MRP software is a tool used very often by manufacturing companies that allows them to gain complete control over their resource planning for required materials. As an SME operating in the manufacturing sector in India, you will want to find all possible ways to optimize your production process. One of the key factors in a production process is the use of raw materials and the system in place to manage your inventory and stock. This is where effective cloud MRP software can be crucial to the success of your business.
Best MRP Software
As a business owner looking for ways to increase your operational efficiency all the way down your supply chain, you need to know how to find the best MRP software for your business.
In this post, we will evaluate some of the best options you can consider and the pros and cons of each. Once you have an understanding of the market, we will dive into the benefits and features of an MRP software so that you are equipped to make an informed decision. Let's begin by looking at some of the popular MRP software available in India today:
1. TranZact
Designed and developed for the SME manufacturing sector in India, TranZact is a cloud-based platform that provides in-depth solutions for your business, across your supply chain. Starting from the time of a sales inquiry, all the way to your product dispatch, it has been designed to be easy to use and help you fully automate your operations.
Features:
- Inventory planning
- Barcode scanning
- Production planning
- Sophisticated reporting
- Warehouse planning
- Production Scheduling
- Demand Forecasting
- Multilevel Bill of Material
Pros:
- Dedicated MRP module
- Easy to use and cost-effective
- Real-time updates and reporting
- Comprehensive, all-in-one dashboard
- Robust integration capabilities with Tally and BUSY.
- Free trial option
2. Acumatica
Acumatica cloud ERP is a customizable cloud software that has been built for business owners who are looking to make their systems digitally resilient. Acumatica provides a host of solutions that can be personalized and is an MRP system geared to the unique needs of function heads across your organization.
Features:
- Inventory management
- Warehouse management systems
- Order management
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Customizable
- Scalable
- Automated
Cons:
- Slow processing with a large volume of data
- Rudimentary reporting
- Data loss instances
3. MRPeasy
MRPeasy is an MRP software that promises to be an affordable and user-friendly solution, built for small businesses. They offer a suite of solutions across the production planning value chain and a sophisticated technology platform.
Features:
- Procurement planning
- Production scheduling
- Customer relationship management
- Production planning
- Stock management
- Drag-and-drop user dashboard
Pros:
- User-friendly
- Cost-effective
- Integrates easily
Cons:
- Limited customization capabilities
- Not great with large volumes of data
4. SAP S/4HANA ERP
A comprehensive cloud-based ERP tool, SAP S/4HANA is a sophisticated MRP software for organizations operating at scale. Used across a variety of industries, this is more than just an MRP software, it offers a whole host of software solutions for your entire business.
Features:
- End-to-end solutions
- Fully automated
- Machine learning
- Sophisticated analytics
Pros:
- Handles large volumes of data
- Highly integrated
- Analytical reporting
Cons:
- Premium pricing
- Not ideal for SMEs
- Inadequate customer service
5. NetSuite:
One of the oldest and most established players in the cloud ERP market, NetSuite has built a strong brand over the years. They provide MRP software solutions as a part of a larger suite of software solutions, built for your entire business. Netsuite host of solutions cater to all your business functions and they provide a comprehensive solution for enterprises.
Features:
- Production scheduling and planning
- Bill of Material
- Stock planning
- 'What-if' scenario planning
Pros:
- Real-time data
- A comprehensive set of solutions
- Easy to use
- Customizable
Cons:
- Poor customer service
- Premium pricing
- Not ideal for SMEs
What Is MRP Software?
MRP software is a software-based solution that is created to optimize all the material and requirements planning activities of the manufacturing process. An MRP software for small business tracks all the key variables in the manufacturing process and provides you with actionable insight for resource optimization. It helps business owners to assess the quantity of materials required, their specifications, and the time when they are needed to meet customer demand.
An MRP software for manufacturing is particularly useful when the production process is prone to inefficiencies both from the material as well as staff and project management perspectives. It helps to identify inefficiencies early and get complete control over the entire supply chain and production process. Maximizing the efficiency of all the resources that come into play enables everything from raw material and inventory as well as human resource planning to deliver error-free outputs.
Benefits of MRP Software
As an SME manufacturer in India, you will often have to deal with a dynamic business environment. In order to be able to succeed, you need to fully appreciate the benefits of manufacturing resource planning.
Let's take a closer look at some of the benefits of MRP software for your organization.
More control over inventory
An essential part of meeting your customer demand and building a successful business is to ensure your customers are never left disappointed. Having complete control over your inventory system and ensuring you are never out of stock is a crucial element of an MRP software solution.
Prudent planning
The best MRP software for small business will ensure you are given timely alerts on when your purchase department needs to spring into action. An effective MRP software should alert you when it is time to buy, as well as provide you with information on material availability.
Save precious time
An automated MRP software will provide you with an integrated system that works with minimal human intervention. This software are highly accurate and cloud-based, providing you with real-time information and insights.
Effective resource management
An MRP software will be plugged into each important stage of your operational workflow. It will be able to provide you with information about the materials and stock as well as the efficiency of your team members across key functions in the supply chain. This will enable you to make more informed decisions about resource allocation and optimizing the production process.
Key Features of MRP Software
An MRP software for small companies needs to be able to address the varied demands of a manufacturing-related business environment. When you are evaluating an MRP software for your business, consider the following features during your consideration process.
Production planning and scheduling
The MRP software you choose should have a comprehensive production planning and scheduling module. This module is geared towards helping you assess each factor in your output process, along with knowing the necessary raw materials and inventory requirements and how these variables will affect the expected timeframe of your production.
Forecasting demand and capacity planning
An MRP software is designed to help you meet your customer demand and predict the demand based on data and insights. It also supports the business to determine the capacity your operations will need to operate at in order to produce the amount of output needed to meet the demands of your customers.
Effective inventory management
One of the most crucial aspects of being able to meet market demand is ensuring you have enough stock to address it. Effective inventory management is an important element of any MRP software as it will provide you with the tools you need to make sure you never run out of stock and your production process avoids unnecessary delays.
Analytics and reporting
Sophisticated MRP software solutions are built to provide you with the knowledge you need to optimize your supply chain. With vast amounts of data being generated across your operations, you need MRP software to make sense of it all and can generate actionable reports.
Warehouse management capabilities
A more specific yet often overlooked part of the production process is the warehouse management system you have in place. Your MRP software of choice should have sophisticated warehouse management capabilities and help you make the most out of your warehouse operations.
Bill of Material creation
An MRP tool that is capable of efficient bill of material (BOM) development and will help you take control of the financial and accounting side of production planning. This feature helps you structure the entire list of materials required for producing the desired level of output to meet your customer demand.
How Much Does MRP Software Cost
At first glance, you may feel that investing in MRP software could be an expensive proposition, but it does not necessarily have to be so. TranZact offers a free trial on its MRP solution for small businesses that will make it easy for you to adopt and transform your material planning system.
As your business scales and you need more features and functionalities, you can choose an MRP software that fulfills these needs without increasing costs.
For starters, you can begin with a monthly subscription fee ranging between Rs. 5000-8000 per month for an MRP solution. For larger-scale operations that need more users and more features, an enterprise subscription plan can go up to Rs. 12000- 15000 per month. Another alternative is to opt for full-fledged automation software that covers other functionalities like inventory and production in addition to MRP, so that for a reasonable fee you get more solutions for your business.
How to Choose the Best MRP Software
The decision of which is the best MRP software for your business rests upon the size of your business and the required scale of your operations. While going through the process of shortlisting your choices, make sure you consider the following factors:
Focus on user experience
Evaluating the adoption trend within your organization is one of the most important aspects of MRP software when it comes to making your operational process smoother. Avoid investing in a tool that is far too complex for anyone in your team to understand or work with. Make sure you choose an MRP software that has an intuitive user interface and is easy to use.
Seek value for money
As you review the market alternatives for MRP software that suits your business, make sure you consider what kind of return on investment you can expect. It may seem like an expensive proposition but you should remember that if used correctly, it can save you time and money in the long run. You can also take advantage of free MRP software for small business by availing a free trial to understand the MRP system better.
Check integration capabilities
Another crucial aspect of implementing a system within your organization is to evaluate how easily this new system can integrate with your existing workflows. You should select an MRP software that can sync up easily with your present setup and that data transfers are secure and reliable.
Reliable customer support
As you scale your operations, you want to ensure you have a solution that makes it easy to scale with you. Often scale comes with complexities and when you are working with complex MRP software, you may find yourself in need of timely customer support on many occasions.
TranZact - Best MRP Software in India
On a centralized dashboard, TranZact provides detailed insight into required materials and components based on current stock and also displays status of raw materials that have already been ordered. It ensures inventory levels are always optimized with adequate purchase planning.
TranZact minimizes losses with unique MRP structures based on orders, product category and production process. It provides all details such as required quantity, blocked quantity, total ordered quantity, total inward goods pending to be quality tested, quantity of goods received but not approved in inventory, item ID and total price.It's very easy to use and allows your entire team to work smoothly across departments and functions. With exceptional customer support, it makes it easy to exercise effortless production planning and scheduling with MRP solutions geared toward business success.
FAQs on MRP Softare
1. What is the difference between MRP and ERP software?
While they may sound similar, there is a distinct difference between MRP and ERP software. An ERP software is a much more comprehensive set of tools that are meant to help automate a variety of back-end tasks across the organization.
ERP software will serve a purpose for multiple departments whereas a MRP software is primarily used by the manufacturing teams for organizing material requirements based on demand. An MRP software is designed primarily for optimizing the production process and has a much narrower scope that an ERP software.
2. What is manufacturing resource planning?
Manufacturing resource planning is a system used by manufacturing businesses that helps them plan the optimal allocation of resources across their manufacturing process. Manufacturing resource planning involves operational elements as well as financial elements that come into play to maximize productivity. This type of planning also helps business owners with planning for unforeseen situations with the help of 'what-if' scenario tools.
3. What are the benefits of manufacturing resource planning?
Manufacturing resource planning will help you get the most of out your available resources by lowering inventory costs, reducing wastage, minimizing production costs and improving delivery record.
4. Why do I need MRP software?
An MRP software is the best way for you to optimize your requirements planning system and make the most use of your resources. By adopting an MRP software, you will be able to make better inventory and production-related decisions to help you grow your business.
5. How should I get started, if I'm new to MRP software?
Adopting a new system can be a daunting task and that is why you need the right partner by your side. TranZact's MRP module is easy to use and provides reordering alerts with live notifications. This helps to ensure your business always has the required material for production. It also provides smart reporting and analytics with a business intelligence dashboard.
