“We run production on spreadsheets and prayer”
The order board is a whiteboard, stock counts live in a spreadsheet last updated "recently," and promising a delivery date means walking the floor and guessing. One rush order rearranges everything by hand.
What modern businesses do instead
Modern small factories run lightweight MRP: orders, materials, scheduling, and costing in one system that answers "can we take this job and when will it ship" in seconds instead of walkarounds.
This tier of software is priced and designed for 10-200 person operations - no ERP consultants, no year-long rollout, just production visibility within a few weeks.
The prescription
MRPeasy
Production planning, inventory, and orders for small manufacturers - without the ERP consultants.
Why for this problem: Purpose-built MRP for small manufacturers: production scheduling, inventory, purchasing, and job costing that a non-technical team can actually run. Self-serve setup measured in weeks.
The honest downside: Data migration (your BOMs and stock counts) is the honest cost; budget a couple of weekends.
From $49/user/month - a fraction of traditional ERP.
Try MRPeasy → Our full takeCommon questions
Are we too small for MRP software?
If you make things, take orders, and buy materials, you are the target user. Tools like MRPeasy start at team sizes where a single spreadsheet failure hurts.
How disruptive is switching from spreadsheets?
The common path is running both for one cycle: import items and BOMs, mirror a few weeks of orders, then cut over once the numbers match. Most report full switchover inside a month.
What does small-business MRP cost?
From roughly $49 per user per month - the cost of one prevented stockout or one saved expediting fee.
Is this really your biggest leak?
Take the 2-minute checkup and find out what to fix first - the answer surprises most owners.
Start the free checkup →