Microsoft Dynamics AX Users Share Manufacturing Experiences on Features, Best Practices

Manufacturing is always a hot topic of conversation within the Microsoft Dynamics AX User Group (AXUG). And that was evident at a recent online meeting where attendees peppered experts and peers with manufacturing-related questions.

An attendee new to MRP wanted to know where Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 fell in the spectrum of MRP (material requirement planning), MRP II (manufacturing resource planning) and DDMRP (demand-driven material requirement planning). In other words: How far does AX 2009 get you to what you want to do with MRP?

"All the different versions of Dynamics AX support all three of these environments," one group member explained. "With demand-driven MRP you need to ensure you have your accurate forecast, and be able to drive your manufacturing plan by your forecast. ERP, I have a total integration from my master scheduling to material management to production capacity, execute work order, develop work order, develop purchase orders . . .  so MRP, ERP are just acronyms for all of the integrations that Dynamics AX has and totally supports all three of those strategies."

In general, however, AX 2009 and AX 2012 provide the base functionality to meet the MRP needs of those people running it in manufacturing or production environments.

Another attendee asked: What happens when there is a lot of fluctuation and requirements demands come in on the fly? How does Dynamics AX 2009 adjust to it?

"We run MRP every night and our demand changes every day," another AX user offered. "If you run a dynamic and a static plan, the dynamic plan gives you some ability to do some analysis on those drop-in demands on the fly. We do capacity planning as well. Our demand is very unstable and our mix is unstable. We're ...