The new production scheduling software available in the 2017 R2 Acumatica Cloud ERP Manufacturing Edition allows manufacturers to improve the order-to-production-to-cash process. Automating this process informs you at any point what to produce and when in real-time. This article will review how to create a Master Production Schedule (MPS) in Acumatica. MPS will provide you with a plan for producing your items to meet the demands of your sales. In our previous article “Acumatica Production Scheduling Software – Creating a Forecast” you will learn how to use the Generate Forecast tool to create an accurate forecast to meet your sales demands a step further.
The Acumatica Manufacturing Edition enables users to enter a plan in which your end items will be ready to meet future sales demands not sooner or later than necessary. That production plan is used by the Acumatica production scheduling software to suggest the creation of Production Orders for subassemblies and final assemblies. MPS will also generate automatic action messages to buy components at the right time to meet the production plan. The challenge for most manufacturers is managing the balance between having enough finished goods to meet the sales demands without carrying too much or too little inventory costs and production effort. Acumatica helps solve this challenge and meet demands in a balanced manner.
STEP 1 - Prior to loading an MPS, calculate which end items you plan to produce and when during your planning horizon. A planning horizon is the cumulative lead times for raw material acquisition and assembly of products and is used in anticipation of customer demand. As discussed in the post on Generate Forecasts make sure the management team agrees with the planned production levels and in particular sales, production and finance team members.
STEP 2 - The MPS is loaded with your items in the Master Production Schedule screen, once you have determined the schedule. It can be loaded manually or via data import.
NOTE - One approach to determining the MPS levels for all end items would be to start with the Generate Forecast screen to calculate a forecast for your planning horizon based on historical sales. Then use the Export to Excel option and make any modifications to the schedule in Excel including adding the BOM ID for each item.
STEP 3 - Then create an Import Scenario and load the records into the Master Production Schedule screen as shown below.
To learn more...
Creating a master production schedule or sales forecast is the first step in taking full advantage of the production scheduling software features in the new Acumatica Manufacturing Edition. We will cover more steps in the process in future posts.
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Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, we serve Acumatica customers in the Seattle metropolitan area and northwest region. Our expertise allows them to focus on small to mid-sized manufacturing companies who are outgrowing existing systems and looking for lower cost cloud-based alternatives. We are a certified Acumatica cloud ERP and Smartsheet provider. These are leading cloud platforms for manufacturing, distribution, collaboration and project management.
Stratotech Partners, LLC is an Acumatica Value Added Reseller (VAR) and one of few certified JAAS manufacturing partners in the nation. We support the Acumatica Manufacturing Edition and it's production scheduling software solution to help meet these demands for growing manufacturers. Our experienced consultants provide cloud-based business management software to enable you to accelerate your businesses. Acumatica is built on modern cloud and mobile technology and has a unique customer-centric licensing model. Our specialties include business management applications such as Financials, Distribution, CRM, and Project Accounting, on a robust and flexible platform.
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Another version of this blog was previously posted on October 5, 2017 by Art Olsen on Stratotech's Blog - Acumatica Production Scheduling Software