MRP schedules production through the use of a bill of materials that explodes backward end time from the desired completion date. It is suggested that the backward scheduling of MRP comes from being provided with a master production schedule and must be thought of as reverse planning. MRP uses capability resource planning and then develops the capacity utilization of the equipment to determine what needs to be produced. Synchronize Manufacturing uses forward scheduling and focuses on critical resources. Batch sizes and transfer batch sizes are part of synchronized manufacturing, whereas MRP cannot change batch sizes and transfer batch sizes.

What advantages and disadvantages do you see of MRP over Synchronized manufacturing?