BPIC The Business Performance Improvement Consultancy - Home page

The ABCD checklist developed by Oliver Wight in the mid 1970's is still the most widely recognised way to evaluate how well a manufacturing company plans and controls its business.  The ABCD checklist on this site is the most used of the many variants of the original checklist with over 1,000 new subscribers to the checklist each year.  Subscribers are offered a free assessment service and the results of their returns from 2001 to 2007 can now be seen at www.bpic.co.uk/abcd_analysis.htm.  There is also a printable .pdf version available at /abcd_analysis.pdf which also shows a breakdown between the UK, USA and the rest of the world's results between 2002 and 2007.

The analysis shows that in general manufacturing industry continues to use planning systems badly with no sign of any consistent improvement.

A Spanish edition of Business Excellence is now available for downloading see La Excelencia en los Negocios.

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"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. . . " - Alan Cohen. 

Allow change to bring magic into your life.  Read the article "The Magic of Change" - by Claudette Rowley.

This is just one of over 40 selected interesting, inspiring and/or amusing articles which you can find in the articles page.

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Site guide: Updated May 2008

	ERP implementation plan - our tried and tested implementation plan to optimise the business benefits of implementing or just getting more from your MRPII or ERP systems. The plan covers initial ABCD review , cost and benefit analysis and education requirements through to cut over. For companies looking for planning software, see our software selection guide. Not sure? - then click here for details of our in-house Executive Briefing.
	ERP survival guide - how to live with ERP and MRP systems after they have been implemented. What can go wrong and how to put them right (re-implement) so as to get real business benefits; in short, a complete MRP/ERP survival guide!
	Education - MRP Ltd has been running public courses in MRPII for over 10 years. Most companies these days prefer in-house education where the material is tailored to a company's specific needs and issues. In addition, an in-house course is always shorter than the equivalent public course and BPIC's latest version of these courses are cost effective for 3 or more delegates. The courses vary in length from 1 day to 4 days depending on the topic and detail required.  Two of our most popular courses on Stock Record Accuracy and Master Production Scheduling are now available on CD for just £95 (about US $170). You can preview these courses and run the first audiovisual session free. BPIC courses focuses not on generic principles but on helping you apply current best practice to your unique business situation. You can also use our personal consulting service to amplify and support the education material.
	Jargon buster - the definitive A to Z jargon buster which defines most ERP, MRPII, JIT and TQM jargon. e.g. what really is Six Sigma?
	Books - details and reviews of our recommended management books including a money back offer on the best selling "Business Excellence - the integrated solution to planning and control" by Phil Robinson in both paperback and e-book format, with a direct link to the Amazon page to simplify buying any of the books. Under "something for the family" an e-book for harassed parents on that thorny problem of pocket money.
	ABCD checklist - our well known free 20 point ABCD checklist now with notes to help you self-assess ("benchmark") your MRPII / ERP planning and control processes. If you submit your answers to us on-line we will be pleased to give you a free assessment. Alternatively you can use our independent, private ABCD review service. Now you can view an ABCD analysis table to see how other companies have scored themselves.
	World class manufacturing checklist - if you are happy with your MRPII and/or ERP system - what is next? The answer is World Class Manufacturing - the rewards are huge both in terms of customer service and operational efficiency. See how you rate against the "best in class" with our free 20 point World Class Manufacturing checklist, now each answer is graded W, X, Y and Z so you can score yourself and access progress. Submit your answers to us on-line for a free benchmarking against other, similar respondents. View a comparison table to see how other companies have scored themselves. Check out our World Class Manufacturing starter pack.
	Case studies - 10 case studies, where we helped companies improve their customer service (their planning software in brackets) - Barden (SAP R/3), Contico (Uniman, Preactor & Demand Solutions), Kitchen Range Foods (Mfg/Pro), Marine Projects (Chess), Sara Lee (Cincom & Logol), Thermo VG Scientific (Mfg/Pro), Thyssen Stairlifts (BaaN IV), Tortube (Fourth Shift), VW Heritage (Sage) and Wrigley's (BPCS).
	Links - links to interesting and relevant other UK web sites for students and managers in manufacturing industries including a guide to the more popular ERP Software Packages with costs by "tier" and the planning software selection guide.
	Ask a question - you can ask a questions relating to manufacturing planning and control (MRP, ERP, JIT, TQ etc.) and also look at frequently asked questions from general questions like "what is the difference between ERP, MRPII and APS?" to more specific questions like "What is best practice in part numbering systems?"

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Comments, requests or suggestions to :	Phil Robinson
e-mail :
Phone :	England (+44) (0)1273 708561
write to :	BPIC, 24, Hove Park Villas, Hove, BN3 6HG, England

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Phil Robinson - www.bpic.co.uk