I am not sure how to ask this, so I will just dive in. Help me out with terminology if you can.
A user needs 10 helicoils for a part. He gets a pick list printed it shows him where they are. He gets 10 helicoils and puts them in. QC takes a look and 5 of the helicoils are messed up and need to be redone. Now all the 10 helicoils needed for the job have already been issued. So When the user goes to print a new pick list, the helicoils are not on it. He doesnt know where to look for the helicoils, and spends time trying to figure it out without asking anyone. In the end he found a copy of the old pick list in the recycling bin. This shows him the location of the helicoils he needs, so he grabs a few more. (hopefully) he gets 5 more helicoils issued to the job so our records are correct.
What is the right way to do this? In my mind we need to tell epicor that 5 of those helicoils are scrap and now we need 5 more.
Reject the non-conforming helicoils from the job, the job will then show a requirement for more. The non-conforming parts can be scrapped via QA DMR processing. The method would provide good visibility to the quality issues with the helicoil installation.
Over-issue the helicoils to the job. The operator will need to communicate with materials to issue the extra parts they need. This will become visible as a cost variance on the job but avoids the DMR processing transactions.
Change the helicoil to a Kanban replenishment and let the operator use as many as they need. This is a good option if the cost of the parts is small. This may work if you need to lot-track the parts.
The choice of method (and I’m sure there are more) will depend on how much visibility you need in the database.
Is this part of the quality module? I would like to try this method out, but we don’t have the quality module. I think we currently use a version of option 2. We don’t currently do any kanban. I would have to look into that option more.
Thanks for the ideas!
Yes, I believe you need the basic Quality module for the option #1. I hadn’t thought of that when posting.
There’s an advanced quality module as well, but it’s way beyond what we need so I suspect it’s not in your wheelhouse either.
Kanban might be a good option for now, it’s just a simple signal to the materials team to replenish the stock. This doesn’t need to be done in Epicor, just hand the empty box to purchasing and keep a full one on the shelf behind it. Simpler is better.
I am curious how this works. Can you explain the process a bit more for my specific example above? I am reading the kanban help files now. It sounds promising. but if it doesn’t need to be done in epicor, how does epicor keep track of the costs, and the loss of those 5 helicoils?
If it wasn’t clear, these helicoils are purchased hardware. We often have a lot in stock, but only the exact amount needed gets issued.
The cost of the lost helicoils will be captured when you do an inventory count. The purchasing records and stock on hand will show you’ve bought more helicoils than you should have consumed.
This variance may spark an investigation. If the cost of the parts is small (and you have bigger fish to fry), you just correct the stock level and move on.
We don’t want the cost of making all the system transactions to exceed the value of the parts. And, we don’t want to run out.
It depends on how closely you need to track the cost of the items. If they’re lot-tracked then this isn’t an option.