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Generating put away work when reporting as finished from the Dynamics AX client

This new functionality is available with KB 2999768 and will be included in Microsoft Dynamics AX2012 R3 CU8. To find the HF you can use LCS Issue Search.

What’s new?

In the AX2012 R3 release put away work could only be generated when you used the reporting as finished process on a mobile device for a production or batch order. In CU8 put away work can now also be generated when you use the reporting as finished process for a warehouse-enabled item from the AX client.

In this blog I am going to walk through two scenarios showing how put away work is now created when reporting as finished from the Dynamics AX client. In this example I am going to use item L0101 from the USMF demo data company

Simple scenario : Shannon has completed the assembly of ten speakers in her work cell. She reports the speakers as finished in the route card journal and put away work is generated.

A production order for twenty pieces of mini-speakers exists and is in the status Started:

Shannon completes the assembly of the twenty Mini-speakers and reports the quantity as finished in the route card journal:

Shannon provides the journal line with a license plate number:

When Shannon posts the journal, put away work is generated:

Advanced scenario : Shannon is working on a production order assembling ten Mini-speakers. Shannon has completed the assembly of eight speakers and reports them as finished in the job registration terminal form and put away work is generated. Shannon completes the assembly of the remaining two speakers but does not have time to report them in the terminal, because she has to rush home. Lars promises Shannon that he will take care of reporting the remaining quantity as finished.

A production order for ten pieces of mini-speakers exists and is in the status Started:

Shannon has started the assembly of 10 mini-speakers:

Shannon is now going to report eight pieces as finished from the Job registration form in the manufacturing execution system. In the feedback form Shannon provides a license plate number. This number identifies the goods that Shannon is reporting to the output location of her work cell. The license plate number will be used by the warehouse worker to identify the goods that he is going to put away from the output location to the finished goods locations:

Note: The license plate field is enabled in the feedback form under the following conditions

The item is enabled for the new warehouse processes
The shop floor operator is reporting on the last operation in the production route

After Shannon has confirmed the feedback of eight pieces of mini-speakers, put away work is generated:

As it can be seen this work suggests that the eight Mini-speakers are put away from the production output location to the finished goods location.

In order to report the remaining two Mini-speakers, Lars opens the production order form and selects the Report as finished function. Here he enters the remaining two pieces and the license plate. In this case he uses the same license plate as Shannon did when she reported the first eight speakers:

After confirming the report as finished, put away work has been generated for the remaining two speakers that were reported by Lars:

The different options for reporting as finished is outlined in the table below. All these options now supports the generation of put away work:

Option	Description
Report as finished	Dedicated function on the production/batch order form or list page. Has advanced options to for example back flush materials. Typically used by the shop floor supervisor role
Report as finished journal	Journal to post the quantity reported as finished for production or batch orders. Typically used by the shop floor operator role
Job card journal	Journal to report time and quantity for route operations. Option to report a quantity as finished when reporting on the last operation. Typically used by the shop floor operator role
Route card journal	Journal to report time and quantity for production jobs. Option to report a quantity as finished when reporting on a process job for the last route operation. Typically used by the shop floor operator role
Current operations	List page showing ongoing operations on the shop floor. Option to report a quantity as finished when reporting on the last operation. Used by the shop floor operator role
Report feedback in job registration form	Form that is optimized for manufacturing execution on the shop floor in a kiosk or terminal installation. Option to report a quantity as finished when reporting on the last operation or a process job for the last operation. Used by the shop floor operator role
Hand held device	Menu items on hand held device offering reporting production or batch orders as finished. Used by the shop floor operator role

Summary

In CU8 it is now possible to have put away work generated when reporting quantity on a production or batch order in the Dynamics AX client. For example this can be useful for customers who wants to enable the new warehouse processes offered in the R3 release, but wants to continue to use the shop floor terminal for manufacturing execution, or also want to enable the shop floor supervisor to make corrections.

Setting up the production output location

This new functionality is available with KB 2995954 and will be included in Microsoft Dynamics AX2012 R3 CU8. To find the HF you can use LCS Issue Search.

What’s new?

To support an efficient process for putting away produced products, it is now possible to define an output location specific for a production or a batch order. This will enable the warehouse worker to exactly know where to go, to pick up the goods for put away.

The illustrations below shows the difference between the R3 and the CU8 implementation. The first illustration shows the R3 implementation where it was only possible to define one output location per warehouse:

The second illustration shows the CU8 implementation. In this implementation it is possible to set up an output location per production or batch order. This will give the warehouse worker a better overview of where to pick the finished products for final put away

This blog will explain how this new capability is enabled by using the official demo data released for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 CU8 Virtual Machine (VM).

In the company USPI there is a formula for making Pellets. This formula will be used for showing how this feature is enabled and used.

The illustration below shows the Pellets production:

The item numbers for the ingredients (or raw materials) as MW4004 – Polypropylene and MW4005 – Rubber are pre-fixed with MW and the four end items are pre-fixed with PW. PW4000 – Pellets is the formula item, and PW4001 – Chips and PW4002 – Blocks are co-products. PW4003 – Slag is a by-product

Let us take a closer look how to enable this feature. First we need to set up the production output location. Looking at the route for the Pellets formula operation 40 DryFilling is the last operation:

An applicable output location for this operation is found through the Resource requirements for the operation. In the Resource requirements, criteria for finding an applicable resource or resource group during scheduling, is set up:

The output location is specified on the resource group, as it can be seen in the illustration below:

In case no output location is defined on the resource group, then a default production output location is used as a fallback location. This default output location is set up on the warehouse:

In the diagram below the defaulting hierarchy is shown. The diagram shows the rule that applies for finding the production output location when reporting as finished for a production or batch order:

Example

To see how this works, let us report as finished a quantity of the formula item PW4000 – Pellets. The batch order is in status Started and is ready to be reported as finished:

Reporting as finished is done from the mobile device:

Batch order number, Item number, quantity and license plate is entered:

And the process is completed and put away work is generated:

Taking a closer look at the put away work, the pick location for this work is FILL-01. This location is the output location that was set up on the resource group that is applicable for the last operation DryFilling

Let us try to remove the output location from the resource group and then report as finished one of the co-products from the batch order

We report as finished a co-product PW4002 – Blocks and put away work is generated

The put away work will in this case have the default output location OUTPUT. This location is the fallback location set up in the warehouse

The defaulting of the output location is enabled for all the places where the reporting as finished process can be performed. This includes

Using the report as finished function from the batch order
Using the report as finished journal
Reporting as finished from the job or route card journal. This is possible when user reports on last operation and marks the field Report as finished on the journal line
Report as finished from list page Current operations. This is possible when reporting as finished the last operation
Reporting as finished from the Job registration form in the manufacturing execution module (MES). This is possible when the user reports as finished the last operation

Summary

In CU8 it is now possible to set up an output location for the last operation in a production route. This supports a more efficient process for putting away produced products from the shop floor to the warehouse. The output location is set up on the resource group that is applicable for the route operation. A fallback output location set up on the warehouse is used in case no output location is defined on the resource group. Using the output location defined for the last operation in the production route is applicable for all the places where the report as finished process can be performed.

Setting up the production input location

This new functionality is available with KB 2995227 and will be included in Microsoft Dynamics AX2012 R3 CU8. To find the HF you can use LCS Issue Search.

What’s new?

To support an efficient process for raw material picking in production, it is now possible to split warehouse work for raw material picking per route operation. As an example, this is useful in a so called bulk / pack production scenario. In this scenario there could be one operation for making the bulk material and one operation for bottling and packing. These two operations are both consuming materials, but will be carried out in different physical locations, maybe even different buildings. Splitting the work per operation will, in this case, secure a process where the warehouse worker is directed, by warehouse work, to deliver the picked materials to the exact locations, where the materials are consumed. This blog will explain how this is enabled by using the official demo data released for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 CU8 Virtual Machine (VM).

The illustration below shows the Pellets production from the USPI Company:

As it can be seen from the illustration, ingredients from the pellets production are consumed at two different operations. Let us see how work is now split per operation when releasing a batch order for the Pellets formula. First we create a batch order for Pellets and perform the following steps Estimate, Schedule and Release. In the Release step warehouse work is created:

In the work details form it can be seen that two warehouse works has been created in the release step. The first work is for allocating materials to the extruder operation, which is the first operation in the route. The materials are allocated to the production input location: EXT:

The next illustration shows the work details for the second work for the order. This work is for allocating materials to the Mixer operation. The materials are allocated to a production input location: MIX

Let us take a closer look how to enable this feature. First we need to set up the production input locations that will be applicable for the route operations. The Pellets formula has a production route with four operations

The first operation PPExtCut is consuming MW4004 – Polypropylene and MW4005 – Rubber. An applicable production input location for this operation is found through the Resource requirements for the operation. In the Resource requirements, criteria for finding an applicable resource or resource group during scheduling, is set up

The input location can be specified at the resource group but also on the relation between the resource group and the resource, as it can be seen in below illustration

In case no input locations can be found from the resource groups or resource group relations, then a default production input location is used as a fallback location. This default input location is setup on the warehouse

After setting up the input locations we need to specify which operations that are consuming which materials. This mapping is set up on the material lines using the field Oper. No. This is shown in the below illustration

If no operation is specified on the material line, then the production input location will be found from the resource group or resource group relation, applicable for the first operation in the production route. If no applicable input locations can be found, then the default output location for the warehouse is used. In the diagrams below the defaulting hierarchy is shown. The first diagram shows the rules that applies for finding the production input location for a material line that is mapped to the first route operation or does not have a location defined:

The second diagram shows the rules that applies for finding the production input location for a material line that is not mapped to the first operation but to one of the following operations in the production route:

In order to enable the split of warehouse work a minor change has been introduced to the work template for raw material picking. When a new template is created a Work break is automatically inserted. This work break is configured by the system to group work per route operation. It is possible to remove the work break, and in that case only one work will be generated when releasing to the warehouse from production. In that case the input location found from the first operation in the route will be used as production input location, and if none found on the route the default output location set up for the warehouse

If the hotfix is deployed to an existing installation, then the work template for raw material picking needs to be recreated in order to establish the work break. An alternative is to insert the work break manually in the existing work template.

Again looking at the work details for the released batch order for pellets, we should now understand how the input locations for the two sets of work are found

Summary

In CU8 work for raw material picking can now be split per route operation. On the resource groups and the relation between the resource group and the resource it is possible to setup a production input location to be used in warehouse work. Installing this hotfix on an existing installation will require you to recreate or update the work template for raw material picking. This new capability secures a more efficient picking process for production and batch orders, as the warehouse work will now direct the warehouse worker to the exact locations where the material is consumed.

Improved process for generating put away work for production and batch orders in CU8

This new functionality is available with KB article 2988071 and will be included in Microsoft Dynamics AX2012 R3 CU8. To find the KB article you can use LCS Issue Search.

What’s new?

In R3 there were some issues in the support for generating put away Work when you used the reporting as finished process for batch orders (for formula items as well as for co-products and by-products). When for example reporting a formula item or a co-product or by-product as finished in production, the location directive could not find an applicable put-away location. Instead, the user was prompted to manually enter a put away location.

We made some changes to the location directives for production and batch orders to fix these issues. In R3 we had location directives with the types “Production order put away” and “Batch order put away” as shown in the picture below:

In CU8 the two types has been replaced with new ones. The first one “Finished goods put way” represents the produced item for production orders and the formula item for batch orders. The second one “Co-product and by-product put away” represents the co-products and the by-products that can be produced as output from batch orders. The two new types are shown in the picture below:

Let’s walk through a scenario that describes how to set this up.

Scenario: The company uses formulas with co-product and by-product outputs. The by-products are always stored in a location called SCRAP, and the co-products are stored in an area called FLOOR.

First we need to create work classes for finished goods put away, and co-products and by-products put away. Open the Work classes form by clicking Warehouse management > Setup > Work > Work Classes. For the work class for finished goods put-away, select the work order type Finished goods put away:

For the work class for co-products and by-products put-away, select the work order type Co-products and by-products put away:

Next we need to set up the work templates that defines how pick and put work for finished goods, co-products and by-products is created. Open the Work templates form by clicking Warehouse management > Setup > Work > Work templates. Select Finished goods put away in the field: Work order type. Set up a pick and a put line in the lower part of the form and remember to select a work class for finish goods put away for each line:

Now select the Work template for Co-product and by-product put away. Set up the pick and put lines in the lower part of the form with an appropriate Work class for each line:

The last step is to set up the location directives for finished goods and co-products and by-products. Open the Location directives form by clicking Warehouse management > Setup > Location directives. Select Finished goods put away in the Work order type field:

Now select Co-products and by-products put away in the Work order type field. Create one line for co-products and one line for by-products. Go to the line for by-products and select the Edit Query button. In the Query form select the Production co-by products table and the field Production type. Select by-product as a criterion. With this setting we made the location directive specific for by-products output:

The by-products should be stored in a location called SCRAP. This location has an associated Location profile ID also called SCRAP:

Now select the Edit Query button in the Location Directive Actions section. Add a line for the field Location profile ID and use SCRAP as a criterion for that line in the Query:

With this setting the location directive will direct all by-products to the SCRAP location in warehouse 15

As the last thing we will set up the location directive for co-products. Go to the location directive we defined for co-products and select the Edit Query button in the Location Directives Actions section. As the co-products, in this example, should all be stored in an area calloed FLOOR, add a line for the field Location profile ID and add the criterion FLOOR:

Summary

The work order types that are used for production output have changed in AX 2012 R3 CU8 which fixed some issues in the R3 version. If you are upgrading from R3 to CU8, you will need to re-configure your work classes, work templates, and location directives as outlined in the example in this blog.

Now available: Cumulative Update 7, featuring the product change case management

With the recent release of Cumulative Update 7 for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, the case management functionality of Microsoft Dynamics AX has been enhanced for documenting and releasing product changes to production.

Many manufacturing companies will welcome this simple built in possibility of creating product change cases to document component substitutions in bills of materials or formulas, or changes in the production route, and of being able to visualize the impact of such component changes.

The new product change functionality provides enhanced support for approval and activation of the changes to bills of materials, formulas and routes that are associated with a product change case, which reduces the effort needed for releasing product changes to planning and production. This new capability also offers a new opportunity to integrate changes from an external PLM solution into Microsoft Dynamics AX with the context of the PLM change order with enhanced support for validation, approval and activation in production.

The diagram below illustrates the overall product change process, and highlights those elements (with black outline) that are supported by the new product change features in Cumulative Update 7 for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2.

Meet me at Convergence EMEA 2013 at the Manufacturing booth if you would like to see the feature in action.

We will soon share more details about this new functionality in this blog.

Download it now!

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Cumulative Update 7 (KB2885603) – build #6.2.1000.4051

Improved formula management in process manufacturing AX2012

Formula management is a key requirement for process manufacturers. In most cases, process manufacturers process raw materials that are found from natural sources which inherently means they have to deal with a lot more variability than discrete manufacturers. This variability could result from lack of control over physical properties of the materials. Which in turn means process conditions need to continually adjust in order to produce a finished product within certain range with some consistency. Natural ingredients, variable physical properties, altering process conditions and highly controlled & regulated environments mandate that process manufacturers manage their formulae with good discipline. Formula management in Dynamics AX is built on Bills of material which is the natural place it should be, however in previous versions the formula was less secure and there were several inconsistencies in the behaviour.

Usually in food & drink, chemicals and pharmaceuticals manufacturing, organization that creates and maintains formula or the secret sauce that makes a company successful can wield a large influence and by extension have a significant effect on the buying decision. Keeping this in mind, we decided to enhance the security on formula management while balancing it with ease of use to setup & maintain these formula. We improved some and added new capabilities that will hopefully help you influence the buying decision.

This post describes key enhancements made to formula management in process manufacturing AX2012. Help document that describes full details is available here.

Security of approved formula

In previous versions, formula lines could be created without a header and co-by products could be attached and deleted at will. While this is great from ease of use point of view, feedback that we received clearly showed that customers expect more stringent measures since most people used formula in a regulated environment. Therefore following enhancements were made in process manufacturing AX2012.

Formula header is required before a version or lines can be entered
Formula version is required before co-by definitions could be setup
Formula version is required before lines could be setup so that per series can be defaulted from formula size on formula version
Furthermore the BOM modification policies were made extensible to formula, this means the following
1. When block editing is turned on, no fields on an approved formula or version or on co-by setup can be changed
2. When block removal of approval is turned on, formula or version cannot be unapproved
3. When block editing is off, fields can be changed on formula, version and on co-by setup any time

This allows stricter discipline in formula maintenance and makes it easier for design or product department or any other authority to secure the formula definitions from intentional or unintentional changes unless authorized.

Scalable formula

Consider the scenario where manufacturing site has a standard approved formula to produce a certain dye blend in certain size vat. Normally, the formula will be used every time the blend is scheduled to be produced. But not always, all the required ingredients may be available in right quantities. You can enter the quantity of short ingredients and the other ingredients will scale accordingly and will change the formula size. This will allow you to determine what quantity of dye blend can be produced. Similarly if the normal vat is busy with another process and you have an alternative vat, putting the size of the vat in the formula size will allow you to see the quantity of scalable ingredients required for this vat. This is a powerful capability that gives you flexibility to configure the production based on available ingredients and equipment without affecting existing production in progress.

Formula for different vat sizes

Taking the previous example a bit further, in most cases plants, processing lines do not have just one vat/vessel/equipment for processing something. They have multiple size equipment – for samples, for small orders, for medium to large orders for standard products. In previous versions it was only possible to have scalable ingredients tied to one formula size. If you created another version with another formula size, ingredients on the formula line will not scale. In process manufacturing AX2012 it is possible to setup multiple versions with different formula size. A new field "use for calculation" determines which formula size from which version is being used to scale the ingredients. So, in previous example, now it is possible to setup all versions for all vat sizes that you have. Depending on which vat is available at the time, you can switch the "use for calculation" flag and scalable ingredients will scale based on that vat size.

Step consumption

Please see this post for more details.

Electronic signatures

This capability has existed since AX2009, now it works together with BOM modification policy and the new security framework. As previously, you can setup if you require users to authenticate any changes to formula or versions. If you would like to capture authentication on change of any other fields on the formula or for that matter anywhere else in the application it can be setup. For more details on how to do this, please see the documentation.

Miscellaneous updates

Now it is possible to copy co-by lines when a formula is copied. Behaviour of Percent controlled items have been modified to ensure that use for calculation flag does not change the quantity of percent controlled items when a different vat is used for calculating consumption of scalable ingredients.

Cost calculation

Based on customer feedback, we have modified the previously implemented cost calculation for co-by products and now the new method is called Total cost methodology and among other aspects, it uses price of co-products to determine the ratio of total cost that should be allocated. For more details please see this link.

New capability of step consumption in process manufacturing AX2012

Let me provide some context behind the decision to introduce step consumption capability in Process Manufacturing Dynamics AX2012.
Discrete manufacturing almost always involves linear consumption of ingredients – four tires are required to put together a car. Whereas in process manufactured products consumption can be linear and it can also be non-linear. As the home brewers know 5 Kg of malt gives 12 litres of beer and 10 Kg of malt gives 24 litres of beer but the bitterness is more in smaller lot, so if you want to keep same bitterness in bigger lots you need to add some extra malt, how much extra is non-linear – based on experience. Another industrial example will be use of carbon as a catalyst in plasticizer manufacturing. You can use 1 Kg of carbon to make up to 5 kiloliters of phthalates. Then you need 2 Kg of carbon up to 8 Kilo litres of phthalate (of course, it’s a different matter that phthalates are banned in many regions for some products, so you shouldn’t really be making them).

Many such reactions have non-linear consumption across different industries but sometimes it’s not essential to capture them in an ERP and at other times it is possible but cost intensive to capture and maintain the formulae. This is where step consumption comes useful. Setting up Bills of material is fairly straightforward when compared to setting up formulae. It isn’t because formulae setup in AX is not user friendly, it’s just because the number of parameters required to setup a formulae are many more. In order to setup formulae with non-linear consumption in previous versions, the only possibility will be to setup many different formulae where every detail is same except the quantity of the ingredient that is consumed non-linearly. Since this would be extremely cumbersome in itself and furthermore because process manufacturers needed multiple set of versions – master formula, production formula, distributed formula, batch card formula and so on, we decided to introduce the concept of step consumption into AX2012.

So for the non-linear consumption of malt, you will create two lines in the formula for malt product. On one line you will setup linear consumption, 5 kg for 12 litre, 10 kg for 24 litres and so on. On the second line you can change the formula to “STEP” on the setup tab. This will make the step consumption grid available. Here you can specify that an extra 0.1 kg of malt is needed when finished beer quantity is between 12 and 24 litres and an extra 0.15 kg of malt is needed when finished beer quantity is more than 24 litres and so on. So, this gives you flexibility to setup non-linear consumption in the same formula.

During production estimation system will look at the finished quantity of beer you want to manufacture and will automatically calculate the correct quantity of malt needed. In case of carbon example above, it can be achieved by using just one line on the formula lines for carbon where you can setup step consumption of carbon of 1 kg up to 5 KL and then of 2 kg between 5 – 8 KL and so on.

Hopefully this will be useful for your scenarios. In case you have suggestions for improvement please email me.

Process manufacturing Dynamics AX2012 capabilities

A lot of poeple have asked me what can process manfuacturing do in Dynamics AX2012? This post will hopefully serve the purpose.

Process manufacturers deal with resource rich industries on buy side and with aggregators & retailers on sell side, both having larger bargaining power. The constant squeeze between two powerful groups’ reduces already thin margins and this is likely to exacerbate for US & Western European manufacturers in the coming years as manufacturers in the emerging markets stake their claim for even larger share of the pie.

Process manufacturers therefore continuously need to reduce costs, improve quality & maintain security standards to be able to keep their margins in the markets that are important to them.

Process Manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics^® AX 2012 (formerly known as process industries or PI) gives process manufacturers a low cost solution that can model lean, discrete & process manufacturing in one box, is versatile & flexible to model new organizations, products or processes, supports most common multi-X scenarios and can be extended to support specific vertical requirements without the need of additional IT investments.

Process Manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics^® AX 2012 enables manufacturers and distributors of natural, industrial or consumer packaged products to control costs, increase profitability, maintain stringent quality standards and manage compliance using a familiar user interface on an advanced technology platform with cost of ownership that is significantly lower than the competition.

Process manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics^® AX2012 is available in two different SKUs. Process Manufacturing logistics is targeted at customers who would like to automate their distribution processes for products that are usually manufactured in a batch or semi-continuous processing environment. Process Manufacturing production is targeted at customers who would like to automate their batch or semi-continuous manufacturing processes. Process manufacturing logistics SKU is a pre-requisite for process manufacturing production SKU.

Both SKUs contain enough functionality that can also address some needs of customers with discrete manufacturing environment. Key functionalities enabled by process manufacturing are:

Maintain complex formulae
Manage short life products
Manage commodity pricing
Manage product compliance
Setup & apply complex rebates
Advanced lot tracking & control
Enhance cost management of multiple outputs
Procure, store & sell products in dual units of measure
Manage production for assembly or disassembly for single or dual units of measure

SKU 1- Process manufacturing production

Process manufacturing production for Microsoft Dynamics^® AX 2012 enables manufacturers of processed goods to quickly define complex formulae, to accurately control production costs, to easily model discrete & process production scenarios and to switch between make or buy decisions with agility.

FORMULA MANAGEMENT

Easily model disassembly sequences or products with multiple outputs in different batch sizes or multiples
Effectively model batch processed products that are consumed into a discrete or lean assembly or model discrete or lean sub-assemblies consumed into multiple output products
Flexibly consume or produce products in dual units of measure with constant or varying consumption
Dynamically calculate ingredient consumption even for items consumed non-linearly in single or dual units of measure
Maintain with ease many formulae for producing same product by using different material combinations or for producing different products using same combinations
Setup, measure & improve production yields by having the flexibility to define yield for several different combinations and comparing it to the production results
Quickly scale some or all ingredients in the formulae based on available inputs to estimate outputs
Reduce inventory & purchasing costs by defining several alternate ingredients and consumption priority for each on the formula
Easily toggle security restrictions on formulae access by activating any of the four built-in security levels
Control packaging material costs by setting up configurable products as different packaged products and linking them to processed products

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

Reduce waste by using production policies to ensure right formula for production is automatically selected based on a given tank size and other factors
Link multiple packed productions to multiple bulk productions. Consolidate them to improve operational efficiency, minimize bulk storage and optimize packed product production
Quickly add, remove or alter number, type or amount of multiple outputs
Improve profitability for each of the multiple outputs in a production by accurate allocation of costs over them before, during or after production & revalue goods by comparing actual with estimated costs
Always produce to customer specifications by ensuring discretionary picking of ingredients based on certain attributes
Rapidly react to a change in production conditions based on results of automatically created quality orders
Consume ingredients and produce multiple outputs in dual units of measure and record nominal or actual values in such units all through the process
Achieve real time visibility on plant floor and at higher levels by re-sequencing jobs based on actual capacity on the floor and by recording production output on such jobs in dual units of measure and for multiple outputs

SKU2 – Process manufacturing logistics

Process manufacturing logistics for Microsoft Dynamics^® AX 2012 enables distributors of processed goods to forecast and plan supply & demand and to manage procurement & sales in dual units of measure natural or consumer packaged products with short or long shelf life while meeting strict quality standards, complying with regulatory requirements & providing visibility into profitability for the distributor.

DUAL UNITS OF MEASURE MANAGEMENT (CATCH WEIGHT)

Easily create & release products with dual units of measure to multiple legal entities
Seamlessly manage products with dual units of measure through forecasting, planning and production and be able to define & view such products on forecasts, planned orders, demand & supply views, and on production and consolidated orders
Manage flexibly single and dual unit of measure products on purchase requisitions, purchase agreements and release order lines together with stocked and non-stocked products
Manage flexibly single and dual unit of measure products on sales quotations, sales agreements, release order lines and delivery schedules together with stocked and non-stocked products
Improve product yield and operational efficiency by recording actual values in both units of measure at every stage of the process

LOT MANAGEMENT

Enhance backward traceability and reduce time required for recall by integrating information about vendor batches for purchased lots into manufactured lots of semi-finished or finished products
Improve profitability by differentiating product based on specific product characteristics per lot & only shipping lots that meet certain company or customer criteria
Reduce costs of rework by arresting the progress at any stage for any process, of a poor quality lot through various supply chain processes
Enhance lot control with the ability to record and recall as needed, characteristics of an inventory lot as procured, produced or as sold
Measure quality of each lot with or without dual units of measure for single or multiple production outputs at any stage of processing and attach such results to the inventory lot
Increase customer satisfaction and reduce cost of rework by meeting all demand of a particular customer from the same lot if so desired
Enhance operational efficiency and order promising by having the ability to instantly search all inventory and find lots with specific characteristics
Improve inventory visibility by having access to all the inventory lots and associated functions in one unified view

SHELF LIFE MANAGEMENT

Manage plan, procure and sales processes for fresh, frozen or long shelf life products based on expiry period or best before period
Improve warehousing efficiency by earmarking locations based on product shelf life and issuing goods only as per process or customer requirements
Reduce waste by using the ability to retest shelf life products reaching the end of their shelf life
Improve order promising & reduce stockouts by incorporating shelf life information into planning processes and planning views
Differentiate service and increase profitability by incorporating residual shelf life demanded by customer at ship-to location

WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT

Manage full or partial visibility dual units of measure based products through all inbound and outbound warehouse processes
Increase warehouse efficiency by using the ability to mix products in same shipment that are constrained by varying levels of additional requirements like ship from single lot, based on specific characteristics, shelf life and dual units of measure

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

Receive, store and send product safety data sheets for hazardous products as needed
Keep product safety data sheets current with the company and customers
Comply with local regulatory agencies by restricting or regulating the sale of certain products in certain regions
Record necessary compliance related product data for various regulatory agencies
Record usage data for all products and use available third party integrated service to calculate usage of regulated substances for yearly reporting
Manage quality and compliance by ensuring that certain products can only be supplied by approved vendors

REBATES MANAGEMENT

Improve profitability by managing different rebate & trade merchandising programs for different customer segments
Monitor and manage rebates processed either at invoicing or accumulated by user defined periods. Rebates can be setup by different currencies, units of measure or by differing qualifying levels and can be paid to customers by several different methods

COMMODITY PRICING MANAGEMENT

Effectively react to changing commodity costs so the prices of sellable goods always stay current with the market
Manage sellable product prices such that trade agreements are always up to date and new contracts reflect the price change

You can find more detail about how to use process manufacturing capabilities in the product on technet