MRP Software for Small Manufacturers
Stop planning material by gut feel. OEMup takes your confirmed and forecast demand, explodes the multi-level BOM down to every component, nets it against current stock and in-transit purchase orders, and produces time-phased make (work order) and buy (purchase order) suggestions — so you stop running out of parts and stop tying up cash in excess inventory. Built for small Indian manufacturers, inside a cloud ERP.
Why planning by gut feel fails
For a small manufacturer, “what to order and when” is usually a head-and-Excel exercise. It works until demand shifts, a BOM changes, or two orders land in the same week — then it quietly breaks, and you only find out on the shop floor. Four things go wrong again and again:
Stockouts halt production
One missing component stops the whole job. The order waits while you chase a supplier and pay for urgency — all because nothing told you it was running short in time.
OEMup: nets demand against stock and open POs, so a looming shortage is flagged with enough lead time to act.Cash trapped in excess stock
To avoid the last stockout you over-buy “to be safe”. Raw material piles up, working capital is locked in, and some of it eventually becomes dead inventory.
OEMup: suggests only the net quantity actually needed, so you buy what the plan requires — not a guess.Manual BOM explosion in Excel
Multiplying a multi-level BOM by an order plan in a spreadsheet is slow, and stale the moment demand or a BOM changes — so the numbers you act on are already wrong.
OEMup: re-explodes the live BOM on every run, so the requirement always reflects today’s demand and today’s BOM.No make-vs-buy visibility
Without a single plan you can’t see what to make in-house versus buy out, in what quantity, and by when — so procurement and the shop floor work off different lists.
OEMup: one plan splits requirements into clear make and buy actions with dates, shared across purchasing and production.How MRP works in OEMup
OEMup runs the classic material requirements planning logic on your own data — demand in, a clean buy-and-make plan out — in five steps:
- Gather demandPull together what you actually have to deliver — confirmed sales orders plus any forecast you want to plan against — as the gross demand the plan must satisfy.
- Explode the multi-level BOMBreak each finished good down through its sub-assemblies to component level, so every part the order needs — at every level — is counted.
- Net against stock & open ordersSubtract on-hand stock and the quantities already on open purchase and work orders, so you only plan the net shortfall, not the gross requirement.
- Generate time-phased suggestionsProduce dated purchase and production suggestions, working back from need-by dates using item lead times, so each order is placed early enough to arrive in time.
- Release as POs / work ordersReview the suggestions and turn them into real purchase orders to suppliers and work orders on the floor in one click — no re-keying.
What you get
A practical planning engine for small manufacturers — reading the same live BOMs, stock and orders as the rest of your manufacturing ERP software, with no separate install and no specialist planner needed:
- Multi-level BOM explosion to component level
- Demand from sales orders + forecast
- Net-requirements calculation
- Reorder levels & safety stock
- Lead-time-aware time phasing
- Make-vs-buy suggestions
- One-click PO / work-order release
- Shortage & excess reports
- What-if re-planning
- Supplier lead times per item
- Links to job-work routing
- Cloud access on mobile, desk & shop floor
MRP is only as good as the data under it. See how it builds on the multi-level BOM, how the planning logic itself works in MRP explained, how stock across locations feeds netting with multi-warehouse inventory — or weigh it all up in the best manufacturing ERP in India guide.
MRP software — FAQ
What is MRP software?
MRP (material requirements planning) software calculates exactly what components and raw materials you need, in what quantity, and by when, to meet production demand. It takes demand — confirmed sales orders plus any forecast — explodes the BOM to component level, nets that against stock you already hold and orders already in transit, and produces time-phased buy-and-make suggestions. OEMup builds this into a cloud manufacturing ERP.
Is OEMup’s MRP suitable for a small manufacturer?
Yes — it’s built for small Indian manufacturers who plan today in Excel or by memory. No per-machine install and no specialist planner role: maintain your BOMs and reorder levels once, enter demand, and run the plan for a clear buy-and-make list. Start with basic reorder-level planning and adopt full demand-driven MRP as you grow.
What is the difference between MRP and ERP?
MRP is one function — the planning calculation that turns demand and a BOM into purchase and production requirements. ERP is the wider system that also runs sales, inventory, accounting, GST and HR. In OEMup, MRP is a module inside the ERP, so it reads live stock, open orders and BOMs from the same database and its suggestions become real orders without re-keying.
Does the MRP use my multi-level BOM?
Yes. The run explodes a multi-level bill of materials, so a finished good built from sub-assemblies — which are themselves built from components — is planned all the way down to the lowest-level purchased part. Each level’s net requirement is calculated in turn, surfacing both sub-assemblies to make and parts to buy.
Can MRP suggest both purchase orders and work orders?
Yes. After netting, OEMup flags each item as make or buy from how it’s set up — purchased items become suggested purchase orders to your supplier, manufactured items become suggested work orders on the shop floor. You review and release them as actual POs and work orders in one click.
Related: Multi-Level BOM · Multi-Warehouse Inventory · Best Manufacturing ERP in India
Run MRP on your own BOM and orders
Book a free 30-minute demo — bring one finished good with its BOM and a couple of open orders, and we’ll explode it, net it against stock, and show you the buy-and-make plan live. Or leave your details and we’ll send pricing for your team size.