HOW TO: 3PL model in Navision using or not Warehousing

LonelyKing

Hi,

we are a Navision user with multiple companies running on one DB.
One of the companies is a wholesale operation owning 80% of the inventory that this Navision DB handles. The other 20% is distributed within the rest of the companies in the DB and with some outsider companies.
However, we only have one warehouse and therefore operating the warehous is through the use of Locations etc.
We also have many many times, when simple warehouse operations add layers in costing and we need to be very careful not to damage our valuation methods. We are not using the warehouse module yet, for let's say legacy reasons.
We came across the idea to create a new company, let's call it TheWarehouse. This company would host all inventory belonging to all other companies, while all other companies would stop hosting any inventory. The point would be to simplify inventory handling and allow better separation of warehouse from GL.

I am looking for some expert opinion whether this is doable using Navision, are we going to cause some serious data issues or maybe this is possible in a completely transparent manner.

Please reply, I appreciate your help.

vanrofi

Hi,

I have worked in similar environments. I know only one good product for this, an intercompany module from Pebblestone.

check www.pebblestone.nl or if you want I can get you in contact with the brain fo the module behind :shock: , just let me know if you want to get in touch.


The setup is indeed a Logistic company with there some stock-owners defined. Based on this stock-owning some syncronisation batches allow to and from invoicing, etc...

sounds the same as the basic IC module, but it is much better and robuste.

dspasov

Hi Lonelyking,
I don`t recomend to use WMS module if you track serial numbers of the items.On the papers is writen in this module u can do it, but in real u have to do much customisations or buy some add-on.On the picking proces, if you can recognise item visual, and don`t need adresses - that mean you don`t need WMS.

BR

LonelyKing

It is still my question: How does Navision deal with 3rd party inventory.
I mean, the host company, that we would set up to run the warehouse owns NO inventory, moves everybodies inventory becuase it DOES own the warehouse, whereas all the other companies, who host their inventory by the HostCompany OWN all inventory but moves NO inventory in their warehouse, respective to their usage of their NAVISION COMPANY.

I hope I am describing this clear. My question is: How would Navision deal with this?

DenSter

Standard NAV doesn't, plain and simple. The standard understanding is you own and operate your own inventory, and all inventory in those locations is owned by the company.

You could tinker around with using a separate location inside NAV and have the inventory in there at zero cost, but it would all be simulation to some extent.

I am sure there are many NAV partners have done custom solutions for this though, as it is quite comment to share ownership of inventory in a physical location, and lots of companies do consignment. There may also be add-on products, which you should be able to find in the MSFT solution finder. Ask your partner, they'll be happy to help you find that.

dspasov

Hi,
We are such 3PL company.What is our solution?
We own no goods.So, we use standart Navision procedures(Sales order,shipment) to ship goods to the destinations of our Customer.We don`t cost the items.Connection between posting items and automaticaly posting accounts is turn off.It is a matter of litle set up and no valuation will be start.Cost values of items are unchanged and we use these fields just to keep info because of insurances.
What about WMS module?-It wont solve your problem becouse it does not exclude main functionality.It is add-on it.Valuation stil be a problem.

If our solition is good for, i can get your more details about setting up.
BR

ajhvdb

dspasov wrote:

Hi,
If our solition is good for, i can get your more details about setting up.
BR

If you can please do. Very interested...

Sarsipius

Disclaimer! My solution involves my own product. (and in retrospect, this post sounds a little salesy, but is still valid)

As far as I've seen, no ERP system handles 3PL very well. My company, Systems Logic, has a mobile WMS product that specifically targets inventory handling with a 3PL focus, including customer owned inventory, tracking of receipts, shipments, palletization, shrink wrapping, inventory storage, or whatever you need, and generating invoices based on those transactions rather than on the inventory itself.

We currently have integrations into other systems for posting the invoices and are working on a NAV integration to do a similar thing for another company.

Please feel free to contact us and we can delve into the details more, or setup a web demo if you like.

vanrofi

Did you check out the Intercompany module of Pebblestone? Try to get in touch with them...the solution is built for 3rd party logistics.

Otherwise try to get in touch with www.v-concept.be and ask for Anne, she's the expert.