MRP: THE INVENTORY CONTROL CHALLENGE OF THE FUTURE.

Material Requirements Planning (MRP) is defined as the procedures, decision rules, and input records which translate master production schedules into time-phased requirements with planned coverage of these requirements for each component. This paper presents the need for MRP today, basic definitions and concepts, the input-output flow of MRP, the advantages and other uses of MRP, a comparison of MRP with the fixed order system, examples of application of MRP in industry and the military, and a look into the future.