Pre-Process Activities

It may be that certain activities must be performed on production materials before work on a production order can commence. The exact nature of these activities varies based on the material and production order. In some scenarios, it may be that 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 we use a blend of spices or a flavored syrup in the production of a food item, we would need to create the spice blend or syrup before we can produce the intermediate. In other instances, the activity may be more basic than a separate production process. Perhaps a component needs to be measured so that the correct quantity is added to a production order. When dealing with frozen raw materials, it might be necessary that an ingredient 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, it can be set up as a pre-process type. Pre-process type codes are then assigned to BOM lines. When a production order is created from a BOM, any 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. These are 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 would both be the result of blending activities.

If a pre-process activity is generated from a pre-process type that is set up as a blending process, a related production order for the blending activity will be automatically created. There are 2 ways in which these blending orders can be generated:

• Per Order activities will always have their own blending order. If we generate 5 pre-process activities for the same item, 5 separate blending orders will be created, as well.
• Per Item activities will have a single blending order for each item. If we generate 5 pre-process activities for the same item, a single blending order that consolidates these activities will be created.

A pre-process type may not represent a blending activity. In the example above, the measuring or thawing of 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 that has been set up to utilize replenishment areas. Accordingly, a production order that requires a pre-process activity will involve 2 replenishment areas: 1 for the production order and 1 for the pre-process activity.

A replenishment area that exists for pre-process activities is set up in the same manner as a standard replenishment area. However, while the settings are identical, the setup occurs in a separate window, and these records are identified as applying only to pre-process activities. A replenishment area that has been set up for pre-process activities can not be used for other production orders.

Once pre-process replenishment areas have been defined, they can be associated to 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 that has been defined for the production order's replenishment area. If a blending order is created from the pre-process activity, it will be assigned this pre-process replenishment area, as well.

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, any output that is recorded for that order will be 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 multiple times. If we move 10 units of an item into an inbound bin to meet the requirements of a pre-process activity, we could change the quantity to process on the relevant activity line to 7 units, then register the activity to transfer those 7 units to the outbound bin. The activity would remain open, allowing us to process the remaining 3 units.

When the full quantity of the pre-process activity has been registered, the activity is deleted by the program. Depending on setup, it is possible to 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 manually deleted if the user wishes to register less than the initially specified process quantity.

The materials that are moved to a pre-process activity's output bin will be used as components in the production order from which the activity was generated, and must be transferred to that order's input bin though 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 will automatically transfer this item back to the pre-process replenishment area's outbound bin, where it will be available for movement when it appears in another production order.