Epicor Kinetic Manufacturing Planning Training Course

Course overview

Manufacturing planners using Epicor Kinetic must turn changing sales demand, inventory positions, supplier lead times and shop capacity into workable supply plans. When part planning parameters, bills of material, lead times or demand signals are inaccurate, MRP can generate excess purchase suggestions, shortages, expedite activity and schedules that cannot be achieved on the shop floor. This course equips participants to diagnose and improve the planning decisions produced by Epicor Kinetic rather than simply run the system’s planning processes.

Over five days, participants work through the Epicor Kinetic manufacturing planning cycle: planning master data, forecasts and sales order demand, MRP processing, time-phased supply and demand review, purchase and job suggestions, scheduling considerations, inventory controls and exception management. They learn to configure and validate planning inputs, interpret Planning Workbench results, investigate pegging relationships, apply appropriate part planning rules, and use Business Activity Queries to monitor planning performance. Attention is given to the practical decisions behind system outputs: when to accept, adjust, defer or reject recommendations.

Instructor-led demonstrations are followed by guided exercises in an Epicor Kinetic training environment using a realistic discrete-manufacturing case. Participants complete an end-to-end planning review for a product family, resolve shortages and excess inventory signals, and build a planning action pack containing parameter changes, exception priorities, MRP recommendations and improvement actions. They receive a certificate on completion and leave with reusable checklists for MRP readiness, planning-data validation and weekly planner review.

The course is designed for experienced manufacturing, materials and supply-chain professionals who already work with ERP data and need stronger control of Epicor Kinetic planning processes. It is equally useful for managers seeking more reliable material availability, lower inventory exposure and clearer accountability for planning decisions.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Configure part-level planning parameters including lead times, safety stock, order policies and lot-sizing rules
• Validate bills of material, routings, resource data and supplier records for MRP readiness
• Run and interpret Epicor Kinetic MRP processes using demand, supply and planning-contract inputs
• Analyze time-phased supply-and-demand balances and pegging relationships in Planning Workbench
• Evaluate purchase suggestions, job suggestions and transfer recommendations against operational constraints
• Apply forecast-consumption and master-scheduling methods to balance customer demand with planned production
• Build Business Activity Queries that identify shortages, excess inventory, overdue supply and planning exceptions
• Produce a documented manufacturing planning action plan for a selected product family

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Production Planners — who must convert demand and capacity signals into achievable job and material plans
• Materials Planners — who review MRP recommendations and manage component availability across the supply base
• Supply Chain Managers — who need to improve planning discipline, inventory performance and service levels
• Purchasing Managers and Buyers — who act on Epicor purchase suggestions and must manage supplier lead-time risk
• Manufacturing Managers — who need visibility of the data and constraints driving production-plan feasibility
• Epicor Kinetic Business Analysts — who support planning configuration, reporting and user adoption

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in a manufacturing, materials, purchasing or production-planning role and a working understanding of bills of material, routings, inventory transactions, purchase orders, work orders and lead times. Familiarity with core Epicor Kinetic navigation, Part Maintenance and basic inquiry screens is strongly recommended. Participants should understand the difference between independent demand and dependent demand and be comfortable working with operational data in spreadsheets. Prior MRP configuration or Business Activity Query development is not required; these are taught during the course. No programming, database administration or advanced forecasting qualification is needed.

Training methodology

The course combines concise instructor-led explanations with live navigation and configuration in an Epicor Kinetic training environment. Each day uses a connected manufacturing case involving forecast changes, component shortages, supplier delays and capacity constraints. Participants configure planning data, run MRP, investigate time-phase and pegging results, and make documented accept, defer, adjust or reject decisions. Small-group reviews compare alternative planning responses and their inventory or service consequences. The final session is an application-planning workshop in which each participant develops priorities, measures and a first-90-day improvement plan for their own operation.

Course outline

Day 1: Planning foundations and master-data readiness

• Epicor Kinetic manufacturing planning architecture and transaction flow
• Part Maintenance planning controls, lead times and order policies
• Safety stock, minimum-on-hand and maximum-on-hand planning methods
• Lot-sizing rules, fixed order quantities and multiple-order quantities
• Bills of material, revision control and dependent-demand calculations
• Routings, resource groups and production lead-time implications
• MRP readiness audit for part, supplier and inventory master data

Workshop: Participants audit a product family in Epicor Kinetic and produce a prioritised master-data correction log before MRP is run.

Day 2: Demand management and MRP execution

• Independent demand from sales orders, forecasts and master schedules
• Forecast entry, forecast consumption and demand-time-fence decisions
• Demand priorities, due dates and customer-order change effects
• MRP process options, regeneration logic and planning horizons
• Netting on-hand inventory, allocated stock and scheduled receipts
• Planning contracts and supply-demand relationships across sites
• Interpreting MRP messages, exception categories and recommendation status

Workshop: Participants load changing forecast and sales-order demand, run MRP, and produce an exception-priority list for the affected product family.

Day 3: Supply recommendations and material control

• Planning Workbench navigation and recommendation filtering
• Time Phase inquiry for part-level supply-and-demand analysis
• Pegging analysis from customer demand through material requirements
• Purchase suggestions, supplier lead times and receipt-date feasibility
• Job suggestions, make-versus-buy rules and production order policies
• Transfer-order recommendations and multi-site inventory availability
• Accepting, adjusting, deferring and rejecting MRP recommendations

Workshop: Participants resolve a component-shortage scenario in Planning Workbench and create approved purchase, job and transfer actions with supporting rationale.

Day 4: Capacity-aware planning and execution control

• The relationship between MRP, finite scheduling and Epicor APS
• Resource groups, capabilities and bottleneck identification
• Job scheduling constraints, queue time and move time
• Material availability checks before releasing production jobs
• Replanning after supplier delays, scrap and demand changes
• Inventory-replenishment policies for purchased and manufactured parts
• Planner escalation rules for shortages, excess and date-risk exceptions

Workshop: Participants compare alternative responses to a constrained-resource and late-supplier case and produce a feasible recovery plan for production and purchasing.

Day 5: Planning analytics, governance and improvement

• Business Activity Query Designer for planning-data interrogation
• BAQ filters for shortages, overdue supply, excess stock and late jobs
• Planning KPIs including schedule adherence, inventory turns and expedite rate
• Exception-review cadences and planner-to-buyer handoff controls
• Root-cause analysis for recurring MRP recommendation failures
• Planning parameter governance, change control and audit evidence
• Ninety-day Epicor Kinetic planning improvement roadmap

Workshop: Participants build a planning action pack containing a BAQ-based exception report, KPI measures, governance actions and a 90-day implementation roadmap.

Tools & standards covered

Epicor Kinetic, Epicor Business Activity Query (BAQ) Designer, Epicor Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS), Microsoft Excel

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions