Does anyone have an idea to automatically substitute an item A by an item B in production orders ?

If my knowledge are right, Alternative Items are just informations. This feature is not able to modify estimated materials when a shortage occurs.

Hi,
Going by Baan4c4 methods, which i beleive shouldnt be drastically different from that of Baan5, then..
If Item B is an Alternative to Item A in the Session Maintain Alternative Items and if the setting Interchangeable is put to "Yes" then when the Production Order is created or generated, Item A gets replaced by Item B when there is a shortage. This however happens only when an order is generated or created and not during the course of production. Not to forget the setting Interchangeable has to be "Yes".

sk

Hi Sukesh,
Thank you for your info.

I made all the test which are possible to do.
I didn't success.
Look at the file I joint you.
This is the screen I'm using to prameterize Alternative Items.
I tested different scenarios :
Inventory A > 0 and inventory B = 0 ..., I checked replacement to "Yes", Interchangeable to "Yes", I select the "Chain" button .

Maybe one operation missed me.
Do you know the role of the "chain" button ?

Regads,
grleluc

I have also tried for the same but it is not working. Also system can not plan for alternative items.

You are right, this feature is not available in Baan 5.0, infact it should be an inbuilt logic in Enterprise Planing (especially Purchase Plan). It is not even avialable in LN also.






Does anyone have an idea to automatically substitute an item A by an item B in production orders ?

If my knowledge are right, Alternative Items are just informations. This feature is not able to modify estimated materials when a shortage occurs.

The functionality of alternative items:
We can define alternative items for an item through the sesion tiitm1101m000.

What it means is:
If the main item is not there than we can use the alternative items on its place.

How it is used:
It is used by manual intervention . Means system will not use it automatically on its own when the stock for the main item is not there. we need to use it manully except in PCS as given below:


The alternative item functionality is very limited and will not generate demand in mrp and mps planning. The following is an explanation of the alternative item functionality:

The system will never generate outbound for an alternative item. Alternative
items will be used in PRP generation only. It will substitute alternative items in the customized BOM. Standard functionality says that an alternative item will be automatically issued in place of another item only through PCS. If the item is flagged interchangeable through the session tiitm1101m000 Maintain alternative Items, the substitution will be made without user intervention if the original item is not available.

Through SFC and SLS, however, the substitution can be made only after
the user is prompted and instructs the system to make the change.

For example; through SLS when entering a sales order, the user will be
prompted that there is insufficient stock for the original item. A popup box
contains the option to Display Alternates. Upon selection of that option,
the sales order item will change to the alternate item selected in the
display. The same scenario holds true for SFC, for example, when trying
to issue materials (session ticst0101m000), a user can zoom on an item and
display alternative items, but must manually change the items on the
estimated materials.

In summary, alternative item use is only planned when generating PRP,
and not planned for in the case of standard items (in MRP, MPS, etc.)

Hi

I dont know about baan 4 but alternate item functionality available in LN. system will chk automatically the alernate item if we maintain them in their BOM and if main item is not present system should pick the avalible alternate item if available.
Even that if the item is backflush the system will backflush the alternate item automatically.

I guess, if one is looking just from using alternate item in production material issues then it should be fairly simple to do so even in Baan IV. All one need to do is change the estimated material. Though this may result in some production variance. I am referring a system modification here.

I think there is alternate item functionality in ERP Ln, but that is mostly designed like say, when Item B in a BOM needs to be substituted for Item A. But this functionality has a limitation, it will start planning for Item B at the effective date and not when the stock of Item A gets depleted. We did modification and were able to provide the item effectivity solution in Baan IV.

Arvind Patil

I think there is alternate item functionality in ERP Ln, but that is mostly designed like say, when Item B in a BOM needs to be substituted for Item A. But this functionality has a limitation, it will start planning for Item B at the effective date and not when the stock of Item A gets depleted.

LN plans for standard items considering the inventory of the 'alternate items'. We have to set the horizon for alternate material correctly in Scenario session. Also it considers the alternate items in warehousing orders, but we need to select the 'handle alternate items' field in the 'generate outbound advice' session manually. I hope this will clarify the above queries.

Anyone know if you can change the BOM item based on a machine? We have molds that are supposed to be ideally but they are not. Therefore we need to change an item on the BOM based on the mold/machine for the same end product.

Hi,

Alternate Material can not be backflushed automatically unless you add such item in the Estimated Material of the Production Order. Automatic adding of Estimated material depends on some setting which are as follows:

1). In Implemented Software Component under oncept folder, Use Up and Alternate Material must be checked.
2). In the Shop Floor Control Parameter, under Material/Hours folder, Automatic Select Alternatives can be kept either 'At Release' or 'At Generation'
3). Against the BOM line you need to maintain Alternative Item with Use Up or some priority.

Based on these three set up when a production order is created or released system will automatically replace the esmtimated material with the alternate item. However, some condition will be applied:
1). There should be no inventory of the original estimated material.
2) There should be full inventory of the alternate material.
Once estimated material is replaced with the alternate material, it will be considered for backflushing.

Regards
Suvesh
Mobile: +91-9790757138