I work at an aerospace company that implemented SAP system, moving away from customer programs. Since the implementation, which was February 11, 20013, both the sub-assembly and the final assembly plants have struggled with being able to stabilize the schedule. Due to the nature of SAP, which runs the runs the manufacturing resource planning (MRP) process each night, constantly applies date changes. This has rippled to the customer support organization which struggles to provide ability of parts for the customer with accurate dates for shipments. The impact results in having to call the customer back several times to communicate new dates. We have also seen a decline in on-time inter-plant shipments to build the final product. There was a root cause corrective action (RCCA) activity done with a group of six sigma black belts which revealed that one of the issues identified was a need for a master schedule process and tracking tool of the changes that are requested in what is considered “ice.” Ice is defined as a product with established completion dates based off the master schedule in SAP. Implementing a tool to provide visibility and accountability would help adhere to the process and identify trends that determine the next steps or level of control needed.
A change in the master schedule has a wide impact to the manufacturing process; therefore, the number of people involved is cross-functional. For this purpose, I have identified the people involved at a role level. The individuals involved are categorized in the following generic roles; people who request the change, people who administrate the request, people who need to analyze the request, a review board to evaluate the request, and management escalation personnel. These are generalized roles that can be assigned to multiple people in the organization and will be administered by a centralized group.
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