ATP (Available to Promise)
ATP is an important concept in supply chain management, meaning to quote an available quantity and a delivery date for an order from a customer. There are various methods and levels of determining the quantity and delivery date depending on circumstances. "ATP (Available to Promise)" may literally mean "delivery commitment limit" but probably the closest word used in the Japanese manufacturing industry is "delivery quotations". In other words, ATP information contains quantities and due dates for which delivery can be committed. If you can determine how you allocate (schedule) materials and resources such as machines and workers to actual demand and forecast demand, you can quote delivery dates based on that information. "Real-time ATP" means to create a production schedule in real time even for one order (speculative demand or an inquiry) using SCM software and according to the operation capacity and material inventory constraints of...