Utilizing Containers

In DEACOM, Containers represent storage units that hold inventory. Once inventory lots have been moved to Containers, inventory transactions can be performed by referencing the Container instead of the lots inside. This allows inventory to be moved more easily and means fewer transactions. In addition, Containers, like Work Centers, can be depreciated as a fixed asset and have maintenance performed on them via MRO.

Inventory can be moved into Containers, moved between Containers, finished into Containers, shipped in Containers, and tracked in Containers located in customer inventory. Additional information is provided in the Process sections below.

Configuration

The following configuration covers the requirements for using Containers:

Required

Containers must be created via Inventory > Maintenance > Containers.

Optional

  • In Production > Options on the WIP tab the "Auto Issue Container Contents" flag may be used when issuing a lot within a Container and all the other lots in the Container should be issued as well.
  • The "Track Customer Inventory" flag on the Properties tab of the Item Master record may be checked to have items shipped in Containers tracked on the Customer Inventory report in Sales > Order Reporting
  • In Sales > Options on the Shipping tab the "Remove Excess Customer Inventory Upon return" flag may be checked in situations where excess customer inventory stored in Containers should be removed when returning inventory in DEACOM.
  • In Production > Maintenance > Job Categories the "Input Production When Issuing" flag may be checked in situations where a continuous fill process of Containers is desired. If this flag is checked, the Input Production form will be displayed at the conclusion of the issuing process.

Process

Moving inventory and using Containers

Inventory can be moved into a Container, and between Containers, in both the main and WMS applications. In addition, Containers can be moved from one Location to another Location.

Moving inventory into a Container

  1. Choose the appropriate option for conducting the move. Options are Inventory > Move Inventory in the main application, Move Inventory on the WMS application, or via the "Move Inventory" button on the various Inventory Reporting reports in the system.
  2. Select the appropriate Part Number and ensure the "Source Location Type" and "Source Location" fields are correct.
  3. Enter the necessary values in the remaining required fields, marked in blue, including the correct date, move quantity, and new location information.
  4. Select the Container the inventory will be moved into in the "New Container" field. Containers will need to have been previously created via Inventory > Maintenance > Containers. Note: Once inventory has been moved into a Container, the Container will be associated with the new Facility and Location specified during the move. In cases where users will be moving additional inventory into a Container, they will need to specify the same values in the "New Facility," "New Location Type," and "New Location" fields that were used for the previous move. This is necessary in order to see the correct Container numbers in the "New Container" search box.
  5. Fill in any additional fields as necessary. See the links in the first step for a listing of the fields available to the Move form.
  6. Click "Apply" to complete the move.
  7. Users can verify the moved occurred correctly by viewing the contents of the Container on the "Container" report in Inventory > Inventory Reporting.

Moving inventory between Containers

To move the entire contents of one Container to another perform the following steps.

  1. Choose the appropriate option for conducting the move. Options are Inventory > Move Inventory in the main application, Move Inventory on the WMS application, or via the "Move Inventory" button on the various Inventory Reporting reports in the system.
  2. Leave the "Part Number" field blank and select the Container the inventory will be moved from in the "Source Container" field.
  3. Select the Container the inventory will be moved into in the "New Container" field.
  4. Note that when moving inventory between Containers it is not necessary to select values in the required fields, marked in blue, on the Move Inventory form.
  5. Click "Apply" to complete the move.
  6. Users can verify the moved occurred correctly by viewing the contents in the new Container on the "Container" report in Inventory > Inventory Reporting. Note that the old Container will no longer be listed on this report as all of it's contents have been moved.

Moving Containers between Locations

To move a Container from Location to another Location perform the following steps.

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Move Inventory.
  2. Leave the "Part Number" field blank.
  3. Select the current location of the Container by filling out the "Source Facility," "Source Location Type," and "Source Location" fields.
  4. Select the Container that will be moved in the "Source Container" field.
  5. Select the location where the Container will be moved by filling out the "New Facility," "New Location Type," and "New Location" fields.
  6. Click "Apply" to complete the move.

Issuing inventory stored in Containers

Inventory lots in Containers can be issued to Jobs or reserved to Sales Orders. Containers themselves cannot be directly issued to a job or sales order, rather, a lot of inventory within a Container may be issued to a job or sales order. In situations where an empty Container will be issued, refer to the Configuring asset tracking using Containers section for details on how this can be accomplished. If material is already present in a Container, the lot of inventory within the Container can simply be issued to the job. The process for issuing or reserving using Containers is the same as the normal issuing/reserving process and is performed via Inventory > Issue/Reserve or any place in the system where inventory can be issued/reserved. See the Issuing and Reserving Material page for additional information. Some points to consider when issuing or reserving inventory in Containers are listed below.

  • The "cr_contnum" field can be added to the Grid Layouts for the Apply Inventory and Issue/Reserve forms in order to identify the Container number. In addition, all fields from the Container (dmcontainer) table are available for the Apply Inventory Grid Layout should additional Container information be required.
  • When issuing to jobs using lots in Containers, if the "Auto Issue Container Contents" flag was checked in Production > Options the system will set all the other lots in the Container to issue as well.
  • The "Container" button on the Issue/Reserve form in the main application can be used to issue all items in a Container simultaneously. Once a Container is selected using this button the Issue/Reserve form will display a list of all items and quantities in the Container. If items in the Container are not listed on the sales order or job and those items are issued/reserved, a new line for that item will be added to the sales order or job after the issuing process.

Finishing inventory into Containers

The current process in DEACOM allows Containers to be specified via the Input Production transaction only, both in the main application and in WMS. In order to finish material into a Container, a lot within a Container must be issued to the job. When this occurs, the system will record the Container number(s) of the inventory lot(s) so that it may be used in the finishing process detailed below. Note: Beginning in version 17.02.008, Containers may also be specified via the Close/Relieve form.

  1. Ensure that a Container containing a lot of inventory has been issued to the job. See the "Issuing inventory stored in Containers" section above for details.
  2. Navigate to Production > Input Production.
  3. Select the proper Facility, enter the Job Number.
  4. Ensure the "Part Number" field is populated correctly.
  5. Select the correct Container in the "Container Number" field.
  6. Fill in any additional fields on the Input Production form as necessary. See the Input Production and Finishing Inventory Using the Input Production form pages for additional information on how the fields on this form are used during finishing.
  7. Click the "Finish" button to complete the process.
  8. Users can verify that inventory was finished to the specified Container via the "Container" report in Inventory > Inventory Reporting.

Shipping inventory in Containers

Inventory stored in Containers is shipped just like any other type of inventory. See the OutBound Inventory page for information on the shipping process. If customers reserve inventory to sales orders prior to shipment, lots contained in Containers can be selected during the reserve process. In this case users can click the "As Reserved" button on the shipping screen to set the correct inventory in Containers for shipment. If inventory in Containers has not been reserved and users wish to select an inventory lot in a Container they can follow the steps in the Using lots manually selected during shipping process section. Once the appropriate lots are selected the shipping process is completed as normal.

Tracking inventory in Containers

To track inventory stored in Containers that are still in a company's inventory, the "Containers" report via Inventory > Inventory Reporting may be used.

Once a sales order with items marked as "Track Customer Inventory" has been shipped, those items will appear in the "Customer Inventory" report via Sales > Order Reporting. The report displays the Original and Remaining Quantities of returnable items for each Bill-to and Ship-to customer. For items shipped in Containers, the "cr_contnum" field can be added to the Grid Layout for this report in order to display the Container number that was shipped as well. Note that all fields in the Container (dmcontainer) table are available to this report if additional information on Containers is needed. Additional information on tracking Containers is available via the Utilizing Asset Tracking and Utilizing the Tote Receiving Tool pages.

Returning inventory stored in Containers

Credit Memos (Sales Orders with a negative quantity) are used to return items to inventory. See the Entering a Credit Memo section for detailed information. Once created, Credit Memos are shipped to place the items back into the company's inventory. When returning items stored in Containers, the Container Number may be selected on the Ship Sales Order form. Note that the "Remove Excess Customer Inventory Upon Return" flag, located in Sales > Options > Shipping tab, is used in conjunction with Containers in DEACOM to determine how inventory left in Containers will be handled upon return.

Scheduling Maintenance for Containers

The process to schedule maintenance for Containers is contained on the Creating Maintenance Jobs page.

FAQs & Diagnostic Tips

Tip: Application Identifier 250 can be used to represent container numbers in Barcodes.

Tip: The "In Containers" field on the MRP pre-filter can be used to include or exclude inventory within Containers in MRP calculations.