Location and TWL item records

When you implement TWL, you must create item [product] records initially in the system using these setups:

  • Product Setup
  • Product Catalog Setup
  • Product Warehouse Product Setup
  • Product Warehouse Description Setup

Then, you must run WL Initialize Warehouse Administration to release the records to TWL. However, you must consider item records when planning your layout and locations.

When a kit, serial, lot, or hazardous material item is released to TWL, related information is included with the interface file. Item characteristics are used by TWL to determine how to route item flow, when to gather specific information, and what type of processing is required.

Nonstock items

When an item does not exist in Product Setup, the Product Catalog Setup records are reviewed by TWL. If the item is not found in either record, the product is assumed to be a nonstock. Use the inventory report, Items (Non Stock), to monitor the nonstock items in your warehouse. You can sort this inventory report by item and location.

Prebuilt kit items

The Product Setup record contains fields specific to a kit item. Complete these fields as needed:

  • Kit Type
  • OE/BP Kit Rollup
  • Component

In Product Warehouse Product Setup-WL Setup, specify the Kit Build Department for the parent product.

When kit item records are released to TWL, a prebuilt kit is automatically flagged for assembly on the Kit Detail record. This record routes the work order to the kit build department. View Kit Details from the TWL Configuration-Item master record.

Labor items

The selection made for parameter 2028, Labor Items, determines whether Order Drop Manager skips the line or creates a pick record for the line.

Hazardous items

Use these areas to track which products are considered hazardous and require a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) be made available to employees and customers:

  • Product Setup
  • Product Hazardous Info Setup
  • SM Extended Totals Hazardous Report
  • Product Hazardous Materials (MSDS) Report

Hazardous designations are made by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and its worldwide counterparts.

The MSDS designation for a product is released to the TWL Configuration-Item record. Use the MSDS lookup button to view the information from the TWL Configuration-Item master record.

To have the packer scan the MSDS sheet before closing the carton containing the MSDS item, select Mail Later in the MSDS Print field of SA Administrator Options-Products-Defaults. The sheet number is validated by TWL against the Item master record. To ignore the MSDS sheet requirement, select Picking for this option.

Lot items

Lot numbers are captured when the item is received. If you set parameter 7506, Allow Multiple Lots Per Location/Pallet, to Yes, you can store an unlimited number of lots per location. If you select No for parameter 7506, then TWL uses locations to distinguish different lots, and you can store one lot per location.

In a pallet location, each lot must be stored on a separate pallet. If a location can hold multiple pallets, several lots can be stored in the same location; however, each pallet must contain only one lot.

When lot items are released to TWL, the TWL Configuration-Item master record establishes preset defaults. To view lot Information, use the Search pane to specify criteria to search for an existing record. In the grid, select a predefined lot item.

Serial items

Serial information is accessible from the TWL Configuration-Item master record.

For all TWL warehouses, select No in the Force Lot/Serial Input field in SA-Administrator Options-Documents-Sales Orders-Entry Settings. Serial numbers are usually captured when the item is packed.

These inventory reports include detail information about serial items:

  • Items: Serial Items Report
  • Inventory By Location Report
  • Inventory By Stock Number Report

Item cube, height, width, and length

The TWL Configuration-Item master record contains fields for item dimensions based on dimensions from Product Setup, which updates the TWL Configuration-Item master record. The cube is calculated as the length * height * width. Product Setup allows for 5 decimal places for Cube and Weight fields.

All dimensions for all items and locations in the system and TWL must be in a similar unit of measure. For example, if you calculate cubic volume in inches, use inches for all items and locations in both warehouses. Use the smallest equivalent unit of measure relevant to your items.

Units of measure

The stocking unit should be the base unit of measure [each, box, and so on] for a product. Throughout Distribution SX.e, we recommend that the stocking unit be the smallest unit in which a product can be sold, purchased, or stocked. This is because all other units are based off the stocking unit.

In TWL, the default selling unit of measure (UOM) for individual units is Each. Inventory is handled in TWL by this individual unit. If you buy, sell, and stock an item in different units of measure, set up your TWL system to recognize the different units of measure. Then, cross-reference them. The appropriate quantity is calculated by TWL and those quantities show on the RF.

These parameters control multiple units of measure:

  • 3603, Counting
  • 3604, Material handling
  • 5755, Put away
  • 6002, Receiving
  • 7000, Picking

When multiple units of measure are set by the respective parameter, the equivalent quantity for the different unit of measure is computed by TWL. For example, you buy, sell, and stock liquid soap in the individual unit, Each. Your vendor frequently sends the soap in 4-packs, 6-packs, and 12-packs, which you store in the same location. A picker has an order for 24 individual units [Each] of liquid soap. However, to save time, a pack of 12 units [doz] is picked. The quantity to be picked is calculated and shown. Rather than extracting 24 individual units, the picker extracts two 12-packs.

If you must pick two different units of the same item, specify the item on two different lines. For example, you are running a promotional for liquid soap. If the customer buys four, you add a free container to the shipment. In this case, you specify the four containers on one line and the free container on another line. The picker can select a 4-pack for the first line and a single unit for the complementary promotional. If the picker needs to break a package to obtain an individual unit, the remaining units remain in the bin as individual units [Each]. The inventory is maintained by TWL in the lowest common denominator.

Caution: 

TWL is an inventory system and quantity is managed in stocking units. Inventory is also managed to two decimal places. Picking is managed in inventory units because picking is an inventory process. When the pick request is created for TWL, the request is converted to a stocking unit quantity. Although the picking screen in the RF may suggest a pick based on the ordered unit, the actual pick quantity is stored in stocking units. When the pick information updates the ship quantity on the Distribution SX.e stock order, the quantity is converted from the stocking unit pick amount to the selling unit amount.

If you do not have your stocking unit as the smallest unit, you may encounter a rounding offset that may cause an extra decimal amount. For example, an order of 3 may record as 3.02. We recommend you resolve the unit setup for the item. However, to work around this issue in the short term, you can use the option, Whole Order Unit Ship, in TWL Configuration-Item-Miscellaneous-Outbound. If this option is selected, and the pick is not consolidated, the suggested pick quantity is rounded to the nearest whole number. Thus, the picker does not have to make the rounding decision. Selecting this option also causes the ship quantity on an order to always be rounded to a whole number.

If TWL parameter 7000, Multiple UOM During Picking, is set to Yes to permit picking with multiple units of measure, then the validation during RF Packing-Order/Pack Verification is based on the selling unit. Parameter 7000 may be set to Yes, and the Whole Order Unit Ship option selected for the item in TWL Configuration-Item-Miscellaneous-Outbound. If so, the stock quantity picked is rounded to the nearest whole selling unit to be validated in RF Packing-Order/Pack Verification.

Item cross-references

A cross-reference is product that can be exchanged for a stock product based on the type of relationship existing between the two products. In TWL, you can use the Cross-Reference function to perform setup, change, and remove cross-reference records. Typically this cross reference is a barcode record. The cross-reference function is available from TWL Web module and the RF.

See Creating barcode cross-references

Because barcode cross-references are item-specific, you cannot set up duplicate cross-references for multiple items. If the item is bar-coded with a number that is different than your item number, then you can create cross-references in Product Extended Product Cross Reference Setup. You must ensure the Create Barcode Cross Reference Table in WL option is selected in WL Administration Initialize Warehouse to release the Product Extended Product Cross Reference Setup information to TWL.

If you plan to use UPC barcodes, then set up cross-reference records to link the barcodes to your item records. The Product UPC Number Setup record is released to the TWL Configuration-Item master record so that you can receive by UPC number; otherwise, the item is treated as a nonstock by TWL.

The management report, Vendor Cross Reference Report, shows the cross-references between your vendor part number and your item number. Sort by vendor, vendor item number, or item number and run the sort for a particular zone and aisle or for the entire warehouse.

Item record changes

After the warehouse is live, the Bin Loc #1 and Bin Loc #2 fields are not accessible from Product Warehouse Product Setup. These locations are now controlled by TWL and are synchronized with the system.

The system controls Product Setup updates or deletions to ensure data integrity across the two systems. If you inactivate a item on the Product Setup record, then the item is also inactivated on the TWL Configuration-Item master record.

The system controls deletions of Product Warehouse Product Setup records.

If you use the Product Administration Change Product Report to change an item name, then the new name is updated in the TWL Configuration-Item master record. It is also changed in all locations that contain the item. Any inactive WL Transaction Inquiry records are not changed when item names are changed to expedite the process.

If you change any of these fields in the system, then a release is created to update the corresponding TWL record:

  • Stocking Unit
  • Status Type
  • Kit Type
  • MSDS Flag
  • Weight
  • Length
  • Width
  • Height
  • Product Category

The WL Entry Batch Adjust Inventory Report updates the system.

The fields in the WL Setup view of Product Warehouse Product Setup are updated by TWL.

The system is updated by TWL when the quantity in TWL is zero.