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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchPhiladelphia-based Oat Foundry says it adopted MRPeasy to connect production planning, purchasing, job costs, invoices, and cash-flow visibility as spreadsheet-based processes became harder to manage. The company’s account offers a practical example of what manufacturing resource planning (MRP) software can help organize—but it is a vendor-published case study, not independent proof of savings or a guarantee of similar results for other manufacturers.
Why Oat Foundry wanted a more connected system
Oat Foundry makes custom split-flap displays, which combine mechanical, electronic, and printed components. The company says it had managed product development, purchasing, production, and shipping through interconnected spreadsheets. As it expanded, that arrangement made it harder to see the economics and status of each order in one place.
In MRPeasy’s June 25, 2024 case study, Oat Foundry President Sean Rossiter said he wanted to see costs and margins job by job, connect production costs to invoices, track outstanding items, and understand expected cash flow. The company reported a 17-person team and hundreds of displays sold worldwide at the time. Those operating needs—not the unusual product alone—explain the case study’s cost-control focus.
What the company says it did with MRPeasy
According to the [MRPeasy customer case study], implementation began in October 2022 and the system was live by the end of December 2022. Oat Foundry describes using it for several connected production and financial workflows:
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- Plan materials: Configure subassemblies and bills of materials, then use an order quantity to calculate the materials needed. Rossiter said the system let the team enter what it needed to build and see the associated requirements.
- Connect jobs and financial records: Use automatically populated invoice information and shared reports to bring production and financial details together.
- Review job profitability: Analyze costs and margins by job rather than relying on a more fragmented spreadsheet view.
- Understand shop-floor time: Record operation times to help managers look for bottlenecks.
- Investigate product issues: Use lot traceability to trace affected items and investigate problems.
These are workflows reported by Oat Foundry, not an independent evaluation of the software’s effect. The case study does not quantify changes in margins, cash flow, labor efficiency, inventory costs, or error rates, nor does it isolate any financial improvement as caused by MRPeasy.
Why cost visibility matters for this product
Oat Foundry describes its displays as bespoke, made to order, and hand assembled in its Philadelphia shop. Its published process account covers design planning, steel cabinets and frames, electronics and circuit boards, printed flaps, stepper-motor modules, assembly, module testing, crating, and installation. The company says even small boards contain thousands of individual components and larger installations can exceed 50,000 parts.
For a complex custom order, the final selling price is only one part of the financial picture. A manufacturer also needs a way to account for the materials and labor tied to that particular job, check whether required parts are available, and link completed work to what gets invoiced. When those records are spread across separate files, managers may have to spend time reconciling them before they can assess a job’s economics. Oat Foundry’s stated goals—job-level margin visibility and a clearer view of production costs, outstanding items, and cash flow—reflect that operational challenge.
Oat Foundry also says it performs a 100% functionality inspection before dispatch and that each module undergoes 50,000 supervised rotations in its shop before packaging. These are the company’s descriptions of its own quality process, not third-party audit findings. They help illustrate why traceability and reliable production records can matter, but the case study does not establish that MRP software alone produced those inspection practices.
What the reported software cost does—and does not—tell you
Rossiter said in the 2024 case study that Oat Foundry paid “about $2,000 a year” for MRPeasy. Treat that as a historical, company-reported amount, not a current price quote or a general estimate for another business. The case study does not specify the plan, number of seats, taxes, or other pricing details, and it does not establish MRPeasy’s current pricing.
For a manufacturer assessing the financial case for MRP software, compare the current total cost of the system with the work it would actually replace or improve. That means checking subscription and setup costs as well as the time required to configure product data, bills of materials, reporting, and shop-floor processes. Potential value may come from better job costing, fewer manual reconciliations, or earlier visibility into material needs, but none of those benefits should be treated as guaranteed savings without measurement in the business itself.
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How another manufacturer can assess the fit
Oat Foundry’s example is most useful as a checklist of questions to ask before choosing an MRP system, not as a neutral comparison of products. Its case study does not compare competing systems feature by feature.
- Job economics: Can the system show material and operation costs, revenue, and margin for each order in a way managers can use?
- Material planning: Can it represent the product’s bills of materials and subassemblies, and calculate requirements from planned order quantities?
- Financial workflow: How do production records flow into reports and invoices, and which steps still require manual entry or reconciliation?
- Shop-floor use: Can staff record operation times consistently enough to help managers identify bottlenecks?
- Traceability: Can the business trace relevant lots or components when investigating a quality issue?
- Implementation effort: What data must be cleaned or configured, who will own the setup, and how will staff learn the new workflow?
- Total cost and scale: What is the current full cost for the needed users and capabilities, and is that proportionate to the business’s complexity?
A short implementation in one company is not a reliable schedule for another. Oat Foundry reports that its rollout ran from October through the end of December 2022, but its public case study does not give enough detail to establish what resources, custom configuration, or prior data preparation made that timeline possible.
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If you are researching the cost of a split-flap display
The MRP case concerns a maker’s production and cost management, not the retail price of a finished display. For a different question—how much it costs to build one yourself—flip forward describes a DIY design and provides a planner. Its [DIY overview] estimates roughly €15–90 in parts per module depending on build choices, excluding the builder’s time. The [planner] displayed a 12-module example totaling €418 in parts, or about €34.83 per module, when accessed October 8, 2026; that estimate depends on the component prices shown there and excludes assembly time.
Those figures apply to flip forward’s DIY design and assumptions. They should not be combined with Oat Foundry’s manufacturing costs or treated as a quote for a finished custom installation. The DIY overview identifies a stepper motor, boards, a magnet, M3 screws, and a 12 V supply among the build requirements; the project planner lists NEMA motors and other parts. Confirm the exact specifications and compatibility for the design you intend to build. The project’s design, instructions, and software are published free, but sourcing components, assembly, customization, and installation remain separate considerations. The reviewed sources do not establish a generic complete kit’s availability or compatibility through a retailer.
What the case study supports
Oat Foundry’s account shows how a small manufacturer with component-heavy, made-to-order work says it used MRP software to bring material planning, job analysis, operation-time records, traceability, and invoice information into a more connected process. It documents the company’s motivations and reported workflows; it does not provide independent before-and-after financial results. For another business, the sensible takeaway is to evaluate MRP against its own job-costing and production needs, then verify whether measurable improvements justify the full current cost.
Sources: MRPeasy’s Oat Foundry case study; ManufacturingTomorrow’s republication of the case study; Oat Foundry’s process article; flip forward DIY overview; and flip forward planner.
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