Best Material Requirement Planning Software Complying Global Standard

The MRP software is a tool widely famous among manufacturers and distributors. It is a great tool to enhance production efficiency. Besides, it is a valuable solution as a part of the complete ERP software system.

Like any other software, there are plenty of MRP providers in the market. We will first explore the overall world of MRP software and find out its benefits. Finally, we will get into the main discussion of finding the best Material Requirement Planning software complying with global standards.

What Are Material Requirements Planning (MRP) Software?

The full form of MRP is Material Requirements Planning – software to control and plan manufacturing inventory. With this software, you can know and plan the type, numbers, and time of the materials needed for production.

The MRP software removes the manual works for material inventory management. It functions to complete company strategy requirements. As a result, you will need lesser manual labor, and errors will be less. For any growing or large company, the MRP software is highly recommended.

The MRP software will ensure that you have enough raw materials to ensure full production capacity. As a result, you will be able to meet the production demand. And also, it will help your company to utilize the available resources.

One of the major concerns of manufacturers is spoilage. It means losing money on wastages. In this regard, MRP software can help you reduce this waste. As a result, your company will have better warehousing and lead time. Ultimately, you will be able to run a lean and smooth operation.

Steps Involved in MRP

The MRP software involves a few significant steps. We have divided them into 3 simple ones. Here are the steps involved in MRP:

Developing quantity requirements

The first step to using the software begins with understanding the raw material allocations. This involves looking at the materials on hold for specific orders, forwarded to manufacturing, and others.

As a result, you will be able to find out the number of resources needed. The total amount will vary from day to day and through distribution centers. The variance will occur due to raw materials availability and demand changes.

Calculating material order suggestions

From the first step, the MRP software knows how much resources you need for production. In this step, the software will calculate the total amount of material you should order. This is only possible when the inventory data is up-to-date and accurate.

In contrast, inaccurate data will increase the chances of ordering excess materials. Thus, you can use tracking tools like RFID to enhance the performance of the MRP software.

Completing material orders

The last step of the function of the MRP software is to ensure efficiency. The software does that by creating a complete list of raw materials for production. There are a few factors that this step is based on, including estimated orders, current inventory, and estimated arrival time.

Read Also: ERP is the Backbone Empowering The Business intricacy (Best Software)

History

MRP is not a recent concept in the manufacturing business. Joseph Orlicky was the first person to bring forth the concept about 50 years ago. And it was way after that when people started using it as software.

To begin with, Black & Decker began the first-time practical use of the concept. The method continuously grew from there. By the beginning of the ‘80s, around 8000 companies started using MRP.

Later on, other versions of MRP started coming out in the market. The second version of the software was brought into the market by Oliver Wright in 1983. This version also focused on financial data and information.

Then in the 1990s, ERP software came along as a part of MRP. This software involves more of a complete workflow of an organization. The tasks of a company became automated through the ERP software.

Thus, the overall popularity and usage of MRP kept on growing over the years.

Benefits of MRP software

Material Requirement Planning (MRP) helps manufacturers with many things. You already know about the basic benefits. Your company can better deal with production planning, scheduling, and inventory management. It is a highly beneficial tool for most manufacturing companies.

Yet, there are more. Here are 5 advantages of the MRP software.

Inventory control

Manufacturing processes involve inventory management. It is a crucial part of production efficiency. You can use the MRP software to figure out the inventory needed and the total cost.

Essentially, the software will enable you to reduce inventory costs. You will be able to know the exact numbers of raw materials needed for production.

Purchase and production planning

Purchase planning is a significant part of inventory management. You will need to know what, when, and how much raw materials to buy. As a procurement manager, you can buy raw materials by directly contacting the supplier through MRP.

MRP will suggest production according to the demand and available resources. The software will recommend production routes. And also, MRP can reroute production whenever there are material constraints.

Scheduling works

Managers can use MRP to schedule work hours and workload. Also, MRP can help them to manage operations, hourly tasks, and equipment. The software is great for estimating production costs and labor time.

Documentation and managing data

In today’s era, a manufacturing company needs to deal with a massive amount of data. It is next to impossible to handle the data through manual works. Documentation is a huge benefit of the MRP software.

Economic and timesaving

MRP is the most economical tool you can include in your arsenal. It will give you a great purchase decision according to the resources, need, and demand. The workers will need less interaction with each other. As a result, the overall process will become accurate, timely, and cost-effective.

Best and Top Material Requirements Planning Software

Just like any other software, there are plenty of options for MRP. Here we have listed the 6 top Material Planning Software you can find in the market.

Let’s get into the detailed discussion of them one by one.

PrismERP

PrismERP is a versatile solution for the MRP system. The software manages the administrative, managerial practices of a business. It is software that is popular across more than 20 industries in Bangladesh and the global market.

PrismERP provides platform independence and easy integration with third-party systems. It also includes an m-D system that supports different businesses. Some of their key features involve cloud-based, high-end, and cluster systems. It is a subscription-based platform for users with many different services.

Some key benefits of the platform include the following:

• Welcome pack through email and domain hosting
• Gsuite, OwnCloud, and CoreLive storage services
• Cloud hosting across different regions
• ERP consultation services featuring industry-specific analysis
• Training services for office employees
• Cyber and physical security services

Fishbowl Inventory

Fishbowl Inventory is the second MRP software on our list. With this tool, manufacturers can control both on-site and cloud deployment.

Both small and mid-sized businesses can use the software. It can be used in e-commerce, manufacturing, and wholesale distribution sectors. There are also integrations like EDI, CRM, work order management, etc., available.

Fishbowl Inventory comes with a lot of benefits as well. It includes the following:

• Tracking assets across multiple warehouses, shipments, and expiration dates.
• A wide range of integrations is available, including CRM, EDI, revision, lot tagging, etc.
• Managing orders that involve packing, picking, and shipping.
• You can report tools and plug-ins through barcodes, inventory graphing, and forecasting.
• CRP (Capacity Requirement Planning) includes demand analysis, spoilage reduction, and material over-ordering.

NetSuite

Users can perform several functions with NetSuite, including inventory management, financial management, and fulfillment. Advertising, financial services, consultation, healthcare, IT services, and many other industries use the software.

Some of the benefits of the software are:

• Managing orders through order fulfillment, reducing manual processes, and any other errors.
• Source management through the past performance of the suppliers.
• Manage warehouse through cycle time and overhead time reduction, and on-time delivery.
• Access order, inventory, asset, and customer information

IQMS

IQMS is an excellent MRP software to manage factory operations. Just like Fishbowl Inventory, manufacturers can control both on-site and cloud deployment with IQMS.

One of the best parts of IQMS is the ability to cut third-party integration costs. Automotive, medical, manufacturing, defense, aerospace, and many other industries use IQMS.

The software has 5 specific benefits that involve:

• Project management
• Forecasting
• Shipping management
• Customer Relationship Management
• Sales and order management
• Material management
• Supply chain management

GMDH Streamline

GMDH Streamline is more focused on supply chain management and on-premises inventory. The software includes some exciting features such as sales and demand forecasting, demand optimization, inventory planning, and many more. GMDH Streamline uses a special time-series depreciation method to forecast and analyze.

A very specific set of industries use GMDH Streamline. This includes transportation, healthcare, FMCG, and others. One of the key benefits of the software is the forecasting and approval system. Other beneficial sides of the software are:

• Order planning
• Need approval of materials
• KPI reporting
• Demand forecasting

ERPAG

The last ERP system on our list is the ERPAG software. This software is famous for small and mid-sized businesses. ERPAG is the only software on our list that is focused on cloud-based programs.

Users need to purchase the subscription-based offers to use ERPAG. The system includes features like manufacturing, sales, finance, inventory, and purchasing. You can also manage multiple warehouses with lot tracking, inventory back-ordering, scanning, barcoding, and many more.

ERPAG is software that integrates with third-party vendors. They involve WooCommerce, Square, Shopify, and others.

Some significant benefits of the software can be the following:

• Inventory management
• BOM
• Dropship management
• Document management
• Sales management
• Purchasing and finances

Final Verdict

If your business runs in a steady environment, MRP works the best. But with the changing customer demands, the software may face constant changes in its system. There can be considerable challenges faced in the system logistics.

Yet, the best Material Requirement Planning software complying with the global standard will always be popular. It is an effective and efficient way to streamline manufacturing processes. You will always find different features that are suitable for your company. It will reduce manual processing and save time and energy to calculate resources.

DDMRP is the latest development in the MRP environment. The features will continuously grow and adapt to the trends. The system will always have a role to play in any business scenario.

FAQ

What industry is best suited for MRP?

Companies with a mass-production assembly line have the best usage of the MRP system. The software can help reduce inventory, labor, schedule streamline, and operational activity hassles.

What is the main benefit of Material Requirement Planning?

The biggest advantage of Material Requirement Planning is inventory management and control. You can keep your production on track with the best utilization of resources.

What is the objective of the MRP system?

The objective of the MRP system is to calculate the number of materials needed for the best production of goods. It ensures that there is no surplus or shortage of resources for production.

What are MRP and ERP?

MRP or Material Requirement Planning is a part of the ERP process. It means scheduling, managing, and maintaining materials for efficient production. Overall, MRP is a core task of the ERP system.