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1978: MRP Moves to the Minicomputer
Minicomputers arrive and offer manufacturers cheaper computing options with more processing power. IBM comes out with MAPICS for their System/34 and System/38 minicomputer lines. Around the same time, software developer ASK comes out with Manman for Hewlett-Packard's minicomputers. Manman is a massive success and ASK quickly comes to dominate the manufacturing systems market. -
1957: APICS is Founded
Recognizing the need for an educational and professional society, IBM finances the creation of the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS). The society is run as a non-profit and helps promote the coming wave of software. In future years, APICS becomes recognized as an authority in operations management and provides certification for software professionals. -
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Late 1950's: Electronic Inventory Management and BOM is Born
Maytag develops a system for storing a limited assembly model schedule on a 650 tape-drum. With this system, Maytag can project their time-series several months in advance. However, the bill of materials (BOM) has to be maintained and inventoried on tape. These are the first steps toward maintaining electronic copies of inventory and BOMs. -
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Early 1960's: The Groundwork for MRP is Laid
In 1960, Joseph Orlicky implements the first manufacturing requirements planning (MRP) system at JI Case in Racine, Wisconsin. The following year, Gene Thomas invents the Bill of Materials Processor (BOMP) at IBM. With this invention, manufacturers break down a bill of materials on a computer for the first time. BOMP would become the foundation for packaged MRP software offerings. -
1965: The Birth of MRP
Joseph Orlicky and Gene Thomas build upon BOMP to include a production schedule and purchasing plan. Although MRP is a major breakthrough in the planning of materials, programmers are limited to only 8K of memory. Developers recognize the need for capacity planning but the computing power just isn't there yet. -
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1970's: APICS Crusades for MRP
APICS begins a national program of MRP software education and publicity. From 1971 to 1975, the number of manufacturing companies running MRP software increases from 150 companies to over 700. During that time, MRP adds sales and operations planning, master production scheduling, and capacity planning to become "closed loop" MRP -
1975: MRP Goes Commercial
Materials Management Systems (later Software International) launches the first commercial net change MRP software in 1975. In the same year, Joseph Orlicky publishes Materials Production Planning outlining what an MRP system contains and how it should work. This is the prelude to MRP software coming to the masses. Suggested by: Christopher Gray -
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1980: Manufacturing Resource Planning Emerges
While MRP proved valuable, manufacturers found that frequent changes in sales forecasts were skewing their ability to plan efficiently. Production often failed to align with demand. A new class of manufacturing software, Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II) emerged to incorporate more sophisticated capacity constraints by consolidating materials planning with capacity information related to finance, plant, and people. -
1984: "The Goal" Introduces Continuous Improvement
Eliyahu Goldratt publishes "The Goal," a fictional tale of a plant manufacturer that is ordered to turn around an unreliable and unprofitable plant. Goldratt turns the plant around by identifying and removing bottlenecks in production to ensure a continuous flow in the manufacturing process. The Goal is thought of as a seminal work introducing the theory of constraints and continuous improvement to the US. The book questions whether the computing power of MRP is enough to run operations. -
1986: SAP Enters the American Market
Long a presence in the European software market, SAP enters the North American market. SAP becomes a force with their R/2 mainframe MRP offering in a time when mainframe software sales are stalling and the game is changing toward PCs and client/server technology. SAP reports strong sales of R/2 and quickly gains a leadership position. Many companies follow the client server approach. -
1990: ERP Swallows MRP
Research firm Gartner coins the term enterprise resource planning (ERP), which envelops MRP and MRP II, as well as a range of other applications, including: product lifecycle management, supply chain management, logistics, customer management, order processing, financials, and human resources. Today, the ERP remains the broadest descriptor of enterprise software applications. -
1992: SAP Moves to Client/Server
Despite strong sales of their mainframe R/2 software, SAP decides to go the way of client/server technology as they release R/3. SAP's R/3 release is a fundamental change in the way software is written and handled. Most software companies follow suit and develop their software for the client/server platform. -
1994: Advanced Planing & Scheduling Emerges
Increased computing power enables innovators like i2 Technologies and Manugistics to introduce Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS). APS leverages "in-memory processing" to run sophisticated planning algorithms that account for supply chain constraints, in addition to traditional enterprise planning. Wildly successful IPOs for "ITWO" and "MANU" are followed by manufacturing software vendors PeopleSoft and JD Edwards acquiring smaller APS vendors Red Pepper and Numetrix, respectively. -
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Late 1990's: MRP Meets Lean
Realizing that number crunching and demand forecasting can only take you so far, lean manufacturing software starts to gain in popularity. Factory Logic (founded 1998) and JCIT Demand Flow technology start to gain wider acceptance. The intense focus on building to demand forecasts begins to give way to building just in time (JIT). -
2001: ERP Market Declines
With year 2000 spending coming to an end and the global economy receding, the ERP market suffers. All major ERP vendors report a decline in sales and share prices decline precipitously. While a large market remains, it is clear that the glory days of ERP have past and the market must begin to consolidate. -
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2000's: Infor Goes on a Consolidation Binge
From 2002 to 2010, Infor goes on a massive acquisition binge – rolling up an astounding 30 different software companies. Notable purchases include MAPICS (2005) and SSA Global Technologies (2006), a similar "roll-up" consolidator. The acquisition streak consolidates much of the manufacturing software market outside of SAP and Oracle. -
2010: Manufacturing Software Moves to the Cloud
More manufacturing software vendors follow Plex's lead and moved their manufacturing software to the cloud. Four notable vendors added a cloud option to their portfolio: SAP Business ByDesign, Epicor Express, NetSuite Manufacturing Edition, and Infor SyteLine. As the cloud gains in adoption, more are likely to follow suit. -
2001: Plex Systems Delivers Cloud Manufacturing
Michigan-based manufacturing software vendor Plex Systems quickly makes use of the new web architecture and is the first vendor to offer manufacturing software as a service. The company starts with point solutions and works its way up to a full suite ERP. Many doubted whether this model could work for manufacturing software. Plex has proven it is possible. -
2000: Web Architecture Emerges
The introduction of the web browser and the dramatic growth of the Internet led to "web-based computing." In this model, both the data and the manufacturing software code are hosted in a data center, while end users access applications through their web browsers. The dramatic improvement in accessibility, cost of ownership, and ease-of-use forced manufacturing software vendors to rethink, and often redevelop, their products, much like they had to when client/server replaced mainframes as the com
