Over-reliance on job linking destroys efficiency
A common planning mistake we see in support is the attempt to manage production with linked Job chains and POs. Hard linking of jobs, subassemblies and components is very unforgiving when your actual demand changes. If the job chains are planned in a long-term fashion, the “bull whip” effect is especially severe.
Job linking also leads to very poor time to shipment performance and reduces the very important benefits of stocking key subassemblies and components. It is essential that you retain your flexibility to put a demand driven stocking order policy on key items if you have any hope to improve your shop throughput.
Use strategic stocking (decoupling) to increase throughput
The intent of a Stocking order policy is to have an item on hand for immediate use in Sales Orders and Jobs thus removing it as a lead day contributor. The term for this in the demand driven literature is a decoupling point. Stocking key items (decoupling) can dramatically decrease your time to shipment, and improve your shop throughput and cash flow.
Lead Day Inquiry helps you to determine strategic stocking decoupling points
The DBA Lead Days Inquiry in MRP Settings provides a multi-level view of the lead day contributor components in your manufactured items. This will allow you to strategically plan which critical subassemblies and components to stock in order to reduce your overall manufacturing lead days and time to shipment. Once you choose to stock a component, the lead days for your manufactured items will dynamically adjust through all levels of production and automatically be reflected throughout your organization.
Stock has earned a bad reputation in the software industry
Many companies are reluctant to carry stock citing the expense and difficulty managing their stocking levels. The truth is that software industry has a terrible track record on providing solutions that handle inventory efficiently. Forecast based planning, BOM explosions, blanket orders, shortage reports, and excessive Job linking are all seriously flawed approaches and lead to an inefficient use of inventory. The industry even markets the notion that stock is bad and should be avoided. This is nonsense. You should aspire to using stocking decoupling points efficiently and you can experience dramatic improvements throughout your entire organization.
Demand driven stocking is a breakthrough
DBA is a different kind of stocking that is always triggered be actual demand within an item’s replenishment planning period action window. DBA can deliver on the decoupling benefits of stocking key items while maintaining a lean inventory quantity on hand.