George Plossl
George Plossl was an American engineer and consultant who co-wrote a landmark 1967 production and inventory control textbook with Oliver Wight and helped spread material requirements planning (MRP).
What they did and why it matters
Plossl helped make planned replenishment the normal way to manage inventory, the logic behind the purchase plans in today's ERP systems. He worked alongside Oliver Wight at Stanley Works, and their 1967 book Production and Inventory Control: Principles and Techniques laid the groundwork for MRP. With Wight and Joseph Orlicky, known together as POW, he pushed APICS to promote MRP in the 1970s, when its membership grew sharply, and he later revised Orlicky's MRP book. Brands that set order quantities, lead times, and safety stock in a planning system and review exceptions instead of counting shelves follow the discipline he taught.