What should I do to start use Backflush and what is the pros and cons?

[Soer418a (Søren Rosengren Larsen)]

Hello.

I just started using Epicore at my firm and i just got a task to setting up the backflush principle, but I am not quite sure how to set it up.

Is there anyone in this forum who can point me in the right direction?

• What does it take to create a backflush?
• What do you use backflush for and how do you use it?
• When does it make sense to use backflush?

Do you know of any courses you can take to learn how to use Epicore?

[bderuvo (Bryan DeRuvo)]

Please study up on the backflush transaction hierarchy, this will help you setup the system and prevent some issues.
there are a few posts on the forum related to this.

[klincecum (Kevin Lincecum)]

@bderuvo

there are a few posts on the forum related to this.

Here is one @bderuvo referenced before by @Craig , so hopefully it’s informative:

BackFlush Bin

According to Epicor Help, it follows this hierarchy Backflush material quantities are reported complete at the job operation level. When the Epicor application performs material backflushing at the job operation level, it uses the following hierarchy to determine how the associated component materials should be backflushed, after labor is entered: 1. If job material is linked to a Planning Contract, then uses the warehouse/bin if defined for the Planning Contract. o If job material is not lin…

[hackaphreaka (Garret Travers)]

These are fairly large questions but I think:

Issuing manually will almost certainly be more accurate but more time consuming
Backflushing will be less accurate (depending on many factors) but require no time spent issuing manually.

IMO this is the main point to consider when making this decision. How accurate do I want to be vs how much time it takes to achieve that accuracy.

Some gotchas:

If you use or want to use lot control, backflushing is not an option for the parts that are lot controlled.
If you leverage the ‘Negative Quantity Action’ functionality on a part class, backflushing blows right past this and will take you negative anyway.

[timshuwy (Tim Shoemaker)]

Backflushing is GREAT for instances where you know that you are consuming inventory at a very stable rate… for example, when you make 1 bicycle, you KNOW that you are using one frame, one handlebar, one seat, and two wheel assemblies…
BUT. Can you guarantee that the person doing the assembly picked up the right wheel assembly? If you can, then again, backflushing is great.
but i have seen instances where pre-kitting the materials works better and gives much cleaner results, because you KNOW what was issued, and the mfg team cannot accidently pick up the wrong screw/bolt/nut when assembling.

Also know that when you backflush, that your inventory is always suspect… the system SAYS you consumed it, but did you really? OR the system doesnt say you consumed something, but it was put into the assembly, and the operation has not been marked “complete” yet, so the backflush has not taken place yet. This can cause challenges with Cycle Counting because the timing of the backflushing is always at the end of the operation.