Material properties

Infor MES enables materials with unique characteristics to be classified by additional material properties that can be shared by one or more material type. Up to 30 (thirty) additional properties can be tracked in MES.

Materials of the same material type all vary by the same properties. For example, In the beverage can scenario, there are two material types: bright cans and decorated cans:

Size

The size of the can by capacity:

• 330ml
• 568ml
• 250ml

Gauge

The thickness of the walls of the can.

Neck

The size of the neck of the can, where it tapers into the top end of the can.

This means that every material added to the bright can material type has these properties specified.

Decorated can materials vary by some of the same properties as a bright can but might have additional properties that apply to decorated can only. For example, coating, where a can might have different coatings depending on the contents.

Each material added to the decorated can material type has these properties:

Material Type	Size	Gauge	Neck	Coating
Bright Can	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Decorated Can	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

Material properties are key when making these decisions:

• The quality inspections to be performed on each materials
• The quality specifications to measure against
• The tools to make materials

The material proprieties concept is a powerful way to abstract master data and relate concepts (entities) in the software.