Evaluating dampening effects of alternative lot-sizing rules to reduce MRP system nervousness

System nervousness in material requirements planning (MRP) has received considerable attention. Although there are different perceptions of system nervousness, it is generally considered as the negative effects of open orders rescheduling. Several methods are suggested to cope with system nervousness. The use of lot-sizing rules to cope with MRP system nervousness is investigated here in this paper. Extra inventories need to be carried with most lot-sizing rules, which can be used to accommodate schedule changes. Thus, the nervousness-dampening mechanism is a built-in feature of these lot-sizing rules. The aim of this paper is to focus on the investigation of the effectiveness of using lot-sizing rules to dampen system nervousness in MRP systems by a simulation study. A factorial design was used to examine the dampening effect of various lot-sizing rules considered here. We find that the part-period balancing rule and least total cost rule turn out to be two effective lot-sizing rules to reduce system nervousness.