Operational question (Sound Idea?)

Epicor ERP 10
1

I wanted to run this by the community because there is so much experience here. I would love to get opinions good or bad (specific if possible) on the following:

We have discrepancies with inventory (raw materials) in our system. This is caused by many factors: Discipline (failure to scan, failure to weigh), material substitutions (using reclaimed material), and slight mfg variances

Discipline in theory should be an easy one to fix - but probably wont be.

Regarding material substitutions - We could add PN’s for all the reclaimed material but there are so many variants that it would be a lot of work and upkeep. Plus, we do not use a fixed amount of reclaimed material.

My thoughts on solving both the mfg variances and use of alternate materials is this:
First, all materials moved into and out of a job (PRESS BIN used a BackFlush) must be weighed. This falls back to discipline but let’s assume it will happen.

Next, before moving any materials into a job the BF/PRESS BIN should be empty. This means that any variances\discrepancies of the job will be solely contained in the PRESS BIN.

At the end of the job - the system assumes certain quantities of materials were used. This is completely irrelevant in our case because it is always off (because the target is always moving). We will remove material on the job and weigh it - and enter this weight into the system which will effectively adjust that PRESS BIN qty for that material to be ACTUAL. If properly executed, this would always ensure the correct quantity of material in the system.

(I want to point out that this would be on a custom screen - not just on the adjustment screen)

CAVEATS:
I realize that all scrap and production has to be entered BEFORE making the weight adjustment.
I realize the user can still misweigh, fatfinger or otherwise screw the value
I realize the thought of an ‘adjustment’ makes people cringe - but it will limited to the PRESS BIN

I am sure there is a mob with torches and pitchforks waiting in the wings for me. I’d love to hear thoughts or suggestions.

Bear in mind a few things before you string me up though:
Our workforce is not very educated
Substituted material is valued at same price as original by accounting
This seems to the lesser of evils when considering the current issues
If the adjustments aren’t immediately made, the material goes back into the warehouse and is almost impossible to track

2

Chris,

A similar example to this is for powder coating of parts. There is an estimated amount on the BOM, but it is always wrong depending on the operator spray pattern and/or booth/gun settings.

If you determine that it is critical to have the right amount of material be used on the job, one option would be to change this part to be issued instead of back flushed. In the powder coating example, you would issue a whole or partial box of powder to the operation weighing it first and then when the operation is done the unused material would be weighed and returned using the Return Material function.

To do this you would probably need a separate storage location bin to issue from and return to and a different WIP bin for the operation bin.

Hope this helps.

Brad Boes
bradboes@boosterpconsulting.com
231-845-1090

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1 Like
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Brad,

Thanks for the response. We had considered issuing.

My understanding (which could be VERY wrong) - is that the amount the system tries to consume is ALWAYS dictated by the BOM. Ultimately, the system CANT consume material that hasn’t been issued, either manually or with backflush.

Where we get thrown off is that we don’t move (or issue) exact quantities to a job because of logistics. We move an entire box of material. That means in order for ISSUING to solve the problem, we’d have to issue the exact amount. I am not sure if we can pull that off effectively especially considering the constant unforeseen case of scrap and purge (also a type of scrap).

When does the actual consumption happen when issuing - at production reporting or at close of job? I suppose if we could make it happen at job close, we could unissued any remaining material.

Does my understanding of the process seem correct? If so, any thoughts on how to avoid these issues?

I’d also like to clarify that having the right qty used on the job is important, but more importantly, we want to ensure inventory is accurate so we don’t get caught in a situation where we thought we had enough material for a job only find out midstream that we don’t.

4

You could wait and do the material issue after you know the exact amount, if the issue/return scenario isn’t what I remembered (let’s blame the old age for that).

Brad Boes
bradboes@boosterpconsulting.com
231-845-1090

E3FEB85129DB48D1BB79420BCDAFE2E9.png708×1 83 Bytes

5

I guess that depends on when the consumption of the material happens - at production reporting or at job close. Also, my assumption is that if no material is issued and the job tries to consume, it doesn’t do anything - unlike backflush where it would go negative. If this is the case, how could I issue after the fact?

6

Don’t know if this will help you or not:

We use spools of steel wire in our process. When we physically load the spool on our line we issue the entire amount of the spool to the job. When the material is issued from inventory to the job, you see this transaction in Epicor.

If we use the entire spool, we don’t have to do anything else. If we don’t use the entire spool, we return the remaining amount on the spool from the job to inventory. (Our uncoilers sit on scales so it’s very easy to do.)

If an operator forgets to issue material to the job, the job doesn’t try to consume anything. (We don’t backflush.)

Until the job is closed, you can issue/return material against the job. We have reports we run to check actual vs. estimated material usage and it is not uncommon for us to go back and issue/return material because an operator forgot to.

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We do the same issue/return system as @BoostERP does for our powder coating operations. So +1 to that method.

8

Charlie, I think that might work based on your description. Is there a setting I need to check to ensure that consumption doesn’t happen until job close? I only ask because I know there is a similar setting for backflush to determine if consumption happens at part production or close.

It sounds like so far you all agree on the same procedure .

9

Two remaining major questions about issuing:

Does the BOM still dictate how much material is used or is 100% of issued material consumed at close? I just want to ensure that if we use more material than expected, if it is issued, it will consumed towards the job.

Can I issue materials that ARENT on the BOM and have them be consumed towards the job? If it not possible on the standard issue screen, can I force it using adapters?

10

Hi Chris,

So you are working with resin. Is it lot tracked? Here is what we are working on: We move the gaylord of resin to the dryer area (just an inventory transfer). We issue only the amount the job thinks it needs. After the job is complete (or the tool is pulled from the press), the gaylord is weighed. We subtract the beginning amount from the ending amount, then subtract the amount that was issued from that. If it is positive, we need to return. If it is negative, we need to issue more.

The purge is calculated in the method and a quantity of scrap. We don’t issue the whole gaylord to the job unless it requires that amount or more. If you issue the whole amount, MRP will suggest you need to buy more if there is another job requiring that resin (even though this job isn’t going to use it all). That’s why we do an inventory transfer instead of issuing the whole thing. After the material has been “returned”, we then do an inventory transfer to move it to the warehouse shelf.

Sounds a bit complicated, but it works. We lot track everything so it has to be a bit complicated.

Hope this helps, Beth

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Whatever material you issue to the job is what is consumed by the job. If my only transaction is issue 100 lbs of X, then the cost of 100 lbs of X is billed to the job. If I issue 100 lbs of X to a job and return 20 lbs of X from the job, then the cost of 80 lbs of X is billed to the job.

I don’t think you can issue material not on the BOM to the job since the Issue Material screen only displays the materials on the BOM. When we need to use material not on the BOM, we add the material to the job with an estimate of 0 UOM to show that we used this material, but it wasn’t in our original plan/quote. You may be able to do something really slick and cool to be able to do what you want. I’m not that cool yet. :slight_smile:

The material transactions show in Epicor as soon as you do them. They do not post to the GL until the job is marked Complete, marked Closed, and Capture COS/WIP is run.

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You’ve got that fun dichotomy that every boss wants, where they want everything automatic (backflush) but it always depends on what really happens in real life and they don’t want anyone to have to tell the database what really happened. I’m working on the mind reading module that my boss wants too, but don’t hold your breath on that one.

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Thank you all for your responses. I really feel closer to a solution with all the input.

I think as long as we can enforce weighing in with an issue, and BEFORE close, weighing out with a return we’ll be golden.

Brandon, you nailed it buddy, that’s exactly what they want!