Three month lot sizing in APO - MRP Heuristics

[Former Member]

Business requirement: Dependent requirement exist for a WIP over a period of 12 months but not in every single month. There are some month/s where there is no demand. MRP should group three contiguous months at one time and create planned orders.

In R/3 we have a lot size parameter set up with a grouping parameter of three months. This meets the business requirement of grouping three months of requirement into one order (or more than one order depending on the maximum lot size allowed) & creating the order at the beginning of the three month period. If the requirement for a bulk is as below (all dependent requirement created from FG):

Date Quantity

2/15/11 -200

3/25/11 -300

7/25/11 -400

12/25/11 -500

1/5/12 -300

2/10/12 -450

4/3/12 -325

5/15/12 -750

7/15/12 -800

When we use the specific lot size indicator in R/3 it will create planned orders for WIP as below

R/3 OUTPUT: (positive quantity planned orders)

Date Quantity

2/8/11 +500

2/15/11 -200

3/25/11 -300

7/1/11 +400

7/25/11 -400

12/1/11 +1250

12/25/11 -500

1/5/12 -300

2/10/12 -450

4/1/12 +1075

4/3/12 -325

5/15/12 -750

7/1/12 +800

7/15/12 -800

The requirements are grouped for three months only when there is a requirement in a specific month. For example a planned order of 400KG is created on 7/1/11 because of the requirement in July 2011.

The three month bucket logic can be easily applied in APO but with one significant shortcoming. In APO the algorithm always groups three months of requirements starting from the present month (Feb 2011, March, April then May, June, July then Aug, Sept, Oct etc)& creates the planned orders at the beginning of the period (or the end of the period, middle etc as we need). See the output of APO for the same data.

APO OUTPUT:

Date Quantity

2/8/11 +500

2/15/11 -200

3/25/11 -300

5/1/11 +400

7/25/11 -400

11/1/11 +800

12/25/11 -500

1/5/12 -300

2/1/12 +775

2/10/12 -450

4/3/12 -325

5/1/12 +1550

5/15/12 -750

7/15/12 -800

The start dates of the buckets are fixed as the first working day of the period. So a planned order is created on 5/1/11 for a requirement on 7/25/11. Similarly a planned order is created on 11/1/11 for requirements on 12/25/11 & 1/5/12.

The MRP algorithm in R/3 internally has a feature wherein it calculates the three month period dynamically as needed based on the requirement appearing in the window. In APO the three month window is fixed irrespective of when the requirement appears.

How can we achieve results in APO heuristics similar to the R/3 MRP results?

[Former Member]

Thanks for the responses. Here is some additional information:

MRP is being executed in APO - PPDS (PP Heuristics Standard Lot size) & NOT in R/3. I gave the example of R/3 just to indicate that we want to see a similar result in APO - PPDS Heuristics. In R/3 lot size parameter 'Periodic Lot sizing' is being used with three months as the period size and the 'Availability Date' as the beginning of the period. This information is transferred to APO material master (std. CIF) & creates the Periodic Lot size in APO along with the three month as the period size. However the three month period size is 'fixed' in APO UNLIKE R/3. In APO if the MRP heuristics is executed the periods are pre-defined as Feb 2011, March, April and next May 2011, June, July and then Aug 2011, Sept, Oct & so on. Requirements within these periods are grouped and planned orders are created at the beginning of teh period irrespective of where the demand is within the three month period (pls see example I had provided in the earlier post comparinf R/3 & APO results).

I am unable to find any controlling parameter in the Heuritics settings or in the material master master data to achieve the result similar to R/3.

Thanks again for all your inputs

[paul_marriott2]

Hi, Matt.

We have also encountered the same problem. Did you come up with a solution?

There is a flag on the lot size tab of the location product that seems to offer the functionality we need ("start of lot size grouping"), but it is only applicable to SNP.

Best regards,

Paul

[hubert_spohn]

Hi,

there are some suggestions from SAP in OSS notes 726496, 738834 and 866278

which might match with your requirements.

BR

Hubert

[paul_marriott2]

Hi, Hubert.

The note looks like it will meet our requirements. Thanks very much.

Best regards,

Paul

[Former Member]

Matt,

I have never seen that. Are we talking PP/DS, or SNP?

Best Regards,

DB49

[Sasi2005]

If i understand your requirement correctly, you want to synchronize the MRP scheduling with APO scheduling, if that is the case you may try out by activating the application specific settings for MRP-Based detailed scheduling in the customizing segment of R/3. You can also activate a BADI which shall suite your requirement

Best Regards

Sasi