Nav 5.0 SP1 - Kitting vs Production Order

Fisherman

My company has a need to do one of two things.

1 - use kitting, but have full support for material planning for items on Kit BOMs. Multi-level BOMs are not an issue on kits, but shared materials are, and we need to produce kits to a forecast,

OR

2 - Use a resource on the production BOM in place of a work center/routing. I know setup resources exist, but I don't think they fit. We have people and temporary work stations that we employ to run a particular order. The number of people may vary, thus the overhead cost is not fixed. Switching out routings constantly on-they-fly is problematic and leads to error.

Does anyone know if either of these scenarios will work? If not, does anyone have any suggestions for forecasting production (materials) with variable direct and indirect costs?

Fisherman

No takers?

MatthewRBritton

Sorry, I don't have an answer for you, but I have a vested interest in your second scenario. We were just discussing this issue today when I saw your post. We are also using Nav 5.0 SP1 (we have also added Tectura's Life Sciences module).

We have a number of physical work centers (including some mobile and temporary ones), but the labor usage on each work center varies from order to order (even for the same item produced), so setting a fixed cost on the work center will not accurately reflect the cost of running an order.

If you have thought of any solutions, any help would be appreciated. Likewise I will let you know how we decide to go forward.

Cheers

Matt

Fisherman

Thanks, Matt. Glad we're not alone out here!

Our issue is that we perform work for some customers on an inconstant basis. We may get 100 orders next week, and next to none for the next 2. Because of that, we don't keep fixed machinery sitting around. When we know about orders, we have to create the workstation, which normally doesn't consist of much but modular work areas and people. Maybe a few tools.

We're just looking for a way to capture a unit of overhead that respresents the people working, and then multiply by the number of people on the job. Routings don't make a lot of sense for us, because the workstation is not fixed, and neither is the capacity.

KWevick

Setup Resources only work on kits, so they're out for Prod BOMs. If your labor is captured based on a standard labor cost, then you may want to set up routings that reflect the quantity of people working. For example, Rtg1, Rtg2, etc. You could then swap them as needed. I know this is extra work, but whatever you do, you will need to fill the extra people. That way you only have to update the cost on one work center. If you're trying to capture exact labor based on actual salaries, you're going to have to capture actual labor and record it.

Just my $.02. We do have a client who regularly swaps out routings and it's just part of the process now.

Best of luck,
Karen Wevick