Material Requirements Planning (MRP)

    In conventional Material Requirements Planning (MRP) procedures, production quantities and dates are calculated in accordance with actual customer/planned independent requirements, and the required quantity and dates of the components are calculated by exploding the bill of material. The production quantities can be compiled for various requirements. In a Kanban system, the work center further down the line requests material only when required. For this discussion activity, compare and contrast the MRP and Kanban methods of inventory material control by discussing the key elements an Operations Manager would utilize to decide which planning model to use. When responding to your fellow classmates’ posts, discuss the type of process requirements that must be considered before deciding which method (or a combination of the two) to use. Provide examples of factory settings where the Kanban method may not be the best method to use.