Manufacturing systems
MRP systems for structural steel manufacturing
Connect demand, materials, and capacity in a fabrication operation.
- Published
- January 13, 2025
- Updated
- January 13, 2025
- 10 min read
A specialized MRP turns orders and product structures into a sequence of requirements: what to buy, what to make, and when to release each order. Its quality depends on master data maintained by the team.
Build reliable data
Bills of material, routings, yields, and lead times feed planning. Uncontrolled changes in those records appear as shortages or excess.
- Version bills of material by revision.
- Maintain realistic routing times.
- Record expected cutting and fabrication yield.
Plan materials and capacity
Requirements calculation must be tested against shop capacity. Releasing every possible order only increases work in process.
- Net demand against available and reserved stock.
- Check load on constrained resources.
- Stage releases by due date and capacity.
Control execution
Feedback on progress and consumption lets the plan reflect what is actually happening rather than only what was expected.
- Report progress at relevant operations.
- Record consumption and approved substitutions.
- Reschedule with causes visible to everyone.