Khaleel HayesEnterprise Resource Planning No comments
Winter is gone, and spring is blossoming fresh trees and flowers. Don’t you think it’s time your business did the same? An effective ERP software for manufacturers, specifically production planning software, may be what you need to cultivate and grow productivity. Compare Top Manufacturing ERP Software Leaders Our handy-dandy research team compiled a detailed list of the best production planning software. Before diving into our top software picks, let’s review what this software is, its standard features and its benefits. Table of Contents Facilities use production/manufacturing planning software to ensure raw materials, employees and other necessary items are ready to create finished products within their scheduled time frame. Unlike production scheduling software, this application focuses on collective planning and resource allocation instead of one particular job. When you shop for new solutions, it’s essential to have a wishlist of features needed for your facility. Our requirements list can also assist if you need more. Also, understand that just because someone recommends a specific tool or module, it may not fit with your practices. This feature is a given. Practical planning modules allow you to map out your production cycles and display an overview of your supplies, finances and employees. Predict customer demand with in-depth archived data analytics to draft thorough reports. These reports will help you make better decisions. Effectively make inventory plans to avoid stockouts or overstocking. You may also determine how to effectively plan for certain sales like back-to-school, Black Friday, holidays, etc. Maintain inventory levels in real time and craft future projections accurately. Know what’s available and set minimum levels to avoid stockouts. Merge this solution with other systems such as ERP, HR, supply chain management, accounting and other platforms to streamline processes. Compare Top Manufacturing ERP Software Leaders This platform comes with several perks to ensure you meet your production planning goals. These advantages include: Now that you have your wishlist in order, it’s time to review our picks of the top production planning software. Compare Top Manufacturing ERP Software Leaders MRPeasy is a cloud-based material requirements planning (MRP) software intended for small manufacturing plants. Its key features include purchase order management, forecasting, stock management and more. An example of MRPeasy’s elaborate dashboard. Chronicle orders and offer order fulfillment from the quoting phase to distribution. Transform quotes into production tasks. Obtain invoicing and shipping details to complete thorough jobs. Give more accurate lead times when generating quotes with numerous reporting tools. Boost machinery implementation and productivity with immediate reporting to check runtimes and applicable maintenance. Employ inventory overviews to prevent running out of materials, upkeep lower stock levels, automate transactions, evaluate purchase requisites and perform lot tracking, among other related inventory duties. Leverage drag-and-drop capabilities to reschedule assignments while considering existing capacity and materials. Help employees follow tasks and make reports in the “My Production Plan” tab on laptops, tablets, phones and other mobile devices. The production scheduling module allows you to review your expected manufacturing orders (MO). Bill of materials (BOM), purchasing and stocking, are managed in one place, enabling you to book items in stock and promptly increase purchase orders (PO) for purchased parts. This feature also permits you to: The forecasting accessory grants you an array of abilities, including: Draft, edit and update MOs quickly. Employ a complete synopsis of every MO. You can review progress by order or part availability status. You can also search, filter and export MOs. Access a general ledger, balance sheets, chart of accounts and a profit and loss statement. Review all manufacturing stock purchases, procurement and customer relationship management (CRM) in one centralized place. Access a complete PO list for vendors and subcontractors. Add, revise or modify POs, review order overviews and track order and payment statuses. You may also search and filter particular POs. Although this solution offers various features and advantages, it also comes with a few drawbacks. These limitations include: Price:$$$$$ Company Size Suitability: S M L Compare Top Manufacturing ERP Software Leaders SAP S/4 HANA is a solution that consists of artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), embedded analytics and more to streamline your manufacturing practices. Its key features include asset management, supply chain management and financial management. An example of SAP S-4 HANA’s knowledge base. Implement an SDK to craft customizable programs, vertical platforms and extensions easily. Use closed-loop quality management practices such as planning and operations to boost company-wide improvements. Initiate variable-compensation programs via incentive and commission management. You can also supervise sales performance and upkeep tactical strategies. Optimize space utilization, fees and occupancies with active lease agreement management, investments and construction designs. You may also review, preserve and renovate infrastructures. Allocate extra funding and better payment conditions to strengthen supplier credit standings. The manufacturing production planning software permits you to organize every stage of your operations, from material requirements to inventory. You can promptly modify the information as you receive it from the business, supplier or plant floor. This module enables you to draft plans for complex assembly such as: You can harmonize cooperation with the research and development teams with sleek deliveries of engineering files, BOMs and design changes. The material requirement planning component keeps you in the loop of your supplies. You oversee stock-outs, instantaneously develop procurement proposals for purchasing and production and employ production planners to ensure the availability of procured or produced materials at the ideal time. Employ numerous manufacturing models such as make to stock, make to order and engineer to order. Make to stock allows facilities to match their inventory with customer demand. Make to order permits customers to purchase products tailored to their requirements. Engineer to order enables facilities to receive an order for designing, engineering and completing. This accessory comes with other abilities. Improve the quality of your products by sending quality-related information across your business. You may also pinpoint potential risks and defects in the early development stages. SAP S/4 HANA’s supply chain management accessory views business rules, material accessibility and allocation policies to determine consumers’ product availability and promise dates. You can control warehouse activities and processes by implementing asset use and total output with the best picking, packing and shipping methods. This tool enables you to arrange product movements across inbound, outbound and physical inventory processes to manage waste, damage, loss and production interruption. Work with accounting and financial close operations, treasury and risk processes, collaborative workflows and more. Evaluate profit and margin contributions via real-time reporting, predictive analytics and merged business planning for optimal revenue garnering. This production planning software comes with a few limitations. These disadvantages include: Price:$$$$$ Deployment: Company Size Suitability: S M L Compare Top Manufacturing ERP Software Leaders Simio is a simulation production planning and scheduling software that caters to all companies. The cloud version authorizes you to share simulation and scheduling results online. You can generate tailored reports and interactive management dashboards to communicate a plan’s effects. A preview of Simio’s Gantt charts. Although the free version makes this solution more accessible, be mindful that it has limited capabilities. Produce models without simulation software engineers. Whether the application is large or complex, it works in one centralized model. Access an exact model for simulated or realistic scenario testing. Access the 24/7 technical support team via an online user group. Simio offers two ways to build simulation models. First, the advanced planning and scheduling (APS) method enables you to create detailed schedules in an environment where machines function correctly, process times are consistent and materials punctually arrive at your plant. The other approach works under the same simulation model but implements variation components. This method analyzes to forecast hidden risks affiliated with your schedule. An example of a gauged chance is the probability of meeting articulated targets with expected, pessimistic and optimistic results. Conduct risk-free predictions, plans and improvements via simulation and scheduling modules. Merge this system with Google Warehouse to obtain a free library of 3D symbols. Conduct step-by-step 3D object-based modeling with equipped components. Estimate issues with probabilistic analysis. This tool guarantees workflows meet specific goals and deplete risks to limit fees. Simio offers several benefits and modules to streamline tasks. But it also has a few limitations, such as: Price:$$$$$ Deployment: Company Size Suitability: S M L Compare Top Manufacturing ERP Software Leaders Netsuite serves businesses of all sizes and various industries, including manufacturing, retail, e-commerce and more. Its key features are financial planning, supply chain management and order management. A preview of Netsuite ERP’s thorough dashboard. Access and apply BI tools to intertwine data with visual analytics to make wiser company decisions. Obtain a thorough cloud customization environment to ensure this program aligns with your business needs or craft new applications. Use workflow management, scripting, analytics, web services, etc. Streamline headcounts, salaries, compensation planning and other workforce planning protocols. Affix company needs and requirements with the workforce to fully organize and meet production goals. Utilize modeling, analysis and bi-directional integrations with Excel to slice and dice information accordingly. Establish user-defined alerts to receive real-time supply chain updates. Cipher and estimate clientele demand based on historical demand, open opportunities and manual or imported sales estimates. This tool employs moving average, linear regression, or average seasonal calculations to generate forecasts after reviewing weekly or monthly reviews. Netsuite ERP has several modes of planning. First, there’s material requirements planning. The demand planning tool permits you to explore BOMs, monitor inventory and safety stock levels, evaluate demand and study your supply before creating orders. You can also generate planned orders and implement multi-location planning. Next, this solution has a capacity planning accessory. This module assures the accurate availability of goods with the advanced scheduling engine. You can utilize multiple constraints, schedule sequencing codes and receive immediate updates from the manufacturing execution system (MES) or an information network that connects, monitors and supervises complex manufacturing. Lastly, there’s financial planning. The planning and budgeting component assists in company-wide and department finance planning. It employs a calculation engine to house a variety of business logic with an in-memory congregation, financial programming and analysis. The main tasks it handles are simplifying capital expenditure (CapEx) planning, instantaneously assigning indirect expenses and predicting future results with a dashboard. Leverage total visibility of your entire production processes such as sales order, work order processing, routing and scheduling, order fulfillment and product costing. The module’s lot tracking and quality control functions determine batch sizes and develop batch records. You can also predict demand based on historical data, open opportunities and manually entered or imported sales forecasts. Advocate inventory fulfillment and cost from the factory to the store with inbound-outbound management, distribution management, warehousing, inventory management and other supply chain capabilities. You always receive up-to-date snapshots of your key supplier, inventory and procurement indicators. This module also allocates self-service capabilities for partners and cooperation with vendors and customers across the supply network. Comply with multiple standards, practices and government regulations such as the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). This solution comes with a few drawbacks. These limitations include: Price:$$$$$ Deployment: Company Size Suitability: S M L Compare Top Manufacturing ERP Software Leaders Statii is a cloud-based solution intended for small and medium-sized manufacturers that control all business tasks. Some features include invoicing, inventory management, time management and production tracking. An example of Statii’s main dashboard. Manage a dashboard with red and black indicators for late or outstanding goods. Use filters to craft multiple reports that you may export for additional analyses. Create value or late invoices, payment performance and compare customers to agreed credit conditions, operator efficiency and other reports. Build quotes and duplicate projected fee breakdowns. Gain information for inventory objects, bought-in merchandise, internal operations and budget forecasts. Use Statii Lite, the free version, in small manufacturing atmospheres and govern critical business aspects, including customers, suppliers, quotations and an email platform. Implement this system’s live chat support to ask questions and receive helpful answers. Find and resolve issues that slow down your manufacturing plant. You can track progress to adjust and guarantee operations meet total capacity. Record your entire process from obtaining orders and allocating work to sending the completed item to your clients. Plan out activities for various machinery, materials, tools and labor needed for a project. Track several required aspects to generate products and effectively finish all production stages. Utilize job and route card components to gauge the time needed to produce specific outputs of products. Share customer and supplier data, including contact info and spending values, across your company. Statii offers many benefits and features, but it also comes with a few disadvantages. These limitations include: Price:$$$$$ Deployment: Company Size Suitability: S M L Compare Pricing for Manufacturing ERP Software Leaders In conclusion, finding the ideal production planning software can be as challenging as finding a needle in a haystack. Some of the features mentioned in this article may or may not be what you need. Therefore, it’s essential to take your requirements wishlist and find a solution that aligns with your production practices. Are you still undecided about which production planning software vendor is right for you? You can compare features in your wishlist with other vendors using our detailed comparison guide. Which manufacturing production planning software is your top choice and why? Let us know in the comments! Analyst-Picked Related Content
What is Production Planning Software?
Key Features
Planning
Demand Forecasting
Inventory Level Projections/Management
Integrations
Primary Benefits
Best Production Planning Software
MRPeasy
Top Benefits
Sales and Order Management
Production Planning and Reporting
Real-Time Inventory Overview
Dynamic Drag-and-Drop Scheduling
Tasks
Primary Features
Production Scheduling
Forecasting
MO
Accounting
PO Management
Limitations
SAP S/4 HANA
Top Benefits
Software Developer Kit (SDK)
Quality Enhancement
Sales Performance Management
Real Estate Management
Credit Standing
Primary Features
Manufacturing
Material Requirements Planning
Inspection Planning
Supply Chain Management
Financial Management
Limitations
Platform: Simio
Top Benefits
Free Version
No Programming Required
All-in-One Model
Model Visualization
24/7 Technical Support
Primary Features
Simulation Models
Predict and Plan
Google Warehouse Integration
3D Object-Based Modeling
Risk-Based Scheduling
Limitations
Platform: NetSuite
Top Benefits
Equipped Business Intelligence (BI) Tools
SuiteCloud Developer Tools
Strategic Workforce Planning
Modeling
Real-Time Alerts
Primary Features
Forecasting
Planning
Production Management
Supply Chain Management
Compliance and Controls
Limitations
Platform: Statii
Top Benefits
Dashboard
Report
Enquiry/Quotes
Free Version
Live Chat Support
Primary Features
Production Tracking
Production Control
Scheduling
Time Management
Customers and Suppliers
Limitations
Platform: Grand Finale
Pricing Guide: Discover the true cost of ERP software
Comparison Report: An interactive analyst report with comparison ratings, reviews and pricing for ERP software