Material Requirements Planning

Invatol provides Material Requirements Planning MRP for small to mid size companies. Material Requirements Planning MRP covers a wide range of activities which include some of the following:

- Time Phased Orders -
- Requirements  sorted by Vendor -
- Incorporate In House and Vendor Lead Times -
- Focus on On Time Delivery -
- Reduce Inventory Levels -

Material requirements planning or MRP involves getting material on hand when needed for production or sales. The Material requirements planning document should provide four basic items of information, when to place order, how much to order, who to order from and when the items need to be on hand. While some companies don't use MRP, but rely on expediting to accomplish this, other companies use the min max stock level. Both these methods are costly and often fail to meet production or sales needs that a good Material Requirements Planning process can provide. The only practical way to provide Material Requirements Planning is by using some type of computerized MRP program. Material Requirements Planning can plan, schedule and reschedule materials as far into the future as required.

Each company has an overall goal and a strategy for achieving that goal, but within the company there are groups whose focus may seem to be in contradiction to the Materials Requirements Planning process. The marketing group wants to make sure there is enough  inventory  on hand to supply all customer request, the accounting group is charged with keeping cost down, which includes keeping inventory levels low. In the middle is the inventory control group. If the accounting group is quiet, the marketing group is demanding you increase inventory, if the marketing group is quiet the accounting group wants to know why you have so much inventory. A good Material Requirements Planning system will help the inventory group balance both requirements, provide product for customer requirements and keep inventory levels low.

The goal of the MRP or Material Requirements Planning document is to supply information that will enable the company to have enough inventory on hand to fulfill demand, (and no more) available only when needed, (and no sooner) at a quality level that meets specification, (but does not have to exceed it) and at the lowest price. A good MRP or Material Requirements Planning program can provide the basic needs of keeping inventory levels low and fulfilling customer expectatons for on time delivery.