Production Scheduling & Capacity Planning Flashcards

In MRP-driven environments, what is the primary purpose of time fencing in the Master Production Schedule (MPS)?

Answer: To stabilize the near-term schedule by restricting automatic changes

Time fences protect the firm portion of the MPS from automatic system changes, reducing schedule nervousness.

What is schedule 'nervousness' in MRP systems?

Answer: Frequent rescheduling of planned orders due to minor input changes

MRP nervousness occurs when small changes in demand or parameters trigger large cascading reschedule messages.

Which capacity planning technique provides the MOST detailed analysis of work center loads?

Answer: Capacity Requirements Planning (CRP)

CRP uses actual routing and planned order data to produce detailed load profiles by work center and time period.

A production planner needs to evaluate MPS feasibility quickly without full routing detail. Which tool is most appropriate?

Answer: Rough-Cut Capacity Planning (RCCP)

RCCP uses bill of resources or capacity bills to quickly check critical resource feasibility of the MPS.

In finite capacity scheduling, what happens when a work center is fully loaded for a given time period?

Answer: Additional orders are queued to the next available period

Finite scheduling enforces capacity limits and moves excess load to available future periods rather than overbooking.

Which metric measures the ratio of actual output from a work center compared to the standard or planned output?

Answer: Efficiency

Efficiency compares actual output to standard output, reflecting how well a work center performs relative to expectations.

A firm planned order (FPO) in MRP differs from a regular planned order because it:

Answer: Is protected from automatic rescheduling by the MRP system

Firm planned orders are frozen by the planner and will not be automatically changed by MRP regeneration runs.