Units in Manufacturing

Master data

In Infor LN Manufacturing, you can define exceptions in these sessions:

  • Engineering Bill of Material (tiedm1110m000)
  • Bill of Material (tibom1110m000)
  • Item - Routings (tirou1101m000)
  • Routing Operations (tirou1102m000)
  • Operation Assignments (tiapl1510m000)
  • Generic Assembly Bill of Material (Assembly) (tiapl2510m000)
  • Assembly BOM and Operations (tiapl2520m000)

Units in JSC

If an item’s BOM and routing are the same for various units, you can combine the units into one production order. If the routing or BOM differs for effectivity units due to the definition of exceptions, you cannot combine those units in one production order. Order Planning in Infor LN Enterprise Planning combines units, if possible.

The units of a production order are stored in the order distribution. In the background, all activities of a production order are performed at unit level. The data that is available on order level for items without unit is also available for items with effectivity units. You can use the Production Order Distribution (tisfc0105m000) session to get information about the units. The session displays the units that:

  • Are ordered
  • Are reported as complete on the last operation
  • Are delivered to a warehouse
  • Are rejected
  • Must be backflushed
  • Are backflushed

In addition, the Production Order Distribution (tisfc0105m000) session displays, by unit, the number of ordered items at the time of release. The session also displays the lot code that is assigned to the unit when delivering the item to a warehouse. If various items with the same unit are assigned to multiple lots, the last lot is displayed.

In the following situations you can add or change the order distribution:

  • If the production order has the Created status, you can manually specify a unit distribution, which is especially relevant for orders that are manually created.
  • If the ordered quantity is changed, you can change the ordered quantity in the Production Order (tisfc0101m100) session, even if an JSC production order is already released. In that case, the changed quantity is by default distributed over the existing unit distribution in the Production Order Distribution (tisfc0105m000) session. To change the ordered quantities, on the appropriate menu, you can click Change Ordered Quantity. However, the total ordered quantity of all units must equal the ordered quantity of the production order. If, for example, you have an order quantity of 10 pieces, five for unit 1 and five for unit 2, you can change the order quantity to 14 pieces. LN changes the order distribution: seven pieces for unit 1, and seven pieces for unit 2. If you click the Change Ordered Quantity option, you can edit the Quantity Ordered fields in the order distribution. For example, you can have six pieces for unit 1, and eight pieces for unit 2.

Report operations as complete

If a production order consists of units, operations must be reported as complete by unit. The unit that you enter must exist in the order distribution.

Based on the data that you enter in the Report Operations Completed (tisfc0130m000) session, LN updates the quantities in the order distribution. The order distribution, however, does not contain information at operation level. As a result, not every action performed in the Report Operations Completed (tisfc0130m000) session triggers an update of the order distribution.

Only when the last operation is completed, the production is completed. When you complete the last operation, the quantities in the order distribution are also updated. However, if you reject an item on the first operation, the item is rejected for further production. As a result, rejections on every operation result in an update of the rejected quantities in the order distribution.

When you complete the final operation, you can transfer the end product to inventory. In that case, LN updates the quantity delivered in the order distribution accordingly.

Report orders as complete

If a production order has a unit distribution, you must report the order as complete by unit. By reporting the quantities as complete in the Report Orders Completed (tisfc0520m000) session, the order distribution is updated.

Estimated material distribution

An item with a specific unit requests material for the same unit. If multiple units are combined in one production order, material for multiple units is required. For every unit, a separate set of estimated material is required. The only difference between the separate sets is the unit number.

You can find the estimated materials by unit in the Estimated Materials (ticst0101m000) session. An estimated material line represents the total estimated quantity of the item concerned.

The units of the estimated material are stored in the Estimated Material Distribution (ticst0508m000) session, which you can start by clicking Estimated Material Distribution on the appropriate menu of the Estimated Materials (ticst0101m000) session.

Units in as-built headers

When a production order for a serialized item is created, LN can generate an as-built structure. The as-built structure consists of an as-built header and as-built components. An as-built header represents a unique end product in a production order. The header is identified by the production order number and a serial number that is generated based on a mask.

When the as-built structure is generated, a unit number is assigned based on the order distribution.

The unit number is a default, which you can change. Changes in the unit information are reflected in the order distribution. If a unit number that is not part of the order distribution, is assigned to an as-built header, the order distribution is updated. A new line is created for the unit.

Units in as-built components

Just as for estimated materials, units are assigned to as-built components. You can change the units. Changes in the as-built components are not reflected in the estimated materials.

Unit effectivity and PCS projects

Customized items are part of a PCS project. Unit effectivity is also available for customized items. As a result, you can create exceptions for lines, routings, and routing operations of customized items. You can also define units for customized end items.

Generate project structure

When you enter a standard item with order policy To Order on a sales order line, you can generate a project structure for the item. Instead of entering a standard item, you can also enter a effectivity unit on the sales order line.

Link unit to project part

When you select a unit on the sales order line, and you generate the project structure, the unit is linked to the related project part.

Example

The order policy of the conveyor is changed to To Order. A sales order line is entered for unit 9584.

For this sales order line, a project structure is generated, which means that the item is customized. The item is part of project 123001032.

For the conveyer, a project part with the unit information is generated automatically, which you can view in the Project Parts (tipcs2111m000) session.

Copy exceptions

When you copy a standard item to a customized item, related exceptions are also copied. LN copies exceptions that are defined for the following entities:

  • BOM
  • Routing
  • Routing operations
  • Item – purchase business partner
  • Sourcing strategy

Copy item settings

The item settings, defined in the general item data, which are related to unit effectivity, are copied from the standard item to the customized item when the project structure is generated.

Unit-effective estimated cost

When a project structure is generated, you can assign a unit to the project part manually or automatically. The estimated cost for the project is calculated for the unit that is defined for the project part.

Units and PCF

In PCF, you can define effectivity units for generic items with order system SIC, Planned, or Manual. Generic items with order system FAS are handled by Assembly Planning and Assembly Control.

You cannot define exceptions in PCF. As a result, you cannot configure a generic BOM or routing using exceptions. In PCF, constraints are used in configuring generic items.

Enterprise Planning, however, explodes unit information to lower-level components. For these lower level components, you can define exceptions. If, for example, a manufactured item is part of a generic item, you can use exceptions to configure the manufactured item.

If a project structure is generated for a generic item on a sales order line, LN creates a customized item for the generic item. On the sales order line, the customized item replaces the generic item. For this top-level customized item, LN generates a project part. The unit that you entered on the sales order line is linked to the project part by LN. After generation of the project structure, PCS functionality applies, which is described in the previous section.

Often, in the structure of a generic item, standard items are present with order policy To Order. If the project structure is generated, these items are also customized. However, exceptions related to these items, for example, exceptions linked to BOM and routing, are not copied to the customized items.

Units in Engineering Data Management

Unit effectivity is also supported in Engineering Data Management. First, engineering items and engineering BOMs are defined in EDM. After approval, the engineering items are copied to items in the general item data, and the engineering BOMs are copied to production BOMs.

Defining several occurrences of an item is typically an engineering task, in which effectivity units can be useful. You can assign units to engineering items, and link exceptions to engineering BOM lines. If you link units to an engineering item, and then copy the engineering item to an item in the general item data, the units are copied too. If an engineering BOM is copied (finalized) to a production BOM, the exceptions are copied as well.

Example

A new conveyor is engineered in EDM. The new conveyor’s name is conveyor-NE (new edition). Effectivity series are defined for this item in the Items - Effectivity Series (tcuef0101m000) session. You must select the Engineering Item check box in the Items - Effectivity Series (tcuef0101m000) session, because an engineering item is involved.

Units are generated for the series.

You can define exceptions in the engineering BOM.

If the engineering item is copied to an item in the item general data, a message appears that asks whether the units must be re-linked to the target item.

If you click Yes, you must enter data in the Relink Item - Effectivity Series (tcuef0201m000) session.

The result appears in the Effectivity Units (tcuef0502m000) session. The units are now related to conveyor-NE, a non-engineering item.

After you finalize the BOM, the exceptions are also copied. Those exceptions still refer to the relinked units.

After you copy and relink the units to an item in the general item data, units are no longer linked to the engineering item. However, you can still use the effectivity units in the engineering process for later revisions. In the exceptions of the engineering BOM, you can refer to units that are relinked to the item in the general item data.

You can also create new units for the engineering item, and relink those units as described previously.

Units in APL and ASC

Assembly Planning and Assembly Control control generic items with order system FAS. Those generic items cannot be used in PCF.

In APL, you can define exceptions for the following:

  1. Operation Assignments
  2. Generic bill of material (which is another BOM than the generic BOM in PCF)
  3. Flattened assembly parts and operations

You can enter the effectivity unit on a product variant in APL. This variant differs from the one used in PCF. If the product variant is created on a sales order line, the product variant’s unit is taken from the sales order.

Based on engineering data and planning data, APL generates assembly orders that are controlled by ASC. An assembly order has a link to a product variant. The related effectivity unit is displayed on the assembly order.

LN does not communicate unit information to the components (assembly parts) that are required for the assembly order. The assembly parts are always allocated and issued for unit 0. In an assembly environment, effectivity units are used only to vary the content of the assembly orders. The lower level components are standard items for which no unit information is stored.