re and Systems for Material Planning & Control
             The planning process is coordinated centrally by Head Office. Every six weeks the materials manager at ECA attends a Master Production Schedule (MPS) meeting, from which a production plan is produced. A Master Planning Activity (MPA) sheet is then issued by the Central Planning department, which is compiled from detailed plans placed through the Order Processing Systems (OPS).
             At present customer order requirements are entered using both the required delivery date and the dispatch date. The majority of ECA¡s customers¡ order by delivery dates, which is the standard for order requirements
             The materials manager, Tony Brand¡s area of expertise is not suited to production scheduling yet he attends the MPA meetings for ECA. Mr. Brand agrees the overall production plan by using a rule of thumb method, however this is a risky and inefficient process of planning because it results in adhoc schedule changes.
             Date of despatch ordering method conflicts with ECA¡s current system.
             It is recommended that Pauline Adams, the production manager attend the MPS meetings, as she would be more knowledgeable in this area. This would solve the problem of using the rule of thumb method.
             The consultants suggest that in terms of order
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