Master Planner Illustration

Master Planner is a planning tool.  Requirements that are visible to the Master Planner  are sales orders, requirements from work orders for components, requirements from phantom BOMs from sales orders, opportunities/sales quotes, and violation of coverage code=min/max.

Even though Master Planner has similar functionality to what we know of as MRP, it does not follow all of the traditional MRP processes.  MRP typically allows you to explode through “infinite” levels on a product structure, and upon execution, will generate voluminous reports, whether those are exception reports or even more voluminous detail reports.    Ascent operates in a “leaner” fashion, and can take the requirements for an item, display them on the Master Planner screen, show the suggested replenishment quantity, and then if the Create PWO button is clicked, it will explode down, suggesting replenishments at all lower levels, whether those suggested replenishments are manufactured items or purchased items, suggesting production work orders or purchase orders.  

To illustrate how the Master Planner works, we will take a top level assembly, F500, and follow it all the way down to its lowest level.

Our top level item: F500

Now, the Handlebar Assembly Kit is a phantom assembly, so Ascent would blow through it to the lower level components.

Assembly Front Wheel is also an assembly, but it is not a phantom.  

Assembly Rear Wheel is also an assembly, but not a phantom.

Gear Mechanism is a BOM, and a component of Assembly Rear Wheels

Gear Fitment is a BOM, and a component of Gear Mechanism.

G2 is also a BOM and a component of Gear Fitment.

So, I went into Master Planner, and chose to review the “Requirements”

Then, I clicked the F500 item to get the allocations/requirements grid:

Then, I clicked “Create PWO” to create a production work order for F500

As you can see, Master Planner went down multiple levels deep on the BOM structure:

F500 (BOM)

       Assembly Rear Wheel (BOM)

               Gear Mechanism (BOM)

                       Gear Fitment (BOM)

                               G2 (BOM)

                                       G2X (lowest level item)

Master Planner created a PWO for the TOP level assembly, F500, and also suggested PWOs and POs for all lower levels of the BOM structure.

I then went and selected “Create PO/PWO for selected items” and Ascent went and did so.  For those requirements that had a common default vendor and were item type = “items”, it created a single PO.

For those suggestions where the item type was “BOM”, Ascent created PWOs, one for each assembly.