Senior SAP PP / MRP Functional consultant/ Architect

Job Description:

Role Summary

We are seeking a senior SAP PP/MRP consultant with deep hands-on expertise in SAP ECC 6.0 to assess production planning processes, investigate material shortages, and optimize planned order scheduling and component availability. The consultant will evaluate existing firming practices, MRP confirmation logic, and potential configuration or custom development solutions to improve planning accuracy and production execution.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess current SAP PP/MRP planning flows and identify root causes of material shortages.
• Analyze planned order firming, Customer Requested Date (CRD), component availability, and Full/Partial Confirmation Logic.
• Quantify shortages caused by supply delays, planning logic, inventory inaccuracies, and master data issues.
• Review MRP settings, exception messages, and existing shortage reports for accuracy.
• Recommend short-term operational improvements and long-term configuration or custom development solutions.
• Evaluate automation opportunities, including BAPI-based solutions, with associated risks, effort, and costs.
• Work with planners and business stakeholders to distinguish habitual firming from deliberate component reservation practices.

Required Skills

• Extensive hands-on experience with SAP ECC 6.0 Production Planning (PP), MRP, and ATP.
• Strong knowledge of MRP groups, MRP1 MRP4 views, lead-time scheduling, and OPPR/OPPJ configuration.
• Practical expertise in planned order firming and Full vs. Partial Confirmation Logic - what it freezes, what it doesn t, and how it can silently serve two unrelated purposes at the same site
• Understanding of component availability checks, including MDVP, and committed-quantity calculations.
• Proficiency in MD04, MD11, MD12, and MRP exception-message analysis.
• Experience with production planning troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and shortage reporting.
• Ability to evaluate functional configuration, process changes, and custom development alternatives.

Preferred Skills

• MD04/MD11/MD12 exception-message literacy distinguishing a real signal from a silently wrong one
• Change-management instinct: able to interview planners and separate habitual firming from deliberate, reservation-protecting firming

Expected Deliverables

• Current-State Planning Flow Assessment.
• Material Shortage Root-Cause Analysis with quantified contributing factors.
• Tactical Short-Term Operating Model to minimize shortages.
• Operational and SAP Configuration Recommendations.
• Custom Development and Automation Recommendations.
• Remediation Options with Estimated Effort, Cost, Risks, and Benefits.

Seniority Level

Senior SAP PP functional consultant or architect not a generalist SAP administrator. Ideally someone who has designed or corrected constraint-aware scheduling logic before, with prior exposure to a factory that outgrew standard ECC MRP and had to choose between custom BAPI automation.