Fourth-generation material requirements planning (MRPIV)

This project intends to develop a new production technology, MRPIV, which comprehensively considers material planning decisions, the capacities of production and transport resources (transport type, collection mode, etc.) in the supply chain in order to avoid the suboptimisation of these plans which, in the present-day, are usually generated sequentially and independently. MRPIV may replace the MRP modules in current ERP systems as an integrated and adaptable extension to improve competitiveness in industrial companies. The general project objectives are to: (1) identify the progress made and any existing shortcomings in MRP systems; (2) propose a conceptual new production technology model, MRPIV, to improve the shortcomings identified in current systems; (3) consider the models and solution algorithms required to develop MRPIV; and (4) validate MRPIV in the centralised-coordinated and decentralised-collaborative supply chains context.