These quick start steps will help you jump into using Production Floor Inventory Tracking. These steps assume you have already purchased and installed the Inventory Tracking module and the Advanced Inventory Management modules.
Setting up Your Warehouses
Under Production | Production Setup | General,
Confirm that the checkbox labeled “Enable Inventory Tracking” is checked.
Confirm that the checkbox labeled “Enable Warehouses” is checked.
Check the box labeled “Enable Stockroom Barcode Scanning” if you intend to support barcode scanning for materials management.
Check the box labeled “Require Scans on Stockroom Releases” if you want to require barcode scans before any transfer documents are created when materials are transferred out of the stockroom.
Check the box labeled “Require Scans on Stockroom Re-Captures” if you want to require barcode scans before any transfer documents are created when materials are transferred into the stockroom from another warehouse. This option does not affect materials received via a Receiving Document.
Under Production | Production Setup | Warehouses, for each division (or the company if you aren’t using divisions)
Create any additional warehouse groups needed. (Note: The top-level warehouse for a company/division is already a group, so you usually won’t need to create others unless you have multiple inventory locations in that division/company.)
Create your stockroom warehouse(s) with a unique name.
Create your Kanban warehouse(s) with a unique name.
Create any standard warehouses with a unique name.
Edit each warehouse group. Set the Default Production Warehouse. If you have a Kanban warehouse, you will normally use that. Otherwise, choose a standard warehouse.
Setting up Your Initial Inventory Characteristics and Levels
Once you have your warehouses defined, the next step is to enter the starting inventory that exists at each warehouse.
This procedure assumes you have starting inventory levels to enter. If you do not, you can generate inventory worksheets to enter your inventory by clicking on Reports | Inventory | Inventory Worksheets. All inventory worksheets are organized by warehouse.
Navigate to the inventory setup screen located at Production | Inventory.
Choose Group by Warehouse to organize the parts by Warehouse rather than by Part.
Select the first warehouse from the warehouse filter.
Click Edit. For each item in the warehouse inventory, enter or verify the following items.
Not Valid – Check this box if this part is not valid at this warehouse. If a part is not valid at a given warehouse, it will not display in parts based selection lists for that warehouse. It will also be considered not valid and removed from part-based selection lists for the warehouse group containing the item, even if it is carried in other warehouses in that group. None of the other fields may be adjusted for items that are Not Valid.
On-Hand – Enter the current quantity physically on hand in that warehouse.
Location – (optional) Enter or select the location of the inventory in the warehouse. This may be a shelf number, a bin number, or just a text description of the location.
Red Stocking Level – Enter the red (danger) stocking level for this item in this warehouse.
Yellow Stocking Level – Enter the yellow (caution) level for this item in this warehouse.
Re-Order Point – Enter the re-order point for this item in this warehouse.
Re-Order Quantity – Enter the re-order quantity for this item in this warehouse.
Click Save to save the inventory stocking levels.
Repeat for each of the warehouses with inventory.
Quoting Using ProFITS
The only thing that needs to be done to quote with ProFITS is to select the appropriate warehouse (or warehouse group). Usually, you will choose a warehouse group for quoting and a production warehouse for production. In most cases, the latter will default when you choose the warehouse group.
To quote using ProFITS:
During new Order/Estimate creation, choose the Estimating Warehouse at the top of the screen. Alternately, or for existing orders, click on the Production Tab to set these values.
Select the Estimating Warehouse, normally the warehouse group. The estimating warehouse will be used when displaying the quantity available displayed for inventoried parts.
The Production Warehouse will default unless you don’t have one set up for a warehouse group. This is normally a Kanban warehouse (if you are using them). If there is no default or you want to change where the order will be produced, change this value here.
As needed, you can change the value on a line-item by line-item basis. By default these take their value from the order and don’t need to be changed.
Stockroom Inventory Transfers to Fulfill Pending Orders
One of the primary functions of the stockroom manager is to facilitate and manage the transfer of materials from the stockroom to the Kanban or other production warehouse. The Stockroom Transfer Screen was designed to make this easy.
The steps to use the Stockroom Transfer Screen to fulfill inventory requirements for pending orders are:
Open to the Stockroom Transfer Screen by clicking on Production | Stockroom Transfer.
Select the stockroom as the Source Warehouse.
Select a Kanban or standard warehouse as the Production Warehouse.
Select the option Show Available < 0 (or Show Available < Minimum). This will filter the inventory list to show only items with active reservations that exceed the quantity already released.
You may wish to print a Stockroom Transfers Pending Report that corresponds to your display. Click Print | Stockroom Transfers Pending on the action toolbar. The following options should be pre-set for you:
Choose the Stockroom as the Source Warehouse.
Choose the Kanban or standard warehouse as the Production Warehouse.
Choose Show Available < 0 (or Show Available < Minimum) as the transfers to show.
Pick the associated items and return to the screen.
Enter a Transfer Quantity for each item being released/transferred to the production inventory. This will automatically add the item to the Resulting Transfer Document section of the form. Note: The transfer direction arrow will indicate the material is coming into the production warehouse.
If you have the barcode option enabled for materials release, click the Scan Part Out button and scan the barcode for each item you picked. As you scan the barcode, the Quantity Scanned column in the Resulting Transfer Document is incremented.
When you are done, click the Transfer (Create Documents) button to create the transfer documents and move the inventory’s warehouse in Control.
Repeat for each applicable source and/or production warehouse.
Inventory Transfers back to Stockroom
When materials are release for an order, some of the materials may be un-utilized for a variety of reasons. It is often necessary to transfer these excess materials back to the stockroom.
The steps to use the Stockroom Transfer Screen to transfer inventory back into the stockroom are:
Open to the Stockroom Transfer Screen by clicking on Production | Stockroom Transfer.
Select the stockroom as the Source Warehouse.
Select a Kanban or standard warehouse as the Production Warehouse.
Select the option Show Available > Minimum. This will filter the inventory list to show only surplus items in the production warehouse.
Track down the associated materials!
Enter a Transfer Quantity for each item being released/transferred back into the stockroom. This will automatically add the item to the Resulting Transfer Document section of the form. Note: The transfer direction arrow will indicate the material is coming into the stockroom.
If you have the barcode option enabled for materials recapture, click the Scan Part In button and scan the barcode for each item you picked. As you scan the barcode, the Quantity Scanned column in the Resulting Transfer Document is incremented.
When you are done, click the Transfer (Create Documents) button to create the transfer documents and move the inventory’s warehouse in Control.
Repeat for each applicable production warehouse.
See Also