Integrations / ERP / MRPeasy
Does MRPeasy Have Finite Capacity Scheduling? MRPeasy Production Planning vs SkyPlanner APS
Yes, order by order. MRPeasy schedules each manufacturing order against finite workstation capacity at the moment you create it, into the first free slot. It does not re-sequence the open orders already on the schedule, and moving one order does not move the others. Plants that need the whole schedule optimized together run SkyPlanner APS beside MRPeasy.
MRPeasy’s pricing page calls the feature “Operations scheduling (MRP II, finite capacity)”. It is in all four plans: Starter, Professional, Enterprise and Unlimited.
How MRPeasy schedules production, step by step
1. Workstation groups and workstations
Capacity starts under Production planning → Workstation groups. Each group has a Type:
- Active processing: finite, “constrained by capacity (the number of available workstations) and working hours”.
- Passive processing: not capacity constrained and available 24/7, for steps like drying or cooling.
A group can carry custom working hours and custom holidays. Company-wide Work hours and Holidays sit in Settings. (source)
Each Workstation belongs to an Active processing group. Its fields include Hourly rate, Productivity (relative to the first workstation in the group), Default worker, Maintenance cycle and Idle time, “periods when no works can be planned”. (source)
2. Routings
Each routing operation points to a Workstation group, not a machine. MRPeasy: “When scheduling the production, the individual workstation from that group with the best availability is chosen.” The operation fields that drive scheduling are:
- Setup time and Cycle time
- Capacity, the units processed at once, as in an oven
- Sequence and Overlap (with Overlap and Special Sequences, Professional and up)
- Parallelize (Professional and up)
Subtasks do not affect scheduling. (source)
3. Creating a manufacturing order
You choose a product and quantity, and “the software will calculate the production schedule”. MRPeasy calculates a schedule for each BOM and routing, and “For each BOM, the routing with the earliest finish date is selected, by default.”
The scheduling “takes into account all limitations in resources”. That covers other jobs, planned idle times for machines and, in forward scheduling, the lead times of out-of-stock materials. The item needs a BOM and a Routing for this. (source)
4. Forward or backward
Forward is the default: “By default, the software schedules the Manufacturing Order to the first available time.”
Backward scheduling is an Enterprise function. It “schedules production operations as late as possible before delivery”, from a Customer Order with an optional buffer in days. (source)
5. The Production schedule
The Production schedule page shows a Calendar and a Gantt chart, by manufacturing order or by workstation. It offers “dynamic drag-and-drop rescheduling of manufacturing orders and operations”, color coding for progress and parts, and “Rebook parts for planned MOs”. (source)
6. Shop floor reporting
Workers use My production plan or the Internet-kiosk to press Start, Pause and Finish per operation. “The button press times are recorded and accordingly, the actual labor hours are calculated.” (source)
What stays with the planner
- First come, first booked. Each order takes the first free slot when it is created. The sequence on the floor follows the order of entry, not priority or due date.
- No whole-schedule replan. “The software will only reschedule the manufacturing order which has been dragged to a new time, other manufacturing orders will not be rescheduled.” The Manufacturing Orders page repeats it: rescheduling one order “will not automatically reschedule the whole production calendar.” (source)
- Gantt moves skip materials. “The software will not check for material availability.”
- Downtime leaves work in place. “Setting an idle time does not reschedule works automatically which were previously planned for the idle time.”
- Fixed setups. Setup time is one value per routing operation, whatever ran before. And “Setup time cannot be defined for an operation in the routing that has ‘Parallelize’ or ‘Overlap’ enabled.”
- Backward ignores material. “Material lead times are ignored when backward scheduling is used.”
- Incomplete material data drops lead times. If any availability is unknown, “the MO is scheduled ASAP, ignoring material lead times”.
- Sub-assemblies chosen by number. In multi-level orders, the “sub-assembly BOM is automatically selected alphabetically according to its number.”
- Long-range view is infinite. Rough cut capacity planning is listed as “RCCP, infinite capacity” and is an Enterprise function. (source)
- No routing, no capacity. Without a BOM and Routing, MRPeasy offers “basic scheduling without capacity planning”.
In practice: rush orders squeezed into gaps, a planner dragging orders after every breakdown, and a shadow plan in a spreadsheet.
When MRPeasy’s own scheduling is enough
MRPeasy’s scheduler does the job when:
- You run one shift with a handful of workstation groups, and orders rarely compete for the same bottleneck.
- You make to stock with stable routings and enter orders in the order they should run.
- Changeovers are short or the same for every product, so a fixed Setup time is accurate.
- Disruptions are rare, and dragging a few orders on the Gantt chart each week is fast enough.
If that is your plant, keep routings and workstation calendars accurate, set idle times early, and stay inside MRPeasy.
When you need a finite capacity scheduler
You have outgrown the native scheduler when several of these are true:
- A rush order or a new priority must move existing orders, not just fill free gaps.
- Breakdowns, late material or scrap mean dragging many orders by hand each week.
- Changeover time depends on which product ran before.
- Shared tools or fixtures, multi-operator jobs or shift-by-shift staffing limit the plan.
- You run 20 or more workstations with dozens of open orders, and the planner spends hours a day resolving overlaps.
What to look for
- Whole-schedule sequencing of every open order by priority and due date.
- Automatic rescheduling when production progress or orders change.
- A setting time matrix: sequence-dependent, asymmetric changeover times, used to minimize total setup.
- Tools as finite shared resources and multi-operator jobs.
- Material-aware scheduling on every change, covering stock and incoming purchase orders.
- Alternative workstations and personnel the engine actually uses.
- A concrete write-back to MRPeasy. The MRPeasy API updates a manufacturing order’s due date and custom fields. Ask every vendor which fields their schedule writes back.
The options fall into four groups:
- MRPeasy’s own scheduler books orders one at a time inside MRPeasy.
- Spreadsheet schedulers work on CSV exports and hand the result back as a file.
- Generic automation tools move notifications and simple records between apps.
- Cloud APS with shop-floor execution, where SkyPlanner sits, schedules every resource automatically beside MRPeasy and puts the schedule in operators’ hands.
Where SkyPlanner fits
SkyPlanner APS closes each gap above. The Arcturus engine sequences all open manufacturing orders in one run by job priority, completion date, customer priority, Fast Track and Dynamic Priorities. A rush order gets its slot, and Bulldozer pushes downstream jobs to make room.
The setting time matrix holds the changeover time between each pair of products in both directions, and the engine picks the order with the least setup. Tools are finite shared resources, and a job can need several operators at once. When a workstation or person is unavailable, the engine uses the alternatives you define.
Material-driven scheduling simulates future inventory from stock and incoming purchase orders. Work is planned only when material is there, on every replan, not only when the order is created.
MRPeasy’s model maps directly. Workstation groups, Productivity and Capacity become SkyPlanner workstation groups, efficiencies and batch jobs. Autopilot reschedules automatically when production changes, and Running Time Lock keeps started jobs in place. Operators see their queue and log work with Mobile Confirmations, Production Timer and Quick Log Mode.
Choose SkyPlanner when new priorities must reshuffle the orders already on MRPeasy’s schedule.
Choose SkyPlanner when changeovers, shared tools or crews decide what can run next.
Choose SkyPlanner when you replan several times a week and want a working schedule of your own production within weeks.
Start with a CSV export in the 30-day free trial (up to 20 workstations, no credit card). After that, pricing is from 199 € per month with 5 workstations included, billed monthly. The integration is quoted up front for your process and needs, together with your plan.
SkyPlanner integrates with MRPeasy in both directions through the MRPeasy REST API, and it has been integrated with MRPeasy in customer projects. Manufacturing orders, routings and workstations flow in, and planned dates and progress go back to each manufacturing order. The SkyPlanner team configures the integration during onboarding, or your MRPeasy consultant or developers build it on SkyPlanner’s documented REST API (API reference).
Read the overview on the SkyPlanner for MRPeasy page, go to the MRPeasy integration guide, or compare other systems in the ERP integrations hub.
SkyPlanner reviews from manufacturers
2 hsaved every week
“SkyPlanner has taken our production planning from Excel spreadsheets to real-time production optimization.”
Kalle Kalliomäki, Supply Chain Specialist
UTU · Electrical switchboards and switchgear
Production planning saves 2 hours of working time every week, and a new work queue reaches the line in seconds.
+90%production efficiency
“Efficiency has gone up 90% in production.”
Abdul Rucyinga, Head of IT
Laboratory & Allied · Pharmaceutical manufacturing
Production efficiency is up 90%, and a three-month optimized plan across all workstations takes under 30 minutes.
Fewerstoppages from material shortages
“The value SkyPlanner brings us is that it is a tool that works in daily use, especially for setting delivery dates.”
Tommi Männistö, Production Planning Manager
Eskomatic · Contract machining
Automatic load scheduling gives more accurate delivery dates, and production stoppages caused by material shortages have fallen sharply.
FAQ
Does MRPeasy have a production scheduling tool?
Yes. MRPeasy schedules each manufacturing order forward to the first available time, against workstation groups and working hours, and shows the result on a Calendar and Gantt chart. Backward scheduling is available from the Enterprise plan.
Can MRPeasy reschedule all orders automatically?
No. When you drag an order on the Gantt chart, only that order moves, and the rest of the production calendar stays as it was. SkyPlanner’s Autopilot replans the whole schedule when production changes.
Does MRPeasy handle sequence-dependent setup times?
No. Setup time is a fixed value per routing operation. SkyPlanner APS uses a setting time matrix with changeover times between product pairs (blue to red 30 minutes, red to blue 60) and sequences jobs to minimize them.
Which MRPeasy plan includes which scheduling features?
Operations scheduling, capacity planning, Gantt charts and drag-and-drop are in every plan. Overlap, Parallelize and not-scheduled orders start at Professional, and backward scheduling, MPS and RCCP at Enterprise. The REST API comes with Unlimited, priced at $149 per user per month on MRPeasy’s pricing page.
Can I test SkyPlanner with my MRPeasy data?
Yes. Export routings, workstations and open manufacturing orders from MRPeasy to CSV, import them during the 30-day trial and compare the schedule with your current plan. See pricing, start the trial or talk to sales.
