Dynamic Dispatching of DDMRP Replenishment Orders

The Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (DDMRP) is a production control system originally tailored for the VUCA world. Despite research increas-ingly focusing on the dynamic aspects of this production system it has failed to address important execution aspects such as the dispatching rules. This study bridges the gap in research by focusing on the execution aspect within the DDMRP framework, particularly the dispatching rules. Through the simulation of a six-machine flow shop, we investigate several dynamic dispatching rules to assess their impact on the system stability and service level. Our findings reveal that, when compared to static dispatching rules, the use of a dynamic dispatching rule focused on the execution aspect significantly augments the service level, in-creasing the protection of the buffer positions by reducing the stockouts and re-ducing the time to fulfill backorders. This research is a step towards optimizing DDMRP for today’s volatile and unpredictable manufacturing environment, of-fering practical implications for both practitioners and researchers.