Reviewing Traditional MRPII Systems

Traditional MRPII systems focused on a company's manufacturing operations through the production planning, scheduling, tracking, materials management, and accounting functions. Engineering input to that system consisted of bills of material that were often manually re-keyed into the MRP system. What happened in the product design, development, prototyping, and approval stages was invisible to the MRP system and most of its users. These engineering functions were supported by a number of computer systems including CAD systems, project management systems, project costing, and Product Data Management (PDM). When the BOM was finally approved, it was thrown over the wall to manufacturing to be re-keyed into the MRPII system.