We’re thinking about using alternate methods for the first time. It seems pretty tedious to change a job over from the primary to the alternate method, so I figured I’d check here to see what I’m missing (or maybe it’s just Epicor working as designed ).
What’s the best way to manage jobs where it can be done with the primary or alternate method at any time, where the department supervisor would select it the method? Or have a production control person decide at the time of job release?
In this case, we’ve got a robotic press brake that can run lights-out, compared to an operator running a manual press brake, so we went down the costing rabbit hole on how to account for zero-operator operation (that’s another topic I’d like to get into).
I created an alternate method for our approved revision where I replaced the manual bender with the robotic one, adjusted the op details, and approved & checked it back in.
I ran MRP, found the unfirm job in Job Status Maintenance, Firmed it, and then opened it in Job Entry. Then I went to the Engineering tab > Methods > Part/Rev, searched for the same part again, and then dragged the robotic bending op on to the tree view, and deleted the manual bending op.
Is there a better way where the supervisor can just select the alternate method, or does he need to search for the alternate method, then manually delete and add each operation (seems tedious when you’ve got 30 jobs).
The Alternate Method functionality is Site based. It is meant for companies that have 2 sites that can produce the part at both sites but each site might have a separate routing due to machinery, etc. The selection of the Alternate Method is automatic based on which site you are in.
I don’t think there is a real clean way to use it other ways.
Alternate methods can be great for instances where a portion of the method can be made internally or as a subcontract. If you run MRP and monitor shop load - e.g. overload informer shows a big spike coming up, then you can select the subcontract alternate method as the Primary Alternate Method on the Part > Sites > Planning. When MRP runs it uses what is selected here to create the jobs. When you’re ready to make in house again, just remove the alt method from the field.
You can use them for other purposes too. It does take some getting used to when using Engineering Workbench with the alternate methods.
It uses the alternate method for all jobs as long as it is set in the field.
Watching the overload informer / shop load and selecting whether to use an alternate method would be a manual process. It also wouldn’t change any firm jobs. If you want those changed, it would be either close those and have MRP create new unfirm or delete all details and get details from whichever method/alternate you need.
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