Supply planning in MRP

Supply Planner is a core module that enables intelligent planning and forecasting of future supply needs. It balances demand and customer orders against safety stock levels while respecting internal and CMO constraints.

Our system uniquely combines top-down and bottom-up planning approaches. Top-down planning generates suggested orders based on unconstrained demand in an ideal scenario, while bottom-up planning accounts for actual availability of intermediates and materials throughout the Bill of Materials (BOM).

Dynamic exceptions alert users to problematic inventory levels and potential future issues, enabling proactive resolution before supply chain disruptions occur.

The module is organized by a list of item SKUs in alphabetical order. The pivoted timeline displays the months in which possible orders can be placed.

Traditionally, the management of finished goods and materials have been segregated by personas as the process of packing, production and procurement can be different. This version of the Supply Planner attempts to unify the workflow so that dependencies and issues can be viewed in one place (from Finished Goods to Materials) allowing discrepancies to be addressed simultaneously through the chain.

Other goals remain the same:

The module generates order suggestions automatically to address demand-supply gaps. Orders in the system are classified as either Fulfillable (FF) or Unfulfillable (UF) based on the availability of subcomponents.

In the main grid, the user sees the total ideal order quantities they must make to meet their demand and keep their inventory above Safety Stock (FF+UF). In the Supply Overview Grid, they are able to view the breakdown.

Planners can trigger suggestions for all visible lines through a top-level action or target specific items via right-click context menus.

Orders are calculated taking into account:

The Supply Planner propagates (Direct and Derived) Demand through the layers of the BOM. Which Demand Type to use for the calculation depends on what is selected in the Forecast Type dropdown:

“Direct Demand” is referred to when speaking about items that are sold directly, typically FG and sometimes SFG. This Demand is passed down directly from Demand Forecast input in the Supply Planner.

“Derived Demand” is demand passed down to components as orders are placed to replenish the inventory of the parent item. This value is the entire value needed to fulfill the order of the parent item.

The system maintains continuously updated calculations of feasible orders and inventory levels based on the current state of all orders in the planning grid.

If the user manually overrides the plan, the inventory reflects the changes and displays a visual feedback on the corresponding item’s chart. Should any of the new orders be unfeasible, i.e. not possible to fulfill due to a component shortage, the bar will appear red. On the Overview grid, a user will be able to see which part is fulfillable (FF) and which not (UF).

The user can then generate order suggestions on the lower levels to try to fulfill the new derived demand and fix the exception, or accept this issue and try to solve it outside of PLAIO’s system (example: request a rush order from a CMO and increase the inventory by changing Firm Order delivery dates).

The Chart visualizes an item’s Supply Plan over time. It has three main elements:

Unfulfillable (UF) Demand or Orders are shown as red bars stacked on top of Fulfillable (FF) Demand or Orders.

The Overview Grid is the grid representation of the Chart.

Inventory calculations are constraint-aware, meaning only Fulfillable (FF) orders - those with full component availability - contribute to projected inventory levels. This ensures planners work with realistic inventory projections rather than optimistic scenarios that ignore component constraints.

What this means, in practical terms, is that if a user optimizes their supply by running the order suggestions, their inventory will not update to its ideal state if they do not have the materials required to do so. This is to avoid users from mistakenly approving a plan that ultimately cannot be fulfilled.

The inventory simulation is a complimentary functionality that works alongside our Order Suggestions, automatically calculating and determining the inventory levels across time, given incoming orders and various other constraints.

There are two special conditions that can impact the inventory at differing times across the horizon besides the expected deliveries and demand consumption:

Sellable Until Dates

Any given batch is allowed to be sold until its sellable date and therefore marked as available inventory until that time.

Expiry Date and Minimum Remaining Shelf-Life are controlled in the Items Master data through “shelf-life” and “minimum remaining shelf-life” columns.

When a batch is past its sellable until date, it becomes “unsellable” and seen on the Chart and Supply Overview Grid as a quantity, and removed from the overall inventory.

For real inventory the user can pass these dates in the designated “Expiry Date” and “Sellable Until” columns in the “Inventory” worksheet.

A “Sellable Until Date Override” is also available when a user wishes to designate certain batches as available for longer/shorter than its default time. This is usually tied to making it available for certain markets that allow for a shorter sellable date in order to reduce wastage. A user will then allocate said batch to that market for special use.

Backorders

Backorders are created when an item that is sold directly i.e. has Direct Demand cannot meet Demand. These Backorders are then fulfilled as soon as possible and prioritized over new incoming Demand.

In the Chart and Supply Overview Grid these are marked in quantity as “Backorder Fulfillment.”

Exceptions are flagged instantly as a user optimizes and edits their plan. They are visible at first in the main grid when you have an Unfulfillable Demand.

In addition, the following are also visible in the subgrid for any given item

The Allocations tab provides visibility into how selected items are allocated across the BOM structure. When a planner selects an item, they can see which parent items are consuming it, helping identify which parent assemblies or finished goods are affected by bottlenecks at the component level. This bottom-up analysis enables planners to understand the upstream impact of component constraints.

The Status column displays whether the required amount is fulfillable or not based on the available inventory at the time. This can be a mix of real or simulated inventory. If the Status is Unfulfilled, the line turns red to let the user know there is an exception.

Simulated inventory is prefixed by “PLAIO” and is inventory created by Suggested Orders.

Batches are allocated by a simple FEFO method.

If two or more parent items require the component at the same time, it is prioritized by the item’s PLAIO internal ID, ascending.

A user may switch their view to Delivery mode in order to see when the suggested orders will arrive based on standard lead times set in the system.

This is a read only view and aims to make it easier for a user to see how their ordering plans arrive and become available inventory. It cannot therefore, support manual delivery date changes, with the exception of Firm Orders.

PLAIO’s Supply Planner brings everything a team needs for supply planning into one place. It looks at demand, inventory, constraints, and BOM structure all at once, so planners can see what’s actually possible instead of relying on ideal scenarios. The system flags issues right away, suggests orders when needed, and shows how decisions ripple through the rest of the chain. With built-in logic for shelf life, allocations, feasibility checks, and deliveries, it helps teams keep track of what they have, what they need, and where problems might show up. The goal is simple: give planners a realistic picture of their supply situation and help them make confident decisions without jumping between tools or spreadsheets.