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MRP & Planning (Advanced)

Material Requirements Planning (MRP) nets what you need against what you have and turns the gap into work orders and purchase suggestions — all from one planning board. Instead of allocating each sales-order line by hand, you review MRP's netted proposals and firm them up.

MRP and planning board

:::note Advanced Manufacturing This screen appears only when Advanced Manufacturing is enabled in Settings → Feature flags. Without it, source each line manually from Stock Allocation. :::

Netting demand vs supply​

MRP compares demand against supply for every item and exposes the shortfall:

SideIncludes
DemandSales-order lines marked Produce, component needs from parent work orders, safety-stock targets.
SupplyOn-hand stock, open work orders, and incoming purchase orders.

The net requirement — demand minus supply — is what the planning board proposes to cover.

Worked scenario — netting SO-1290's demand​

SO-1290 needs 2,000 drums. MRP nets the drum, then explodes its BOM to net every component. Assume some stock and one open PO already exist:

Level 0 — the finished drum​

ItemDemandOn handOpen WONet requirementMRP proposes
50 L HDPE Drum2,000002,000Make → Work Order

Level 1 — components (BOM × 2,000, incl. 1.2% scrap)​

Making 2,000 drums creates demand for the components, which MRP nets in turn:

ComponentGross needOn handIncomingNet requirementMRP proposes
HDPE Granules Grade A4,857.6 kg1,000 kg3,000 kg (PO)857.6 kgBuy → PO top-up
Masterbatch Blue80.96 kg120 kg00 (covered)—
Lid + gasket set2,02450001,524Buy → PO

So one sales order fans out into one make (the drum work order) and two buy suggestions (granules top-up and lids) — masterbatch is already covered by stock.

Make vs buy​

For each net requirement, MRP proposes how to cover it:

  • Make — the item is Finished Goods (or a sub-assembly) with a BOM; MRP proposes a work order. The drum is a Make.
  • Buy — the item is bought-in; MRP proposes a purchase order. Granules and lids are Buy.

Because BOMs are multi-level, making a parent explodes into demand for its sub-assemblies and raw materials, which MRP nets recursively — a Make at one level becomes fresh demand at the next.

The planning board​

The planning board lays out proposed and open orders so you can plan capacity at a glance:

  1. Review the netted requirements and MRP's make/buy suggestions.
  2. Adjust quantities or due dates against capacity and priorities — e.g. pull the drum work order forward to clear the extruder before a holiday, or merge the two granule buys into one PO.
  3. Firm up a suggestion to create the real work order or draft purchase order — building a multi-level work-order tree (sub-assemblies → assembly → finished good) where needed.

:::tip Plan the tree, not just the top Firming the finished-drum work order also creates the linked component purchase orders in one pass, so the whole make-to-order tree is scheduled together — you don't have to remember to raise the granule and lid POs separately. :::

:::caution Netting is a snapshot MRP nets against the position at the moment you run it. If another order consumes the 120 kg of masterbatch before you firm up, re-run MRP — the "covered" line will flip to a Buy. Firm up promptly, or re-net before committing a large plan. :::