This chapter reviews item sources, which are the suppliers and manufacturers from which you source your purchased items.
Each stock item is assigned to a default supplier
Each stock item is assigned to a default supplier, which is the supplier that will be used by MRP for PO generation. Additional suppliers can be assigned and can be swapped as needed within MRP when you wish to use an alternate supplier.
The supplier line card stores the supplier price and cross-reference info
Against each supplier you can define a “line card” record, which contains the supplier price and cross-reference information such as the supplier description, supplier unit of measure, and unit of measure conversion multiplier. The line card information gets printed on the PO for the benefit of the supplier.
The supplier price establishes inventory values
It is important that you maintain up to date supplier prices on an ongoing basis because the supplier price gets translated into the unit cost at which items are received to inventory. Items are then issued to jobs at inventory cost.
Assign a default manufacturer part number when applicable
If the item must be sourced from a specific manufacturer part number, you can assign a default manufacturer and associated manufacturer part number to the item. MRP will automatically assign the manufacturer part number to the item when POs are generated.
Purchasing by revision requires unique item IDs
The bill of manufacturing requires specific part numbers to insure the engineering integrity of each parent item. If a particular component can be purchased by revision and there is a qualitative difference among revisions, each revision must be represented by a unique item ID so that the correct revision can be assigned to the BOMs where it is used. If a component’s revisions are interchangeable, meaning there is no qualitative difference from on revision to another, a single item ID can be used.
Never use descriptors to substitute for stock items
Never use descriptors, which are non-stock items, to substitute for stock items. The manufacturing process workflow and product costing are not designed to accommodate descriptors. Manufacturing planning is driven by inventory, which requires that all BOM components be stock items.
NOTE: A “stock” item does not literally mean that the item is intended to have stock on hand. It simply means that the item is capable of being stocked.
