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With the logic of Cincom Priority, all systems - from engineering through inventory, production, purchasing and sales - speak the same language. If order priorities are changed (such as when a customer requests a rush job), the components intended for lower priority orders are listed as "free inventory" available for the rush order. With priority-driven planning, you simply lower the priority of the changed orders, automatically leading to a reallocation. The result is reduced inventory-carrying costs while freeing resources for orders that can be filled on time.
Planning is dynamic and priority-driven. It is you who decides which orders should be completed first and which are of lesser priority. This is not always a matter of due dates. You can change order priorities at will without affecting due dates, and examine the results before selecting an optimum work plan. This planning flexibility is essential to:
- maintain low inventory costs
- utilise machinery efficiently
- satisfy fluctuating customer demands
As a result, the work plan really works (PDF).
Cincom Priority vs. MRP II
Priority programmatically schedules all resources based upon current reality, whereas MRP II creates messages for material and capacity exceptions in order to initiate manual action. Priority is designed to provide the latest possible start dates and earliest possible delivery dates, facilitating forward scheduling from the present or from any user-designated start date, followed by backward scheduling to close slack. As a result, components are not planned until they are actually needed. Should a purchased component be delayed, the balance of the order is re-analysed by the system and the entire order is programmatically rescheduled.
Priority has an intelligent, "constraint-based" scheduling engine. When a bottleneck is encountered, the program evaluates and uses the most effective alternative methods, thereby exploiting the constraint. The system plans for material, capacity, and tooling requirements in a single synchronised process, handling each constraint sequentially. Many MRP II systems have separate processes for production planning, RRP, MPS, MRP, CRP, and operation scheduling.
| Ten Key Points |
Priority |
MRP II |
| 1. Dynamically maintain a "scheduling priority" |
YES |
NO |
| 2. Plans/schedules material, capacity and tooling requirements in a single, synchronised process. |
YES |
NO |
| 3. Material, capacity and tooling are planned under constraint-based logic. |
YES |
NO |
| 4. Provides for rapid evaluation of "what-if" analysis. |
YES |
Sometimes |
| 5. Utilises forward scheduling followed by backward scheduling. |
YES |
NO |
| 6. Utilises dynamic lead time parameters. |
YES |
NO |
| 7. Addresses the requirement of planning "alternative materials." |
YES |
Manual |
| 8. Programmatically groups common set-ups and sequences operations to minimum set-up cost. |
YES |
NO |
| 9. Can create and maintain schedules down to hours and minutes. |
YES |
NO |
| 10. Utilises both finite and infinite capacity scheduling. |
YES |
NO |
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