Question 1

What is an MRP system?

Accepted Answer

An MRP system (Material Requirements Planning system) calculates exactly what materials, components, and sub-assemblies a manufacturer needs to produce planned demand, and when those items must arrive on the shop floor. A modern MRP system extends this with BOM management, purchasing, inventory, and capacity scheduling so the calculated material plan stays in sync with actual production.

Question 2

What is the difference between MRP I and MRP II?

Accepted Answer

MRP I (Material Requirements Planning) calculates only material needs from BOMs and demand. MRP II (Manufacturing Resource Planning) extends that with capacity planning, shop-floor control, costing, and integration with finance and purchasing. RMDB delivers MRP II in a single platform: material planning, finite capacity scheduling, BOMs, costing, and purchasing in one database.

Question 3

What is the difference between an MRP system and an ERP system?

Accepted Answer

An ERP system covers the entire business: manufacturing, finance, HR, CRM. An MRP system focuses specifically on the manufacturing planning side: materials, BOMs, capacity, and shop-floor execution. For small and mid-size manufacturers, a focused MRP system like RMDB delivers the planning intelligence without the cost, complexity, and 6–12 month rollout of full ERP. RMDB also layers on top of existing ERP (SAP, Oracle, Epicor, NetSuite, QuickBooks) when needed.

Question 4

What is closed-loop MRP?

Accepted Answer

Closed-loop MRP feeds actual shop-floor execution data back into the material plan. Unlike open-loop MRP that plans once and goes stale, closed-loop MRP automatically reconciles plan vs. actuals, adjusting downstream material requirements when upstream jobs run early or late. RMDB implements closed-loop MRP by tying the schedule to work-order completions in real time.

Question 5

How long does MRP system implementation take?

Accepted Answer

Enterprise MRP implementations often take 6–12 months. RMDB MRP implementations typically take days to weeks. Turner Bicycles entered all shop constraints, BOMs, calendar, materials, vendors, and customers in a few days. Plastilite achieved full ERP integration in one week. The system is modular: start with materials planning, add scheduling, then costing, without ripping anything out.

Question 6

Is RMDB the best MRP software for small manufacturers?

Accepted Answer

For small to mid-size manufacturers (typically 5–500 employees), RMDB is purpose-built. Sleepmaster Ltd, an AUD$50M manufacturer, scaled from domestic to international operations on RMDB. Setup is one part-time person, with no IT team required. EDGEBIC Complete, the current generation of RMDB with MRP built in, is $35,000 one time, even though the engine extends to enterprise scale (USS Nimitz schedules 26,000+ tasks on it).

Question 7

How much does an MRP system cost?

Accepted Answer

Cloud MRP tools are usually priced per user per month, and MRP inside a full ERP comes with the cost and rollout of the ERP project. EDGEBIC Complete by User Solutions, which combines MRP, BOM explosion, inventory, purchasing and material pegging with finite capacity scheduling, is a one-time perpetual license at $35,000. EDGEBIC APS, scheduling without MRP, is $25,000. Updates are included and there is no per-seat annual fee.

Question 8

Is EDGEBIC the same as RMDB?

Accepted Answer

EDGEBIC is RMDB 2.0: the current generation of Resource Manager DB (RMDB) by User Solutions, Inc., of South Lyon, Michigan, founded 1991. It keeps the RMDB planning and finite capacity engine and puts MRP, inventory, purchasing and material pegging in the EDGEBIC Complete edition. RMDB customers are still supported.

	Spreadsheet	ERP MRP module	Enterprise APS	EDGEBIC Complete
Material plan	Hand-built formulas	Yes, MRP	Usually read from the ERP	MRP, BOM explosion, inventory and purchasing
Capacity in the plan	None	Usually infinite capacity with fixed lead times	Finite	Finite capacity schedule across machines, labor and tooling
Material shortages	Found on the shop floor	Exception reports	Yes, as a constraint	Material pegging, so a shortage constrains the schedule
Works with your ERP	Manual re-keying	It is the ERP	Pre-built connectors to major ERPs	Any ERP that exports Excel, CSV or database tables
Implementation	Hours	Part of a 6 to 12 month ERP project	Months, usually consultant-led	Days to weeks (Plastilite: 5 days with ERP integration)
Pricing	Free	Part of the ERP license	Annual per-seat subscription or a $50K+ project	$35,000 one time ($25,000 without MRP)

Edition	What it includes	One-time license
EDGEBIC APS	Finite capacity scheduling and optimization: graphical routing designer, forward and backward scheduling, Theory of Constraints anchoring, parallel work centers, sequence-dependent setup, lot streaming, operator skills, and a two-layer schedule optimizer.	$25,000
EDGEBIC Complete	Everything in EDGEBIC APS plus MRP, inventory, purchasing and material pegging, so material availability constrains the schedule alongside machines and labor.	$35,000

MRP System Built for Real Manufacturing

What Is an MRP System?

MRP I vs. MRP II: What's the Difference?

MRP I: Material Requirements Planning

MRP II: Manufacturing Resource Planning (RMDB)

RMDB MRP System Capabilities

MRP System Implementation Results

EDGEBIC Complete vs Spreadsheets, ERP MRP Modules and Enterprise APS

MRP System Pricing: Published, One-Time

Works Alongside Your ERP

MRP System FAQs

MRP System Success Stories

Repair Shops Triple On-Time Shipping from 30% to 90%

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Affordable MRP for Smaller Manufacturer

Amish Manufacturer Rapidly Amortizes Scheduling System

Job Shop Increases Throughput and On-Time Shipping

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