Added to NDS Applications, version 7.5.3 Patches, 8.1 Patches
Alternate units of measure and preferred SKUs are used when items are being stocked at one unit of measure but are being kept track of in different locations or for different plants in other units of measure. This feature allows quantities to be calculated for different locations, plants, and items in different units of measure. Preferred SKUs are used for lot controlled items and non-controlled items, but are not applicable to serial controlled items.
Alternate units of measure are set up using the [Alternate U/Ms] button in program ICMM, Inventory Master Maintenance. During set up, the unit of measure and its conversion factor to translate that unit of measure to the stock unit of measure for the item is entered. For example, if the stock unit of measure is inches, and the alternate unit of measure is feet, the conversion factor would be 12.
Once alternate units of measure have been set up for items, a preferred alternate unit of measure or SKU can be assigned to the item for a specific plant in program ICEM, Item Plant Maintenance. If a preferred SKU is assigned to an item, all plant quantities for that item will be displayed in that unit of measure when possible.
In addition, stock locations can be assigned a preferred alternate unit of measure or SKU in program ILMM, Location Master Maintenance. All quantities for items in that stock location will be displayed in the unit of measure assigned to the stock location when possible. Stock location preferred SKUs override those assigned to the item in program ICEM, Item Plant Maintenance. If items exist in the stock location that do not have an alternate unit of measure set up in program ICMM, Inventory Master Maintenance, for the preferred SKU for the stock location, then those quantities will be shown in the item's stock unit of measure.
Alternate units of measure and preferred SKU's affect inventory locations and transactions, pull cards and move tickets, sales order shipping, cycle counting, physical inventory, and purchase order receipts.
Some rules apply to the successful implementation of this feature:
* If a preferred SKU has been assigned to an item and the quantity for the item in that unit of measure is a fraction, the quantity will be displayed in the item's stock unit of measure instead.
* When setting up units of measure for an item, those units of measure that will be used as a preferred SKU should contain multiple of the item at the stock unit of measure for the item. In other words, the unit of measure conversion factor should be greater than 1. The stock unit of measure should be the smaller of the units of measure. For example, you might stock in inches but have a preferred unit of measure of feet, or you might stock in each, but have a preferred unit of measure of boxes where the box contains multiple 'eaches'.
* Preferred SKUs are not valid for serial items in controlled locations.
* When quantities are being decremented for items or locations with a preferred SKU, the quantity will be consumed using the preferred SKU first, unless the quantity is less than or equal to the existing stock unit of measure quantity in the location, in which box the stock unit of measure will be used.
Each location each location keeps track of the item's quantity in the SKU unit of measure and its equivalent stock unit of measure that represents any remaining quantity that does not equal one unit of the SKU unit of measure. If an item is stored in a location in multiple SKUs, then a separate record is kept for each SKU with the quantities stored in that SKU unit of measure and its equivalent stock unit of measure. When shipping an item, the shipment can be restricted to only ship items in terms of the SKU that was ordered, while inventory counts are entered in terms of the actual physical SKU so that conversion no longer needs to take place as a part of the counting.
When a quantity is being added to a location and a preferred SKU is being used for either the item or the location, the quantity being added to the location is calculated as the SKU unit of measure using the unit of measure conversion assigned to the alternate unit of measure in program ICMM, Inventory Master Maintenance, for the item. Any quantity that can not be added as a whole number of the SKU unit is stored at the stock unit of measure.
When a quantity is being removed from a location, if the quantity in stock units of measure is less than one unit of the SKU unit of measure and there is enough of the quantity in stock units to satisfy the requirement, then only stock units are removed from the location. Otherwise, if the quantity in stock units is greater than a single unit at the SKU unit of measure, the SKU quantity is removed first and if any quantity is remaining, then that number of stock units is added to the stock unit quantity.
For example, suppose that you had an item with a stock unit of measure of EA (each) and a Preferred SKU unit of measure of B (box) that had a conversion factor of 12. In other words, there are 12 each in a box. The location that you are dealing with has 3 boxes and 2 each of the item on the shelves.
* A transaction comes in that requires 10 each of the item. Since the quantity is less than a box, but is greater than the number of single items, a box is broken down into 12 each, 10 are removed from the quantity for the transaction, and the 2 each remaining are added to the 2 each that already exists in the location. The result is that we now have 2 boxes and 4 each in the location.
* Another transaction comes in that requires 3 each of the item. Since that quantity is less than the number of single items in the location, 3 each are removed from the location. No boxes are touched and the result is that we now have 2 boxes and 1 each in the location.
* A transaction comes in that adds 8 each to the location. Since the quantity is less than a single box, the quantity is added to the 1 each that is in the location. No boxes are touched and the result is that we now have 2 boxes and 9 each in the location.
* A transaction comes in that adds 12 each to the location. Since the quantity is the same as a single box, the quantity is converted to 1 box and added to the quantity of boxes. The result is that we now have 3 boxes and 9 each in the location.
* A transaction comes in that adds 3 each to the location. The quantity is less than a single box, but added to the current number of each items in the location, it equals a box. The result is that we now have 4 boxes and 0 each in the location.