Supply Schedules for Multiechelon Replenishment Plans

Use a constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan as a supply schedule for your multiechelon replenishment plan so that only planned orders that take upstream manufacturing and supplier constraints into account are used for driving downstream locations.

Note these points about using a supply schedule for your multiechelon replenishment plan:

• The supply schedule is considered only when constrained planned orders are created for meeting the unconstrained planned order demand from the top-most echelon of the multiechelon replenishment plan.

  The constrained planned orders are propagated to the lower echelons as usual during the top-down pass.

• For item-location combinations with transfer sourcing rules at the top-most echelon of the multiechelon replenishment plan, when the supply schedule is specified, supplies at the manufacturing organization are considered before constrained planned orders are created from the manufacturing organization to the top-most echelon. Consequently, transfer orders and movement requests are rescheduled as required on the basis of the supply at the manufacturing organization.

  If the supply schedule isn't specified, only the lead time and transfer lead time are considered, and the assumption is that supply is available.

• The specified supply schedule doesn't affect item-location combinations with buy sourcing rules at the top-most echelon of the multiechelon replenishment plan. During the creation of constrained planned orders at the top-most echelon, only the supplier lead time is considered.

  The constrained planned orders that are created are then used for meeting the demand from lower echelons.

• Ensure that the supply plan or demand and supply plan that you use as a supply schedule is constrained.

  Otherwise, the planned orders from the supply plan or demand and supply plan to the topmost echelon of your multiechelon replenishment plan can't be considered as reliable.

• Check that the constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan has been recently run with the multiechelon replenishment plan specified as a demand schedule on the Organizations and Schedules subtab on the Supply tab on the Plan Options page.

  Otherwise, the constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan might not have up-to-date information about the unconstrained planned orders at the top-most echelon of the multiechelon replenishment plan.

  If the constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan hasn't been run even once with the multiechelon replenishment plan selected as a demand schedule, the multiechelon replenishment plan won't have visibility into the supply and will create constrained planned orders equal to the unconstrained planned orders; the allocation will be from the existing supplies and constrained planned orders. Only the lead times for the items are considered.

• Make sure that the item-location combinations in the top-most echelon of the multiechelon replenishment plan are also being planned in the constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan. Otherwise, constrained planned orders equal to the unconstrained planned orders are created, and the allocation is from existing supplies and constrained planned orders.

  The supply schedule isn't considered for subinventory locations in the top-most echelon of the multiechelon replenishment plan, and constrained planned orders won't be created from the manufacturing organization to these subinventory locations.

• The sequence for using the supply schedule for the multiechelon replenishment plan is as follows:
  1. The multiechelon replenishment plan is run with the constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan selected as a supply schedule on the Organizations and Schedules subtab on the Supply tab on the Plan Options page.

     On the Parameters tab in the Run Plan dialog box, the Refresh with current data option is selected, and the Consider supply schedule checkbox isn't selected.

     The bottom-up and top-down passes of multiechelon replenishment planning are completed as usual.

     After the plan run, the constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan can get information about the unconstrained planned order demand at the top-most echelon of the multiechelon replenishment plan.

     The planned orders shouldn't be released at this point because they aren't constrained by the supply schedule.

  2. The constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan is run with the multiechelon replenishment plan selected as a demand schedule on the Organizations and Schedules subtab.

     Thus, supplies are pegged at the manufacturing organization for the unconstrained planned order demand at the top-most echelon of the multiechelon replenishment plan, and the measure named Planned Transfer Order Demand is populated on the basis of the ship dates of the unconstrained planned orders from the top-most echelon.

  3. The multiechelon replenishment plan is run with the Refresh with current data option and the Consider supply schedule checkbox selected on the Parameters tab in the Run Plan dialog box.

     After the bottom-up pass is completed, during the top-down pass, for every unconstrained planned order at the top-most echelon of the multiechelon replenishment plan, the ship date is checked, the earliest possible supply for the planned order is identified at the manufacturing organization, and a constrained planned order is created from the manufacturing organization to the top-most echelon. The transfer orders and movement requests are rescheduled if supplies aren't available on time.

     Then, the constrained planned orders are propagated down the echelons.

     The planned orders can be released after the plan run.

  The plans should be run in this sequence without much delay between the runs so that the results are correct. For example, if the second run of the multiechelon replenishment plan is a few days after the first run, the unconstrained planned order demand at the top-most echelon might change and not be synchronized with the pegged supplies at the manufacturing organization. If there's a significant change in supplies and demands after the first run of the multiechelon replenishment plan, restart the entire process.

• When the multiechelon replenishment plan is run with the Consider supply schedule checkbox selected on the Parameters tab in the Run Plan dialog box, for the top-most echelon, the Schedule Name column in the Supplies and Demands table provides the name of the constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan from which the constrained planned orders were transferred. This column won't be populated for the lower echelons.

  For the pegging details, you need to see the Pegged Quantity column in the Supplies and Demands table for the constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan.

• Your selection for the Consider supply schedule checkbox during the last plan run with the Refresh with current data option selected on the Parameters tab in the Run Plan dialog box will be considered when you run simulations for your multiechelon replenishment plan.
• During incremental planning for your multiechelon replenishment plan, if you previously ran the plan with the Consider supply schedule checkbox and Refresh with current data option selected on the Parameters tab in the Run Plan dialog box, the constrained planned orders read from the constrained supply plan or demand and supply plan will be considered.