The selection and application of material planning methods

Methods for planning and control of the ¯ow of material in the manufacturing enterprise are more or less appropriate to use in a specifc situation, mainly depending on the existing planning environment. How well they contribute to an effective material flow is also depending on how they are applied. This paper examines which material planning methods companies are using, to what extent these methods are perceived as effciently supporting the operation, how the various methods are applied, and how the satisfied users apply the methods. The fndings are based on a survey study carried out in 84 manufacturing companies in Sweden in 2000. From the results some conclusions concerning state-of-the-art application of material planning methods in the manufacturing industry are presented. A comparison with a similar study on the same population from 1993 is also conducted. The fndings show that material requirements planning is generally the most used method. The most common ways to determine planning parameters are based on judgement and experiences. The majority of companies review the parameters less frequently than once a year. The satisfied users, however, use more analytical approaches and review parameters more frequently than others