around zero so that the demand for assets consisting of quantity on hand and expected dispatches are kept in equilibrium.

Enquiries and printouts

  • Proposal parameters enquiry
  • Time axis enquiry
  • Material clearance enquiry
  • Periodical statistics enquiry
  • Quantity on hand levels enquiry
  • Analysis proposal printout
  • Quantity on hand level calculation

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