Small Manufacturers Avoid Costly On-site Training in Material Resource Planning

Small manufacturers face the same challenges as larger manufacturers without the financial depth to resolve the same issues. The result has been that some of the technologies that allow mid-sized and larger manufacturers to achieve efficiencies have been out of reach for the smaller manufacturer until now.

Cutler interviewed Rocky Smolin, President of E-Z-MRP. Rocky emphasized that E-Z-MRP, "was designed to be used by people who do not have degrees or certification in manufacturing systems. It requires no on-site training or consultation. And it has cut the standard 18-month MRP implementation cycle to as little as 18 days." The E-Z-MRP package includes a full-featured Bill of Materials processor, plus a material planning and tracking module which tracks all sales orders, forecasts, work orders (planned, firm, and released), purchase orders, shortages, raw materials and finished goods inventories. It also records a complete audit trail on all inventory transactions.

Also included is a physical inventory function, a purchase order module for printing purchase orders and a capacity planning module which reports work center loading and activity based on the user's costed labor routings. Priced at $2995, the E-Z-MRP system is a fraction of the cost of systems with similar power and capabilities. It will run on any Windows-based PC or network, and requires only Access 2000 or Access XP to run. No on-site or remote training is required. A comprehensive user manual with tutorials provides all the required instruction.

For more information, and user testimonials, visit the company's web site: http://www.e-z-mrp.com, or call 858-259-4334.

Industrial Connection is the only Manufacturing dedicated publication covering the Southeastern United States, with emphasis in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina. Cutler added that, "We are going to generate a series of articles about quality, and manufacturing process improvement from Six Sigma to Lean Manufacturing Certification, Electronic Kanban to Job Scheduling. Starting in 2005, we are going to focus greatly on the needs of the smaller (less than 20$ million in annual sales) manufacturer. We are also going to have a very concentrated focus on ETO (Engineer-to-Order) Manufacturing, because these custom manufacturers have been the beacon of the sector."

Circulation of the publication is 15,000 and distribution is free of charge. Other trade organization wishing coverage should contact Thomas R. Cutler. Cutler can be reached at e-mail protected from spam bots or at e-mail protected from spam bots.