Family-Level Planning
This chapter describes the operations planning cycle for product families.
Introduction to Family-Level PlanningDescribes how family-level operations planning is used.
Calculating Family PlansExplains the details of using Global Consolidation to calculate a family plan.
Maintaining Family PlansDescribes how to maintain and edit family plans.
Exploding Family PlansExplains how and why to explode family plans.
Rolling Up End-Item ChangesExplains when and how to roll up changes.
Introduction to Family-Level Planning
Companies typically do family-level operations planning in a long- to medium-term time frame, usually six months to three years. They use it to:
• Project long-term labor, equipment, and financial commitments.
• Develop long-term material procurement plans for negotiations with strategic suppliers.
An operations plan is maintained for every family item. This plan shows sales forecasts, target inventory levels, and production demands for the planning horizon. You can view the plan from the global and site levels.
Family Processing Work Flow
For long-term planning, use Forecast Maintenance (22.1) to record sales forecasts by family and marketing site. See User Guide: QAD Manufacturing for details about using the Forecast/Master Plan module.
For medium-term planning, use the programs on the Item-Site Consolidation menu (33.13) to load existing end-item sales forecasts and inventory balances into the Enterprise Operations Plan module.
