Planning · MRP studio

Planning that answers what if, and shows its working

Most mid-market MRP ends in an export. Cairn plans on a graph of your demand, supply, bills and vendors, lets you ask what if before you commit, and shows every change from one run to the next.

Nothing else in this tier does this.

Every row says why it is there: pegging from the sales order to the component. Illustrative figures.

One order, four questions

Same 600 cases of oat milk. Now ask the plan something.

What-if timeline · Nov
Nov 1Nov 6Nov 11Nov 16Nov 21
Planned PO
400 kg oat base
Release Nov 3
PO-2231
Firm · 800 kg
Nov 6
Planned make
Line 2 · 600 cs
Nov 12 to 14
SO-1182
Retailer order
Due Nov 20

Current plan. Try slipping the firm PO a week.

The legacy gap

A plan you can interrogate, not a grid you have to trust

Legacy MRP run
Cairn planning studio
Where the plan lives
A recommendation grid, a document list and a calendar in three places
Recommendations, Confirm and issue, and Firmed in one table
Capacity
Assumes infinite
Finite, against each work center’s calendar
Vendors and parts
One vendor and one part per line
Ranks alternates, takes approved substitutes
Why a line exists
Cannot say
Pegged to the demand that caused it
Since yesterday
Cannot tell you what changed
Every run compared with the last
Firm orders
Exceptions suggest moving commitments you made
Never raised to reschedule, reduce or cancel
Bulk release
Fails halfway, nobody sure what went out
All or nothing

Also in the studio

Graph-based planning

Demand, supply, bills, routings, vendors and sites are one connected graph. A recommendation is pegged to its demand, a shortage is followed to its cause, and a change at one node ripples to every order it touches.

Pegging on every row

Trace any recommendation to the sales order, forecast bucket or work order that caused it, and any demand to the supply that covers it.

A time-phased drawer

Open a row to see the item at that site: projected balance by period, supply and demand against it, consumption of the forecast, and a timeline of what arrives when.

Part substitutes

A short component does not stall the build. The engine takes the approved substitute on the bill, and the plan says which part it used and why.

Firm means firm

A firm purchase order nets on its own date and is never put up to move, reduce or cancel. A shortage it leaves gets a new planned order, and a firm order past its date is still reported past due.

One request, one transaction

Every studio gesture is one request that carries the fresh rows back, and a bulk release is one transaction: every order exists afterwards, or none does.

Bring your own bill of materials

Twelve months and six figures used to be the price of admission. Bring your own items and vendors to a demo and see them in Cairn.

Get a demo

White-glove implementationNo per-transaction feesNo surprise invoices