Certain activities may need to be performed on production materials before work on a production order can begin. The exact nature of these activities varies based on the material and production order. In some scenarios, the material must be produced via its own production activity so that it can then be consumed in the initial production order. For example, if a blend of spices or a flavoured syrup is used in the production of a Food Manufacturing & Distribution item, the spice blend or syrup must be created before the intermediate can be produced. In other instances, the activity may be more basic. Perhaps a component needs to be measured so that the correct quantity is added to a production order. When dealing with frozen raw materials, an ingredient may need to be removed from the freezer and allowed to thaw for a specified amount of time before it can be used in production.
If a procedure must take place on a production order's components before they can be consumed, set it up as a pre-process type. Assign pre-process type codes to BOM lines. When a production order is created from a BOM, Anywhere Mobility Solutions assigned pre-process codes are used to generate pre-process activities.
Blending orders
A pre-process type can be set up to represent a blending activity, procedures in which a separate processing activity must take place to produce the material that will then be used in production. In the example above, the spice blend and syrup are both the result of blending activities.
If a pre-process activity is generated from a pre-process type set up as a blending process, a related production order for the blending activity is automatically created. There are two ways in which these blending orders can be generated:
Per Order activities always have their own blending order. If five pre-process activities are generated for the same item, five separate blending orders are created.
Per Item activities have a single blending order for each item. If five pre-process activities are generated for the same item, a single blending order that consolidates these activities is created.
A pre-process type may not represent a blending activity. In the example above, measuring or thawing materials are not blending activities. When a pre-process activity is generated from a pre-process type that does not have a defined blending process, it stands alone and no related production orders are created.
Pre-process replenishment areas
Pre-process activities can only take place in a warehouse set up to use replenishment areas. Accordingly, a production order that requires a pre-process activity involves two replenishment areas: one for the production order and one for the pre-process activity.
A replenishment area for pre-process activities is set up in the same way as a standard replenishment area. However, while the settings are identical, the setup occurs in a separate page, and these records are identified as applying only to pre-process activities. A replenishment area set up for pre-process activities cannot be used for other production orders.
Once pre-process replenishment areas are defined, associate them with the location's standard production replenishment areas. The same pre-process replenishment area can be assigned to more than one standard replenishment area.
Registering activities
When a pre-process activity is generated from a production order, it is assigned the pre-process replenishment area defined for the production order's replenishment area. If a blending order is created from the pre-process activity, it is also assigned this pre-process replenishment area.
Materials can be transferred into a pre-process replenishment area's inbound bin through a bin movement. In addition, when an associated blending order exists, Anywhere Mobility Solutions output recorded for that order is posted to the inbound bin.
When a pre-process activity is registered, the specified quantity of the item in the pre-process replenishment area's inbound bin is moved to the outbound bin. A pre-process activity can be registered several times. For example, if 10 units of an item are moved into an inbound bin to meet the requirements of a pre-process activity, you could change the quantity to process on the relevant activity line to seven units, then register the activity to transfer those seven units to the outbound bin. The activity would remain open, allowing you to process the remaining three units.
When the full quantity of the pre-process activity has been registered, the program deletes the activity. Depending on setup, you can instruct the system to automatically complete a pre-process activity with an associated blending order when the blending order is finished. An activity can also be deleted manually if you want to register less than the initially specified process quantity.
The materials moved to a pre-process activity's output bin are used as components in the production order from which the activity was generated, and must be transferred to that order's input bin through a bin movement. Here, these materials may be consumed when production is reported. If a production order is deleted while all or a portion of the pre-processed item remains in its inbound bin, the program automatically transfers this item back to the pre-process replenishment area's outbound bin, where it is available for movement when it appears in another production order.