Product Line Setup - General overview

Product > Setup > Product Line

Use this function to group your products by product line so that you can establish parameters to help reduce impulsive purchasing decisions.

Prerequisites

You must complete these setups before entering product line information:

  • Vendor Setup
  • Product Warehouse Description Setup
  • SA Table Code Value Setup (Buyer)
  • SA Sales Use Tax Setup (Jurisdictions for all tax groups)

A vendor may that require you to order an assortment of a product line simultaneously to qualify for an economic incentive. Line buying encourages you to purchase a greater quantity than is required to obtain the incentive or to place the order.

This may:

  • reduce your incoming costs
  • help you sell products competitively
  • meet the customers’ demands

It is not the most efficient way to stock your shelves. Randomly ordering products to get a discount causes expensive purchasing decisions and excess inventory.

Defining product lines

The line buying parameters define targets, review dates, and default information for each product line. Product lines are target-driven. If you define the target, you have defined the product line. If the target is $1,000 of a vendor’s goods, your product line consist of all products that are purchased from the vendor. If the target is a quantity of a certain product, that product is the product line. The only time a product line is not target-driven is when a vendor does not allow you to mix products on one purchase order. Items that must be placed on their own purchase order are a separate product line.

Setting purchasing parameters

Specifying purchasing parameters provides the Product Administration Month End Processing Report and the RRAR replenishment processes an alternative to the order quantity calculation for a product line. The Product Warehouse Description Setup level is where carrying cost (K cost) and the cost to replenish the product line (R cost) are typically applied. When purchasing parameters are defined on both records, the Product Lines Setup record overrides the record set in Product Warehouse Description Setup.

Usage/Ord Qty Override reasons are set up in SA Table Code Value Setup and are limited to Human, Minimum Weeks Supply, and Maximum Weeks Supply. When Product Administration Month End Processing Report is generated and the product line’s purchasing parameter record exists for the Product Line Setup record, the Override Reason is updated to Human. The Order Qty field is not changed.

If you specify a vendor ARP in Product Warehouse Product Setup - General, you must specify an ARP vendor number and product line. This combines the line buying parameters with your warehouse product records that contain ordering controls that are calculated by Product Administration Month End Processing Report.