Infor SyteLine

SyteLine Multi-Plant MRP Planning Configuration Guide

Multi-plant MRP planning in SyteLine coordinates material requirements across multiple manufacturing and distribution sites. Rather than running MRP independently at each site, multi-plant planning considers cross-site supply relationships, inter-plant transfer lead times, and consolidated demand to generate optimal procurement and production recommendations. This guide covers the configuration needed to run effective multi-plant MRP in Infor CloudSuite Industrial.

Inter-Plant Supply Source Configuration

Multi-plant MRP requires defining supply relationships between sites so the planning engine knows which sites can supply which items. The Supply Source form in SyteLine defines the supply hierarchy for each item, specifying whether demand should be fulfilled from local production, local purchase, or inter-plant transfer. The supply source priority determines the order in which MRP considers each option. Inter-plant transfer lead times on the item_whse record include transit time, receiving processing time, and any safety lead time buffer.

  • Configure supply sources per item at each site defining local manufacture, local purchase, and inter-plant transfer options
  • Set supply source priorities to control whether MRP prefers local production or inter-plant transfer for each item
  • Define inter-plant transfer lead times on the item_whse record including transit, receiving, and safety time components
  • Establish minimum and maximum transfer quantities to optimize shipping efficiency on inter-plant transfers
  • Configure alternate supply sources as fallback options when primary sources cannot meet demand within lead time

Cross-Site Demand Netting and Planning Run

SyteLine APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling) supports multi-site planning by netting demand against supply across configured site relationships. The planning run processes demand signals from sales orders, forecasts, and dependent demand at each site, then evaluates available supply including on-hand, in-transit, and planned receipts. When local supply is insufficient, APS generates planned transfer orders from supplying sites, which in turn creates demand at those sites for the next planning iteration. The multi-pass planning process continues until all demand is satisfied or exception messages are generated for unresolvable shortages.

  • Run APS planning across all sites in a single consolidated planning run for globally optimized results
  • Configure demand netting to consider in-transit inventory from inter-plant transfers as incoming supply
  • Set planning time fences per site to protect near-term schedules from automatic changes by the planning engine
  • Review planned transfer orders generated by MRP and convert approved transfers to firm transfer orders
  • Analyze MRP exception messages for cross-site supply constraints including late supply and insufficient capacity

Multi-Plant Planning Performance and Optimization

Multi-plant MRP runs can be computationally intensive, especially in environments with thousands of items across multiple sites. Performance optimization involves configuring planning parameters to reduce unnecessary calculations, running incremental (net change) MRP instead of full regeneration where possible, and partitioning the planning run by product family or site group. SyteLine APS includes performance tuning options for memory allocation, parallel processing threads, and exception message filtering that directly impact multi-plant planning run times.

  • Use net change MRP for daily planning runs to process only items with demand or supply changes since last run
  • Partition full regeneration runs by product family or planner code to distribute processing across time windows
  • Configure APS memory allocation and thread count based on server capacity and database size for optimal performance
  • Filter low-impact exception messages to reduce planner workload and focus attention on critical supply gaps
  • Monitor planning run times and exception volumes as KPIs for ongoing MRP performance management

Optimize your multi-plant MRP planning in SyteLine for better cross-site coordination and reduced inventory. Contact Netray for a planning configuration review.