148 Lean suppLy ChaIn ManageMent essentIaLs
but is often ill understood. Much of that is due to how systems approach replenish-
ment at a warehouse level, and DRP is not often an option.
Distribution requirements planning (DRP): 1) e function of determining the need to
replenish inventory at branch warehouses. A time-phased order point approach is used where
the planned orders at the branch warehouse level are “exploded” via MRP logic to become
gross requirements on the supplying source. In the case of multilevel distribution networks,
this explosion process can continue down through the various levels of regional warehouses
(master warehouse, factory warehouse, etc.) and become input to the master production
schedule. Demand on the supply ...