PRODUCTION CONTROL IN ENGINEER-TO-ORDER FIRMS

During the last decade many engineer-to-order firms have tried to impl ement MRP II systems, however, the little or no success. The choice of a MRP II system is often based on the wide availability of MRP II sof tware and the fact that the exact reasons why this software is not sui table for engineer-to-order firms are not understood. Therefore, the m any implementation failures are not surprising. In the first part of t his paper we will discuss the main differences between engineer-to-ord er manufacturing and the make-to-stock manufacturing (which was the ba sis for the development of MRP II software). Important characteristics of the engineer-to-order situation are: the important role of the cus tomer order, the customer-specific product specifications. and the pro duct and production uncertainly. These characteristics of the engineer -to-order production situation differ substantially from the basic ass umptions of MRP II. An engineer-to-order situation thus asks for a com pletely different production control system. In the second part of thi s paper we will present a production control framework which better su its the specific characteristics of the engineer-to-order situation.