concepts that they have incorporated in the demand driven adaptive enterprise (DDAE) will become the standard for companies to strive to achieve.
Richard (Dick) Ling
“Your presentation and the one earlier blew my mind—I always felt there was something not right with MRP but I could never put my finger on it. I now understand why. THANK YOU!!!!”
The above quote is from a planner who attended two webinars we did in 2017; we were doing the webinars as part of our preparation for writing this book. This is a book more about a problem than a solution. The book on the solution has already been written. Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning1 was published in 2016. So, why write the book on the problem after the book on the solution?
Quite simply, we underestimated the strength of inertia across industry, academia, consulting, and software. To grasp the contents of a book about a solution, one must be compelled to open a book about a solution in the first place. The book jacket can only go so far. Furthermore, we have discovered that a commonsense solution does not sell itself. Often the nature of the problem must be thoroughly understood before one can relate to or grasp the totality of the solution.
This is our third book collaboration. The first was the third edition of Orlicky’s Material Requirements Planning?2 The second was Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (noted above). This book fills a small but absolutely vital gap between those two works. People have known for quite some time that something is very wrong with conventional planning. In our two previous collaborations, we have talked about the disastrous effects of conventional planning on companies and people. We presented lists of problems and cited large amounts of data proving the existence of these effects. Yet something was missing— exactly why those effects occur. It is something that when revealed is so incredibly obvious but flies in the face of everything we held dear as the secret of success in planning.
Thus, this book became a requirement to systematically break down the inertia and usher in a new era of planning and execution across supply chains. So, we return to the problem to make a clear and definitive case for what to change and then discuss a framework in which successful change can occur.
Hang on to your seat. If you are a planner, supply chain professional, or even ERP salesperson, this book may cause you a certain level of discomfort. Our hope is, after reading this, you will also be able to say, “I always felt there was something not right with MRP, but I could never put my finger on it. I now understand why”.
However, this is not just a book about changes planning requirements. This book also introduces a completely new management model for the complex and volatile world we live in today—a management model that is not possible without first fixing conventional planning.
This book will use two sources of definitions. All known and accepted terms that are not new with the advent of the demand driven adaptive enterprise (DDAE) model will be defined using definitions from the fourteenth edition of the APICS Dictionary. The authors thank APICS for its support of this project. Since 1957, APICS has been the premier professional association for supply chain and operations management and the leading provider of research, education, and certification programs that elevate supply chain excellence, innovation, and resilience.
For terms that are new with the advent of the DDAE model, the authors have created a dictionary specific to the DDAE model. Translated versions of this dictionary in multiple languages can be found at http://www.demanddriveninstitute.com.
Carol Ptak
Carol Ptak is currently a partner with the Demand Driven Institute (http://www.demanddriveninsti-tute.com) and was most recently at Pacific Lutheran University as Visiting Professor and Distinguished Executive in Residence. Previously, she was vice president and global industry executive for manufacturing and distribution industries at PeopleSoft, where she developed the concept of demand driven manufacturing (DDM). Ms. Ptak spent four years at IBM Corporation, culminating in the position of global SMB segment executive.
Ms. Ptak is a leading authority in the use of ERP and supply chain tools to drive improved bottom-line performance. Her expertise is well grounded in four decades of practical experience as a successful practitioner, consultant, and educator in manufacturing operations. Her pragmatic approach to complex issues and her dynamic presentation style make her in high demand worldwide on the subject of how to leverage these tools and achieve sustainable success.
She holds an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology and completed the EMPO program at Stanford University. Ms. Ptak is a frequent educator at the university level and presents at many key technical conferences around the world, including conferences in South Africa, France, Israel, Australia, Ireland, and the Netherlands and 11 APICS international conferences. She is the author of numerous articles and books including DDMRP (Industrial Press, 2016) and the third edition of Orlicky’s Material Requirements Planning (McGraw-Hill, 2011) with Chad Smith. In addition, she has written MRP and Beyond and ERP: Tools, Techniques, and Applications for Integrating the Supply Chain, and she coauthored Theory H.O.W. with Harold Cavallaro and Necessary but Not Sufficient with Dr. Eli Goldratt and Eli Schragenheim. Together with Dean Gilliam she updated Quantum Leap, originally written by John Constanza. Ms. Ptak has lent her name to the internationally coveted Ptak Prize for Supply Chain Excellence that is awarded annually by ISCEA (International Supply Chain Education Alliance).
Ms. Ptak is certified through APICS at the fellow level (CFPIM) and was certified in Integrated Resource Management (CIRM) with the first group internationally. Ms. Ptak was the president and CEO of APICS, the Educational Society for Resource Management for the year 2000. Prior to her election as APICS president, she served at the Society in a variety of positions.
Carol Ptak currently makes her home on a working cattle ranch in the Pinal Mountains near Globe, Arizona, with her husband, Jim, her two dogs, her three horses, and the largest fold of purebred registered Scottish Highland cattle in Arizona.
Chad Smith
Chad Smith is the coauthor (with Carol Ptak) of the third edition of Orlicky’s Material Requirements Planning (McGraw-Hill, 2011) and Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (Industrial Press, 2016). He is also the coauthor (with Debra Smith) of Demand Driven Performance: Using Smart Metrics (McGraw-Hill, 2014). He is a cofounder of and partner in the Demand Driven Institute, an organization dedicated to proliferating demand driven methods throughout the world.
In 1997 Mr. Smith cofounded Constraints Management Group (CMG), a services and technology company specializing in demand driven manufacturing, materials, and project management systems for midrange and large manufacturers. He served as managing partner of CMG from 1998 to 2015. Clients, past and present, include Unilever, LeTourneau Technologies, Boeing, Intel, Erickson Air-Crane, Siemens, IBM, the Charles Machine Works (Ditch Witch), and Oregon Freeze Dry. Mr. Smith is also a certified expert in all disciplines of the Theory of Constraints, studying directly under the tutelage
