If you make parts to order or to stock and you are still planning in Excel — or fighting the MRP buried in your ERP — this page compares your three real options honestly, and shows where Fast Planning Software fits: a realistic, machine-wise plan you can actually run, with onsite support in India.
“Production planning and scheduling software” simply means software that decides what to make, what to buy and when, and then lays that work out on the machines that make it, so you hit your delivery dates. Almost every small and mid-size Indian manufacturer plans in one of three ways: on a spreadsheet, with the MRP module that came bundled inside their ERP, or with a dedicated planning and scheduling tool. Each is a fair choice for some businesses. Below we lay out what each does well, where each falls short, and who each really suits — no invented scores, no star ratings.
Our angle is narrow on purpose. We are not claiming to be the best planning tool for a large multinational running SAP, and we are not a generic project-management app. Fast Planning Software is built for Indian manufacturing SMEs that want a realistic, machine-wise production plan and on-site support — make-to-order and engineering shops, machine shops and job work, automotive and precision-component makers, and process and batch plants.
When your planner is on leave, nobody else can run the plan or explain it. Every change is manual and easy to get wrong.
Material runs out mid-run because nobody netted the BOM against live stock and open purchase orders before releasing the job.
Sales commits a delivery without knowing which machine is already full. The overload only shows up as a late dispatch.
There is no daily plan-versus-actual, so a slipping order or an over-running operation is invisible until it is too late to recover.
A fair, side-by-side look at the three real options — not a ranking of vendors. Pick the row that hurts most today.
| What you need | Spreadsheet / manual | ERP-bundled MRP | Dedicated planning & scheduling (Fast Planning) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-level BOM explosion | Manual, error-prone | Yes | Yes — with per-order BOMs |
| Net against live stock & open supply | No | Yes | Yes, plus stock reservation per plan |
| Finite machine loading on cycle times | No | Rarely / weak | Daily load & % loading per machine |
| Re-sequence on a Gantt board | No | Usually not | DayPilot Gantt, order & resource priority |
| Auto work orders & purchase requisitions | No | Yes | Yes, from the netted plan |
| Daily plan vs actual, OEE & efficiency | No | Limited | Shop-floor booking to OEE dashboards |
| Best fit | Very small, simple shops | Firms wanting one big ERP suite | Indian manufacturing SMEs wanting a realistic, machine-wise plan |
How we put this together: the columns describe the three planning approaches most Indian SMEs actually choose between. Capabilities in the “dedicated” column are Fast Planning Software features documented on this site. We do not name or score other vendors’ products, because a fair head-to-head depends on your exact edition and configuration — ask us and we will show you a live comparison against what you run today.
Explode every order through its BOM and net it against stock and open supply, so shortages surface before the job starts, not on the floor (MRP explosion & netting).
See the daily load and percentage loading on every machine so you spot an overloaded work centre a week early and re-balance it (finite machine loading & capacity).
Sequence work by order and resource priority and drag it on a Gantt board to hold a customer release when priorities change (order priority & DayPilot scheduling).
A live reorder-level dashboard watches free stock against reorder points and suggests a purchase requisition automatically (reorder-level dashboard & auto-PR).
Reserve inventory against a plan so two plans never count the same material twice and your netting stays honest (stock reservation).
Book production by shift, machine and operator and read plan-versus-actual, utilization, efficiency and OEE dashboards, so measured performance feeds the next plan (plan vs actual & OEE).
One platform, no interface. Planning, production, inventory and purchase share the same item master, BOM and stock ledger. There is no data copy and no reconciliation between the plan and the shop floor — the work order you release and the stock it consumes are the same records.
Realistic, machine-wise plans. Each operation carries a standard cycle and setting time, and Fast Planning loads that time onto the machine that runs it. That is finite, cycle-time-driven capacity planning rather than a rough labour estimate — the reason a dedicated tool beats a spreadsheet or a generic MRP run.
Built and supported in India. Fast Planning is a Fast Technology product built in Pune by Improsys and delivered cloud or on-premise. Every engagement includes requirement analysis by functional experts, implementation with sign-off before build, onsite and video training, and post-go-live support over email, phone, WhatsApp and remote tools. It integrates with your existing systems, including Tally where relevant.
Start where it hurts, grow later. Begin with MRP netting and work-order and purchase-requisition suggestions, then switch on machine loading, finite scheduling and OEE as you are ready — no re-implementation, because it is all one platform.
Different shops plan differently. Fast Planning serves each on the same BOM, netting, machine-loading and OEE engine — cloud or on-premise, across India and worldwide.
Plan against confirmed orders and per-order BOMs.
Explore →Finite machine loading and Gantt scheduling.
Explore →Cycle-time-driven capacity, OEE and efficiency.
Explore →Batch process sheets, netting and scheduling.
Explore →Bring one product's BOM and a week of orders. We'll show you the netted plan, the machine loading and the Gantt schedule in a free demo — then send an itemised quote within 48 hours.
