ITPEC FE Subject A October 2024 Question 54
Which of the following is the situation where an improvement can be expected by installing a Material Requirements Planning (MRP) system?
Explanation
Complex material and quantity data causing wrong order quantities and production stops — MRP calculates what to order, how much and when.
MRP starts from the master production schedule, explodes it through the bill of materials (BOM) into the parts and materials required, subtracts stock on hand and on order, and outputs the net requirements with order dates offset by lead times. It replaces the manual calculation of order quantities, which is the very source of the miscalculations and shortages described.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) — drawings kept on both paper and file with an untraceable change history is a design-data problem, handled by product data management (PDM)
- •(b) — rising equipment cost under high-mix, low-volume production is a capital-investment issue; MRP does not change equipment cost
- •(d) — frequent design changes hurting efficiency are an engineering-change problem, not a calculation of material quantities
Key rule: MRP turns the production schedule and BOM, minus inventory, into net material requirements and order timing; choose it when the problem is how much to order and when.
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