PRODUCTION PLANNING AND CONTROL-SYSTEM DEVELOPMENTS IN GERMANY

Discusses briefly the impact of MRP on UK manufacturing industry in th e context of the next generation of developments. Draws a contrast wit h production planning and control systems in Germany which derive shop floor control through different architecture of business control syste ms. Presents the state of these developments in Germany as analysed by a leading academic institution (the FIR at Aachen University of Techn ology). Compares this with UK developments, as seen by the Liverpool s hort-term scheduling group, which recently has analysed production pla nning/scheduling practice in a range of different companies across var ious industry types. Offers the view that future PPC systems will be b ased around simple ''core logic'' with tailored subsystems, possibly b uilt by manufacturing companies themselves.