MRP (Material Requirements Planning) is a tool within FactoryMaster that analyses current demand through Sales Orders and Assemblies and suggests the Purchase Orders and Works Orders to meet such demand. The first step to doing this is to do an MRP run, this produces the list of stock that has demand that needs meeting. This is done by following the below instructions:
Follow the Menu Path: Production -> Material Requirements
Press F4 to create a new MRP run.
It is required to choose between certain parameters of how the report should run. These will range from the start date and period, or if to exclude ‘On Hold’ orders and Quarantined Stock.
Once a user has determined their preferred parameters, they can set these up in the ‘My Preferences’ area which is linked in the bottom left corner of the window. Click Save to remember these options for next time. Press OK to run.
Once the MRP has finished running it will appear in the ‘Material Requirements Reports’ window. Press F5 to view the report that has been created.
Escape back to the ‘Material Requirement Reports’ screen and there is also the option to click on Raise Orders.
From here there are three different options: Raise Works Orders, Raise Set Works Orders and Raise Purchase Orders. For the purposes of this article we will ignore the Raise Set Works Orders option and focus on the other two.
Raise Works Orders – It is highly advised to make production decisions first, and once again there are parameters to choose from when deciding how to raise these orders: These are the time periods in which to group the orders, and which suggested orders will pre-selected for creation. For this there are three further options.
Do not select ANY suggested Works Orders – Selecting this option will mean nothing will be automatically ticked, and the user will have to select what they want ordered manually.
Select Items with LAUNCH DATES up to <chosen date> - This option will pre- tick any demand before the chosen date. Anything after that the user would have to tick manually at their discretion.
Select ALL suggested Works Orders – This will ensure every demand within the MRP run will be pre-selected to have orders generated for.
Depending on which option is selected in the previous step, it may or may not be necessary to review what has been selected for order. Once the user is happy then click Create.
Now that the Works Orders have been raised, the user will need to complete steps 1-3 again. This is because there will now be demand to meet the components of the newly created Works Orders.
Once the user has completed the second MRP run they will need to click again on Raise Orders. They will once again be clicking on Raise Works Orders, this is to meet demand for any Manufactured Parts that are themselves part of an Assembly.
Once again their will be same choices from step 8, again when the user has chosen the options relevant to their business, they will then need to click Create.
Their will now be a requirement to complete steps 1-3 for a third time, this again is because there may have been created further demand in creating the second batch of Works Orders.
Once the user has completed the third MRP run they will need to click again on Raise Orders. This time they will be clicking on Raise Purchase Orders.
Once again they will have the same choices from step 8, again when they have chosen the options relevant to their business, they will then need to click Create. This will then generate the Purchase Orders necessary needed to meet the demand.