Insight: 3 real-life manufacturing challenges resolved with MRP software

Growing manufacturers often need to wear multiple hats, making sure that production and delivery schedules are adhered to, materials arrive at the right time, product quality is up to standard, costs are kept in check, and so forth. As tough as the manufacturing industry is, growing manufacturers are increasingly turning to software to alleviate their various pains. MRPeasy shares some real-life manufacturing challenges that genuine companies have overcome with the help of MRP software.

1 – Stockouts and overstocking

One of the biggest issues that MRP software tackles is material planning. The need to find a balance between stockouts and excess inventory is very acute in small manufacturing companies as each unit represents tied-up cash that could be used elsewhere. MRP software such as MRPeasy is made to accurately determine material requirements, ensure timely stock replenishments, and facilitate demand planning, allowing companies to optimize inventory.

Paul Long from Myddfai Trading Company says: “MRPeasy tells us what our requirements are, and when we create the manufacturing orders, we don’t have to go and tell the manufacturing staff anything, they can simply pull the information from MRPeasy. At the same time, we’re getting flags for stock statuses and can replenish purchases.”

2 – Data getting lost

Data is key to making good business decisions. But managing business information in spreadsheets (or even worse, physical archives) is unsustainable in the long run as finding the correct piece of data becomes increasingly difficult as the company grows. Within an MRP system, however, your data is organized in a way that enables easy navigation and quick search.

“We now have all the information in one place – we can see the part, when it’s due, what the costs are, everything. All you need to find is just one click away, which saves us a huge amount of time,” details Lee Brien from A Wrate Engineering.

3 – Traceability regulations

Being able to track the flow of goods throughout the value chain benefits any company, but especially those working in heavily regulated industries. Achieving regulatory compliance is a daunting challenge that MRP software effortlessly resolves.

“I had a target to install MRPeasy and become ISO 9001 approved within 6 months. After 6 months, SGS came in to undertake the certification audit and we passed without a single non-conformance. On the report, SGS also commented on how good MRPeasy was with traceability,” states Paul Watson from MPW Precision.

Bonus challenge: scaling up

Scaling up operations can be exhausting for managers. Apart from spreadsheets, even some MRP systems can become an impediment if their functionality is not up to par with what serious manufacturers need. That is why your future requirements are as important as current ones when choosing software.

Javed Bashir from B&A Quilting, knows this: “We are about eight times the size we were in 2017 but have barely doubled the administrative side of things. MRPeasy really has helped us immensely.”

For more information and a free trial, visit mrpeasy.com