MRP (Material Requirements Planning) analyzes your production orders and stock levels to calculate exactly what materials you need to order, from which suppliers, and by when.
Running MRP
- Go to Production → MRP Planning.
- Click Run MRP.
- Set the planning horizon (date range for production demand).
- The system calculates:
- Demand — materials needed for draft and scheduled production orders
- Reorder Shortages — items below their minimum stock level
- Current Stock — what you have on hand
- Pending POs — what's already on order from suppliers
- Net Requirement — demand minus stock minus pending orders
Understanding Results
Each material in the MRP run shows:
- Total demand and demand source (production, reorder, or both)
- Current stock and pending supply
- Net requirement (what you actually need to order)
- Preferred supplier (based on linked product-supplier relationships)
- Estimated cost and suggested order-by date (accounting for lead time)
Generating Purchase Orders
Once you've reviewed the MRP results:
- Click Generate POs to create draft purchase orders for all items, or Generate PO next to a specific supplier group.
- Items are grouped by supplier — one PO per supplier.
- Generated POs start as draft so you can review before sending to suppliers.
- The MRP run tracks which items have had POs generated.
Supplier Setup
For best MRP results, set up product-supplier links with:
- Lead Time (days) — how long the supplier takes to deliver
- Minimum Order Quantity — supplier's minimum order size
- Preferred Supplier flag — used first when multiple suppliers carry the same item