Beach Access Software Releases Chinese Version Of E-Z-MRP Manufacturing Software For Small Manufacturers

Beach Access Software, in partnership with Unity World Class Corp., announces the release of the Chinese language version of E-Z-MRP, an integrated Material Requirements Planning system for small- and medium-sized manufacturers. The system includes both traditional and simplified Mandarin translations, selectable by the user.

Susan Wu, president of Unity World Class Corp., was the project manager of C/PIOS (Contracted/Production Inventory Optimizing System), the MRP-II system selected by the U.S. Department of Defense for aerospace companies in the 1980s through 1990s. Subsequently, she was the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) International Associate in Taiwan for a decade. Her company, Unity World Class Corp., has created this Chinese translation of the E-Z-MRP system.

"I saw that large manufacturers in China had Enterprise Resource Planning systems such as SAP or ORACLE to meet their manufacturing systems needs," Wu said. "However, there was no system that could serve the thousands of small manufacturers emerging in China."

"After surveying Windows-based manufacturing systems, I found that E-Z-MRP is not only implemented easily by manufacturers who understand only the very basics of manufacturing systems as taught by APICS, but also in some ways it is consistent with the Chinese philosophy of Tao which makes it particularly acceptable to the Chinese."

"Further, these emerging firms do not need the whole APICS Body of Knowledge (BOK). By using E-Z-MRP they can focus more on developing their own core competence. Even companies that might be large enough to justify the expense and effort of implementing a mid-range system will be attracted to E-Z-MRP as a first-time manufacturing system – a solid 'stepping stone' to a more sophisticated system and ERP Class A Accreditation," said Wu.

E-Z-MRP was first released under the DOS operating system in 1985, achieved great success and widespread use with hundreds of customers around the world. Wu's firm created a Chinese translation of this version of E-Z-MRP in the early 90s.

The software has been successfully implemented in a wide variety of manufacturing environments and works equally well in job shop, build-to-order, build-to-stock, and build-to-forecast operations. It has also been used as an instructional aid in universities.

E-Z-MRP is written in Microsoft's Access Database Management System, a component of the popular Microsoft Office Suite, making it compatible with a wide variety of third-party products.

"E-Z-MRP™ made running an MRP system possible for hundreds of small manufacturers who had neither the time, the money, nor the expertise to implement a conventional manufacturing system," said Rocky Smolin, President of Beach Access Software. "E-Z-MRP in this new release continues this philosophy. It is still arguably the simplest approach to MRP and the easiest to implement of any MRP system in software history."

The 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 in E-Z-MRP are a physical inventory function and a purchase order module for printing purchase orders.

And, like previous versions, E-Z-MRP supports multiple databases, making it easy to do simulations or answer "what-if" questions without disrupting the production database.

The total cost of E-Z-MRP is $2,995, 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.

For more information, and user testimonials, visit the company's Web site: www.e-z-mrp.com.