Access FactoryMaster
by The Access Group
UK cloud MRP for small and mid-sized manufacturers, sold by The Access Group as part of its Access Evo suite: estimating and quotations, BOMs and works orders, stock with shelf-life and lot control, shop-floor data capture, quality and non-conformance, job costing and purchase requests.
Why it is classified this way
We call this a Manufacturing ERP product. A broad business system (accounting, sales, purchasing) with a substantial manufacturing or planning module attached.
It is not labeled Full MRP because we have not verified that it accepts dated demand, sales orders, a forecast, or a master production schedule; nets that demand against stock on hand and orders already incoming; explodes requirements through at least one level of the bill of materials; uses lead times or required dates; and produces dated buy, make, transfer, release, or reschedule recommendations. That is a statement about the evidence we found, not a claim that the product is weak, see the capability table and the sources below.
The six Full MRP tests, and how Access FactoryMaster does on each (1 of 6)
- YesIt represents a bill of materials, recipe, or formula.Evidence: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab)
- PartialIt accepts dated demand, sales orders, a forecast, or a master production schedule.Not established. Only partly shown: the evidence covers some of this but not all of it, so the test is not established.
- PartialIt nets that demand against stock on hand and orders already incoming.Not established. Only partly shown: the evidence covers some of this but not all of it, so the test is not established.
- UnknownIt explodes requirements through at least one level of the bill of materials.Not established. No evidence found yet.
- UnknownIt uses lead times or required dates.Not established. No evidence found yet.
- UnknownIt produces dated buy, make, transfer, release, or reschedule recommendations.Not established. No evidence found yet.
These rules are applied identically to every product and enforced at build time, a record cannot be published as Full MRP unless all six pass with a source attached. Read the methodology.
Best for
- UK precision, electronics and defense or aerospace suppliers that need batch traceability, FAIRs and SC21 quality reporting
- Manufacturers already on other Access Group products who want MRP in the same suite
Not a fit when
- Buyers who want a published price or a month-to-month start: the first contract is a 3-year term
- Shops that need a documented MRP calculation before a demo: none is public
Pricing facts
What it costs to do manufacturing in this product.
No published price
This vendor does not publish pricing, so you cannot compare it against anything here without contacting them. We will not estimate a figure.
What moves the real bill
- Onboarding fee. Implementation is covered by the first contract: "Your first contract covers implementation costs, with a standard 3-year initial term".
- No published price. You have to contact the vendor, which usually means a sales call.
Pricing detail
No price is published. The page explains how a quote is built: a software license fee "with the ability to add more users as you grow", a choice of "annual or monthly billing", standard support included with a paid Premier Customer Success Plan as an option, and a first contract that covers implementation on "a standard 3-year initial term".
Checked on September 19, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com(opens in a new tab). Prices change. Check before you buy.
Manufacturing capability
12 of 25 fields resolved. "Unknown" means we have not found first-party evidence. It is not a No.
Planning
Working out what to buy or make, and when.
| Capability | Finding | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Accepts dated demandYou can tell it what is due and when, sales orders with dates, a forecast, or a production schedule. | Partial | Stock can be forecast "week by week for as many months ahead as you need"; no page shows the demand records behind it.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Nets against stock on handIt subtracts what you already have before telling you to buy more. | Partial | The same projection helps "prevent running low or overstock of raw materials, parts and components", with "usage and stock-out analysis". How it nets is not described.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Counts incoming ordersIt knows about purchase orders and production orders already placed, so it does not tell you to order twice. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation showing open purchase or production orders included in the supply picture.Know the answer? |
| Uses lead timesIt works backwards from when you need something to when you must order or start it, using supplier and production lead times. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation showing lead time fields that shift a suggested order or start date.Know the answer? |
| Produces dated buy/make suggestionsThe output is an actionable list with dates, order this much by this date, start this batch on this date. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation or a screenshot of replenishment or planning suggestions carrying dates.Know the answer? |
| Capacity planningChecks whether your people and machines can do the work in the time available. | Partial | It gives "an overview of employees, machines and other resources"; finite scheduling is the separate Access Orchestrate product.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab); theaccessgroup.com › Mrp(opens in a new tab)Question this |
Production
Recipes, bills of materials, and running the work.
| Capability | Finding | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Bill of materialsA list of the parts and quantities needed to make one of something. | Yes | Bills of materials and works orders are a core module.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Multi-level BOMSub-assemblies inside assemblies, a part that is itself made from other parts, nested as deep as you need. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of nested or multi-level bom structures, not just a flat component list.Know the answer? |
| Recipes & formulasBatch-style production by weight, volume, or percentage, including scaling a batch up or down. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of recipe or formula records, ideally with batch scaling.Know the answer? |
| Work / manufacturing ordersA record authorising and tracking the making of a specific quantity. | Yes | Components are issued to and returned from works orders, and rework and scrap are tracked "against production works orders".Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Routings & operationsThe ordered steps a product goes through, and which machine or station does each one. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of operation sequences or routings attached to production.Know the answer? |
| Shop-floor trackingOperators report progress, time, and completions as the work happens. | Yes | Data is captured through "shop floor terminals, touch screens, barcoding and hand-held devices" or directly from machine control systems.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Quality controlsChecks, tests, holds, and non-conformance records tied to production or receiving. | Yes | Non-conformance control, quarantine, First Article Inspection Reports, concessions and SC21 delivery and quality metrics are described.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab); theaccessgroup.com › Mrp(opens in a new tab)Question this |
Inventory & traceability
Knowing what you hold and being able to trace it.
| Capability | Finding | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Batch & lot traceabilityWhich incoming material lots went into which finished batch, and where those finished goods went. | Yes | You can "identify a non-conforming part, which batch it came from, when it was produced, which products has it been used in and where are these now", with a Quality Tree of certificates against each finished batch.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Expiry & shelf lifeBest-before dates on materials and finished goods, with warnings before they lapse. | Partial | Stock control mentions "shelf-life control and lot attributes to determine which batches to pick from"; no expiry warnings are described.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Serial numbersUnique identifiers on individual units, for warranty or field service. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of serial number tracking on individual units.Know the answer? |
Commerce & accounting
Costs, purchasing, storefronts, and the books.
| Capability | Finding | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Product costing & COGSWhat it costs you to make one, and the cost of the goods you sold. | Yes | Job costing compares "actual vs. planned costs" using times captured on the shop floor.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Mrp(opens in a new tab); theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| PurchasingRaising and tracking purchase orders to suppliers from inside the system. | Partial | Staff "raise purchase requests from anywhere" with configurable approvals, and POs appear in the audit trail; creating and receiving purchase orders is not described in detail.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Operations management(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Accounting connectionSends financial data to bookkeeping software, or includes its own general ledger. | Partial | On Access Evo you can "link up finance, manufacturing, purchasing"; no accounting package or ledger is named.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: theaccessgroup.com › Mrp(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Ecommerce connectionPulls orders and pushes stock levels to a storefront or marketplace. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of a named storefront or marketplace integration.Know the answer? |
Openness & your data
Getting data in, out, and away if you leave.
| Capability | Finding | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| APIA documented programming interface so other software can read and write your data. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: public api documentation.Know the answer? |
| WebhooksThe system can notify other software the moment something changes. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of outbound webhooks or event subscriptions.Know the answer? |
| MCP supportA Model Context Protocol server, letting an AI assistant read or act on this data. Useful, but it has nothing to do with whether the product plans materials. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: a first-party mcp server, or documentation of one.Know the answer? |
| CSV exportYou can get your lists out as spreadsheet files. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of csv or spreadsheet export.Know the answer? |
| Full data exportYou can take everything, including history and relationships, not just a few screens' worth of rows. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of a complete account export, database dump, or equivalent.Know the answer? |
Deployment, licensing and your data
- Deployment
- Cloud (hosted for you)
- Licensing
- Proprietary SaaS
- Team sizes
- 6–20 people, 21–50 people, 51+ people
- Manufacturing styles
- Custom or job-shop work, Countable assembled products
Jobs this product qualifies for
Derived from the capability table above, not hand-assigned.
Editorial notes and cautions
Things we would want a friend to know before buying.
- Every claim rests on Access Group marketing pages; there is no public manual. Detailed production planning and scheduling is sold as a separate product, Access Orchestrate.
- The discovery link on file was a 2019 PDF service catalog; it has been replaced with the current product page.
Evidence and verification
Why this record is not Verified. Held at partially verified because the evidence is marketing only and coverage is under half the fields.
Researched 2026-09-19 from the current Access FactoryMaster MRP page and the operations management (MRP and purchasing) feature page, read in full. The 2019 PDF discovery link was replaced. Held at partially verified because the evidence is marketing only and coverage is under half the fields.
Sources we checked (2)
theaccessgroup.com
What we still want to confirm
We publish our gaps rather than hiding them. If you can point us at a first-party page for any of these, we will update the record and credit the correction.
- Find documentation of the MRP run: whether it nets demand against stock and open orders and produces dated suggestions.
- Confirm multi-level BOMs, serials, an API and export options.
- Confirm the accounting integration and whether a ledger is included.
- Get an indicative license price per user.
Still unknown: counts incoming orders, uses lead times, produces dated buy/make suggestions, multi-level bom, recipes & formulas, routings & operations, serial numbers, ecommerce connection, api, webhooks, mcp support, csv export, full data export.