Material Planning (MRP)¶

Stop guessing what to buy and when — let FilaOps calculate material requirements from your open orders and production schedule.

What You'll Learn¶

• What MRP does and why it matters for a print farm
• How to run an MRP calculation
• How to read the supply and demand timeline
• How to turn MRP suggestions into actual purchase orders and production orders
• How MRP results flow into the Low Stock tab and order detail views

Prerequisites¶

• Admin access to FilaOps
• Products with Bills of Materials defined (see Managing Your Product Catalog)
• Open sales orders or production orders that create demand
• Reorder points and lead times set on your materials (see Managing Your Product Catalog)

What Is MRP?¶

MRP (Material Requirements Planning) answers three questions:

1. What do I need? — Which materials and components are required to fill your open orders
2. How much? — The exact quantities, accounting for what's already in stock and what's already on order
3. When? — Timing based on lead times and due dates

Without MRP, you're either over-ordering (tying up cash in excess inventory) or under-ordering (stopping production because you ran out of a critical material). MRP finds the balance.

How FilaOps MRP Works¶

graph TD
    A[Sales Orders] --> D[MRP Engine]
    B[Production Orders] --> D
    C[Current Inventory] --> D
    E[Open Purchase Orders] --> D
    F[Bills of Materials] --> D
    D --> G[Planned Purchase Orders]
    D --> H[Planned Production Orders]
    G --> I[Release to Purchasing]
    H --> J[Release to Production]

When you run MRP, FilaOps:

1. Explodes BOMs — Looks at every open sales order and production order, then walks through each product's Bill of Materials to calculate the total raw materials needed
2. Checks current stock — Subtracts what you already have on hand
3. Checks incoming supply — Subtracts quantities already on open purchase orders
4. Calculates net requirements — The gap between what you need and what you have or expect to receive
5. Generates planned orders — Suggests purchase orders (for bought materials) and production orders (for manufactured sub-assemblies) to fill those gaps

Running MRP¶

Navigate to Manufacturing > MRP in the sidebar and click Run MRP.

MRP Parameters¶

Before running, you can adjust three settings:

Click Run MRP to start the calculation. FilaOps processes all open demand, explodes BOMs, and generates results within a few seconds.

Reading MRP Results¶

After a run completes, you'll see several sections of output.

Material Requirements Table¶

The requirements table is the heart of MRP. Each row represents one material or component, with these columns:

Supply and Demand Timeline¶

The timeline view shows when supply and demand events occur over your planning horizon — up to 365 days out. This helps you see not just what you need, but when you need it.

Each timeline entry shows the date, the event type (demand from an order, supply from a PO, or planned order), and the running balance.

BOM Explosion¶

The BOM explosion section shows the multi-level breakdown of each finished product into its raw materials. If a product contains sub-assemblies that are themselves manufactured, FilaOps walks through each level until it reaches purchased materials.

This is useful for understanding why MRP is requesting certain quantities — you can trace the demand back through the BOM hierarchy to the original sales order.

Planned Orders¶

MRP doesn't create actual purchase orders or production orders directly. Instead, it creates planned orders — suggestions that you review and approve before they become real.

Types of Planned Orders¶

Planned Order Lifecycle¶

graph LR
    A[Planned] --> B[Firmed]
    B --> C[Released]
    A --> D[Cancelled]
    B --> D

• Planned — MRP's suggestion. These are automatically updated or deleted when you re-run MRP (unless you've firmed them).
• Firmed — You've reviewed and locked this planned order. MRP will not modify or delete firmed orders on subsequent runs.
• Released — Converted into an actual purchase order or production order. The planned order is closed.
• Cancelled — You've decided this order isn't needed.

Working with Planned Orders¶

Reviewing Planned Orders¶

After running MRP, review the list of planned orders. Each shows the material, suggested quantity, type (purchase or production), and the demand source that triggered it.

Firming a Planned Order¶

When you've reviewed a planned order and agree with MRP's suggestion:

Step 1. Select the planned order.

Step 2. Click Firm.

This locks the order so the next MRP run won't change or delete it. Firm orders when you're confident in the quantity and timing but aren't ready to release yet.

Releasing a Planned Order¶

When you're ready to act on a firmed planned order:

Step 1. Select the planned order.

Step 2. Click Release.

Step 3. For planned purchase orders, select the vendor to order from.

Step 4. Confirm the release.

FilaOps creates the actual purchase order or production order and closes the planned order. The new order appears in Purchasing or Manufacturing > Production respectively.

Cancelling a Planned Order¶

If a planned order is no longer needed (perhaps the sales order was cancelled):

Step 1. Select the planned order.

Step 2. Click Cancel.

MRP in Your Daily Workflow¶

MRP results don't just live on the MRP page — they flow into other parts of FilaOps to help you take action.

The Low Stock Tab¶

Navigate to Purchasing > Low Stock. Each item shows a Shortage Source column indicating where the alert came from:

Items sourced from MRP include the calculated shortage quantity, making it easy to create purchase orders for the right amounts.

Order Detail Views¶

When viewing a sales order or production order, the detail view shows whether MRP has identified any material shortages for that specific order. This helps you prioritize which orders to fulfill first based on material availability.

Dashboard Alerts¶

The main dashboard surfaces MRP-related alerts when materials are critically short, so you don't have to check the MRP page separately.

Tips & Best Practices¶

• Run MRP weekly — At minimum, run MRP every Monday as part of your Weekly Planning Cycle. If your order volume is high, run it daily.
• Set accurate lead times — MRP's timing suggestions are only as good as your lead time data. Update lead times whenever you notice a vendor consistently delivering faster or slower than expected.
• Keep reorder points current — Reorder points act as safety stock. Set them based on your typical usage rate and how long you can wait for a delivery.
• Firm before you release — Don't skip the firming step. It protects your reviewed orders from being overwritten by the next MRP run.
• Use "Include Draft Orders" for planning ahead — If you have large quotes likely to convert, include draft orders in MRP so you can pre-order materials before the rush.
• Clean up old planned orders — Cancel planned orders that are no longer relevant. Stale planned orders clutter your view and may confuse future MRP runs.
• Trust the BOM explosion — If MRP is suggesting unexpected quantities, check the BOM explosion view to trace the demand. The issue is usually a BOM error (wrong quantity per assembly) rather than an MRP bug.

What's Next?¶

With MRP calculating your material needs, connect it to the rest of your workflow:

• Ordering Supplies — release planned purchase orders into actual POs
• Running Production — release planned production orders to the shop floor
• Tracking Inventory — keep stock levels accurate so MRP has good data
• Managing Your Product Catalog — maintain accurate BOMs and lead times

Quick Reference¶