Too many dinosaurs Available to Purchase

Reviews how manufacturers have traditionally looked for ways of improving their control and planning methods, and chronicles how these developed into MRP and MRP II systems; reports how Thomas Vollman of the International Institute of Management Development in Switzerland now sees these as completely at odds with the concepts of just‐in‐time, continuous improvement, empowerment and teamwork, and notes that upgrades to MRP systems are still being sought as though mass production, and command and control were still the driving forces. Suggests a checklist of questions that should be answered before such expenditure is made, and advocates the adoption of more customer‐based systems.