The encyclopedia · Engineering & Operations · Operational decision · 1992–1996
Harris ran global chip production on an LP planner instead of MRP
Harris replaced its MRP systems with a linear-programming planner and held 95% on-time delivery across 30,000 products.
Harris Corporation
the move
Harris Semiconductor needed an integrated system to run its entire supply chain after tripling manufacturing capacity to enter commercial markets, and the old material-requirements planning approach could not handle the network's interdependence.
IMPReSS, the Integrated Manufacturing Production Requirements Scheduling System, uses an optimization-based, semiconductor-specific planning engine that scans the entire pipeline and models the problem so it can be solved with linear programming, generating capacity-feasible production schedules and quoting delivery dates.
The system helped Harris stay a consistently world-class 95% or better on-time delivery company from 1993, covering over 30,000 finished goods, and the work won the 1995 Franz Edelman Award.
why it works
- Capacity at one plant constrains what another can promise and deliver.
- MRP schedules without a global view of capacity, so dates are optimistic.
- A linear-programming plan quotes dates that the whole network can meet.
- Measured: 95% or better on-time delivery across 30,000 finished goods.
what transfers
When a supply chain is bottlenecked across many plants, a push system that schedules each step separately promises what it cannot keep; plan the network as one capacity-aware optimization.
what came after
IMPReSS became the backbone of Harris's global production planning and delivery quotation, improving on-time delivery, supporting capital-equipment planning and strengthening the company's market position; the choice of a linear-programming engine over MRP became a documented lesson.
references
- Global planning at Harris Semiconductor
- IMPReSS: An Automated Production-Planning and Delivery-Quotation System at Harris Corporation—Semiconductor Sector
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