Leverage Manufacturing Productivity with MRP/ERP/MIS



Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010

by Marc Anderes
Maloya Inc.

MRP in manufacturing refers to material requirements planning or manufacturing resource planning. Both mean making plans for what is needed in the manufacturing of a product. ERP or enterprise resource planning is often used as well and is a derivative of MRP. ERP takes into account manufacturing and business processes and merges them into one system. MIS is a management information system which manages business information. Data in its raw form is altered into understandable information. Essentially, ERPs and MRPs are management information systems since they are converting raw data into information such as reports and invoices to optimally run a manufacturing environment.

MRP and MRP II When MRP is referred to as material requirements planning, it refers to a set of computer programs or software that manage inventories and what is needed when, and it tells people on the floor what to make and how much. The computer system maintains scheduling so that production stays on track and the product is delivered to the customer on time. When MRP means manufacturing resource planning it is often referred to as MRP II. This involves a set of principles and is the whole planning system along with the computer system. Leadership would also be a part of MRP II. Management also needs to be taken into consideration in MRP.

Goals MRP II's goal is to keep the manufacturing process as elementary as possible and to take a serious look at the requirements needed to produce the end product. Careful analyses also have to be conducted to make sure that no waste is happening in the production such as through inventory analysis. A management plan starts with asking what the product is that will be sold to consumers. The next step is looking at what inventory is needed to manufacture the product as well as staff needed, equipment, materials, and any other things that may be needed for the manufacturing process. The last step would be to examine how everything is functioning and also leadership needs to ensure everyone has the resources needed.

ERP and MRP Software Software options for ERP and MRP allow for keeping track of inventories in a manufacturing setting as well as purchasing and manufacturing controls and communications with people on the fabrication floor so that everything is streamlined between all departments of a company. Additional tools involve invoice production, customer service, and tools to conduct analyses on sales. Financial options are available to offer a full software package for a manufacturing environment. A useful feature in one MRP software package is the ability for several users to enter purchase orders simultaneously on computers in a networked environment as long as that environment was built with servers such as Novell or Microsoft for multiple users. A software system should also be able to generate reports using selected data. Computer MRP systems keep all the data up to date. Another tool would be capacity planning where a system would tell the user what resources would be needed to complete a job based on a production plan such as manpower and equipment. This would be an example of rough-cut capacity planning.

Benefits of MRP Systems Advantages of using a computerized MRP system would be lowering of costs and inventories, better efficiency in the shop, a shorter production time, lower costs of materials and overhead, and thus better service to customers and timely shipping to consumers. MRP and MRP II would be useful for a manufacturing environment as well as any type of business environment to improve efficiency and business as a whole.

Bio:

Marc Anderes is the Vice President of Operations of Maloya Laser which specializes in

Metal Manufacturing and Laser Cutting with advanced laser technologies, servicing aerospace, scientific, transportation, medical and machinery needs.

Marc Anderes is the VP of Operations of Maloya Laser which specializes in Metal Manufacturing and Laser Cutting with state-of-the-art laser technologies, for aerospace, scientific, transportation, medical and machinery requirements.

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