WORKSHOP: Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) 2000 - Toward Web-Based Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Systems; Tuscoloosa, Alabama

University Of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa AL

Investigators

Abstract

The advent of the Internet will have a profound impact on the way commerce is transacted. Since the rise of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP), all eyes are now on how this paradigm will be transferred to the Web. Unfortunately, there are significant problems with ERP that must be addressed before it can realize the full potential of the Internet. Within ERP is the older model, Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP II) that was built upon a simple model known as Material Requirements Planning (MRP). MRP, being developed more than 30 years ago, made several simplifying assumptions in order to make the computations feasible. One of these was that lead times are an attribute of the part in question, not the condition of the facility. This assumption leads to inflated planned lead times which, in turn, leads to long flow times. This artifact has been perpetuated to the present day and lies at the heart of the materials management module of the most popular and comprehensive ERP systems today. The conference will address these and other issues involving ERP, including: (1) Integrating material and capacity planning. (2) Effect of supply chain structures. (3) Integrating web based ERP with central data warehouses. (4) Cross-functional integration with marketing and finance. (5) Scalability issues. (6) Lead-time and inventory reduction. (7) New issues such as remanufacturing and process industry ERP.