This chapter explains the role that stock items play within bills of manufacturing and how they are properly used and set up.
Each BOM parent is an M item
Each BOM parent must be first set up as an ‘M’ (manufactured) item in the Stock Items screen. A BOM parent can also be used as a component in another BOM, in which case it functions as a subassembly.
Each purchased item is a P item
Purchased items are used as BOM components and can be used across multiple BOMs. Each such item must be set up as a ‘P’ (purchased) item in the Stock Items screen.
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.
Item specifications drive sales, purchasing, and inventory control
Item specifications drive sales, purchasing, and inventory control.
•Item price and tax information flow through to sales order entry.
•Item sourcing information, including suppliers, supplier prices, and manufacturer part numbers, flow through to PO generation.
•Item locations and lot/serial numbers drive inventory control activities such as stock counts and stock transfers.
Item specificity is a key manufacturing principle
It is vitally important that any variation in any item must be represented by a unique item ID. This is an absolute requirement in order for product costing, inventory control, MRP, and job release to work properly. Here are some examples:
Raw vs. Processed Version
If a part can be raw or processed, such as plated or painted, the raw version and the processed version each require a unique item ID.
Purchase Item Revision
If a purchased item has different revisions, a unique item ID is required to distinguish one revision from another. Here is the basic guideline to follow:
•If using a particular revision for a component is an engineering requirement for a parent item, each revision must be represented with a unique item ID for specificity within the BOM.
•If different revisions are interchangeable, can be freely used in any BOM, do not need separate inventory tracking, and can be purchased based on best price and availability, only then should a single item ID be used.
Manufacturer Part No
If a purchased item must be sourced from a specific manufacturer part number as an engineering requirement, a unique item ID is required that corresponds solely with that one manufacturer part number.
NOTE: You should only assign multiple manufacturer part numbers to the same item when those part numbers are completely interchangeable and you can freely purchase whichever version has the best availability and price.
Blemished Item
It an item is blemished and needs reworking, the blemished version must be given a unique item ID to distinguish it from the pristine version.
Used Item
If a used item is returned from a customer, the used version must be given a unique ID to distinguish it from the pristine version.
Remanufactured Item
If a remanufactured version of an item is made, it must be given its own unique item ID to distinguish it from the original version.
Use one-off items for custom manufacturing
When manufactured items are customized for each sales order, either by copying and modifying a model BOM or creating a custom BOM from scratch, one-off item IDs are generated automatically during quote entry using the One-Off Item Generator. See the Custom Manufacturing guide for details.
Item ID Change
The Utilities – ID Changes – Item ID Change screen can be used to change an item ID across all tables where it is used. You can use this screen to reorganize your item ID numbering, if so desired. Keep the following points in mind.
•Item ID characters do not need significance as they might have in the past when item lookups were primitive and each character identified a particular attribute. It is better to incorporate attributes into the item description rather than the item ID.
•It is much easier to work with shorter ID’s in general. Phone numbers, for example, are purposely limited to seven characters because research has shown that people can recognize numbers up to that length, but struggle remembering longer numbers.
•Alpha prefixes can be used to sort and group related items on lists and lookups.
•Use alpha suffixes to distinguish between different versions of the same item. For example, if you have a pristine version and a used version of a manufactured item, append a ‘U’ or some other character on the end to distinguish the used version from the pristine version. This way both versions get listed together on lookups and reports.
