Books and Pocket Guides

Manufacturing Resource Planning, MRPII by Robin Goodfellow

The definitive guide to MRPII in pocket book form which explains the elements of MRPII and how they combine to provide an all-embracing approach to setting and maintaining valid plans to meet customer demands and keep costs under control.  More information

Sales and Operations Planning by Robin Goodfellow

Sales and Operations Planning is the least well understood of the techniques within the MRPII toolkit. In this brief guide Robin walks the reader through the reasons behind S&OP and explains how to successfully utilise this key approach.  More information

Planning and Control of Engineer to Order (ETO) Manufacturing by Ian Henderson

Designing and making to order imposes specific demands on any company and has led many to abandon the established, standard planning and control approaches. Ian uses the definitive work on ETO business to explain which techniques remain valid and how they can be successfully adopted.  More information

Planning and Control of Manufacturing Operations by John Kenworthy

Effective planning and control of manufacturing operations allows businesses to achieve maximum profitability by reducing uncertainty at all stages of the manufacturing process. In this book, John Kenworthy offers an easy to follow overview of the principles and practice of manufacturing control, with the emphasis throughout on practical approaches and techniques rather than on theoretical discussion.  More information

Case Studies

Lean Agile and Simple - A Case Study

This article was written by Ian Henderson with Steve Dean, Production Manager of Dresser Industrial Valves, and described the progress made within that operation's Safety Relief Valve Manufacturing unit by a simplified approach to scheduling. In essence the complex scheduling algorithms of the company's MRPII package were discarded in favour of a simple drumbeat and 'order slotting' approach which reduced lead times and inventory as well as bringing near-perfect delivery performance.

Business Process Reengineering at Ingersoll-Dresser Pumps (IDP subsequently acquired by Flowserve)

This paper was written by David Morgan and Ian Henderson with Brian Squires, Vice-President of Industrial Pump Operations for IDP in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It described the process of business improvement carried out under the BPR and Total Quality banners within the company's Newark operations, and was presented at an Annual Conference of the British Production and Inventory Control Society (now Institute of Operations Management).

Sales and Operations Planning, How did we Survive Without it? by Robin Goodfellow

An hypothetical case study based on Robin’s experiences of a real company in Eastern Europe

Conference and Journal Papers

ERP - Cost or Benefit?

Ian Henderson presented this paper which concentrated on the state of play in the ERP market at the CIM show, asking why so often system implementations clearly fail to deliver the benefits anticipated when a business embarks on such a high-investment programme. After studying the evolution of ERP the presentation pointed out some of the classic mistakes which lead to failure in this area and provided a framework enabling the introduction of a new system to deliver business benefits. The fundamental approach promoted is that of ACS (Applied Common Sense) - a key constituent of which is that we must remember that we are embarking on a business project and not become lost in the jargon and hyperbolae surrounding IT.

Sales and Operations Planning

A brief article by Robin describing the need for and ways to succeed with Sales and Operations Planning

Why Is Making To Order So Different?

This article appeared in the Institute of Operations Management's monthly magazine, ‘Control’. It looks at the requirements of Engineer To Order (ETO) organisations in business system terms and contrasts these with those of standard product environments - the spiritual home of MRP and its successors. The paper is a summarised extract from Ian's A5 booklet.