We use fulfillment workbench to allocate parts to orders and generate sales order pick lists.
How does this work with Make Direct orders that are not shipped from inventory. In an old post (Make to Inventory vs Make to Job (aka Make Direct)) , @Rick_Bird mentions that "Once the Qty is complete in WIP, Fulfillment Workbench has visibility of the parts and it will be available for ‘picking.’
How does this work? I created and completed a Make Direct job, but when I went into the Fulfillment Workbench, it gave pick list errors. Of course, I could have been using Fulfillment Workbench incorrectly. It’s not my area at all; I was just trying to test out the process.
We are trying to figure out the person creating the pick lists in the morning knows that a job for a make direct order has been completed the night before.
Make Direct (nor Purchase Direct) Sales Order demand cannot be processed through Fulfillment Workbench.
While I have never received a good explaination from Epicor here is mine:
Fulfillment Workbench is intended to help prioritize INVENTORY for demand sources (like sales orders)
Make Direct & Purchase Direct does not need an Inventory Pick since they are already allocated and there is no competing demand on the supply.
I do understand the interest and workflow improvement in processing Make Direct & Purchase Direct Orders through Fulfillment Workbench:
Single process for preparing shipments.
Matching availability of Mixed demand sales orders. (Sales order has Line Releases for stocked parts and Make/Purchase Direct Parts, Stocked parts should only be queued for picking if the Make/Purchase Parts are complete)
Not missing Stock/Make/Purchase lines when processing Orders.
Single simple Pick List (Material Queue)
Sometimes I get the feeling that Fulfillment Workbench was never actually finished, for instance for Sales Orders you can use Fulfillment Workbench to kick off the Allocate > Mtl Queue > Pick & Pack Process all the way to creating the Customer Shipment from ‘Picked Orders’ but you cannot do that with Transfer Orders, you can only get through to the Pick step, there is no way to add Picked Transfer Order Lines to a Transfer Order Shipment.