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A logistics path in DEAR reflects the physical movements of components and finished goods. Product storage, Sales orders and Production Orders all specify a location. A logistics path connects these locations in the system. This is used to factor in the lead time for components for accurate ordering and production scheduling. It also enables automatic generation of documents (purchase orders, transfer orders, etc.) and logs stock movements. 


NOTE: Production BOM is an advanced manufacturing feature. You will need to add the advanced manufacturing module to your DEAR base subscription to use this feature. See Getting Started with the Advanced Manufacturing module for more information. 


Prerequisites

  • Advanced manufacturing subscription
  • Set up Locations and Bins (recommended)
  • Set up Work Centers (recommended)
  • Users will need the Settings: Stock - Locations permission in order to edit the factory calendar. 


Table of Contents


Define Shop Floor locations

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It is required to set up Locations and Bins before setting up a Logistics Path. Locations are added and managed from Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins. Add new Locations by clicking Add more items and filling in the location name and address. 


Specify locations where finished goods are produced by opening a location and checking the Shop floor location box. These are locations where Production takes place. This will enable the location to be selected as a Shop floor location in a Logistics Path and used in Production Orders. It will also allow Resource capacity to be defined for the location.


Set up Bins for Shop floor locations

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Bins are used to specify where the stock is stored within a location. In the case of Shop floor warehouse locations, bins define where the components should be taken before or after production operations. 


Each production Work Center can have a Consumption Bin and an Output Bin. For example, to produce a chair, wood, paint and textile are needed. Consumption bins and output bins are selected from the Work Center screen from the list of bins created for the shop floor location. 

  • Components wood, paint and textile should be brought to the Shop floor location into the Consumption Bin set up for chair production. This will be linked to the where chair production takes place. The components and resources needed for the operation will be pulled from inventory and delivered to the bin. 
  • The completed chair is placed in the output bin when production is completed. 


NOTE: Consumption bin is the mandatory/default bin for a work center. Output bin is optional. If no output bin is specified, consumption bin will be used for both consumption and output. 


  1. Navigate to Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins and select the Locations tab. 
  2. Select a shopfloor Location to add the bin to from the list. 
  3. Select the Bins tab.
  4. Click the + button and add as many bins as required. Enter a bin name. 
  5. Connect bins where production components will be picked from to a Work Center by selecting a work center from the drop-down list and clicking the button.
    • One bin can be connected to several work centers. Each work center can only be connected to one bin on a shop floor location.
    • Output bins do not need to be linked to a work center.
    • If no bin is linked to a work center, the system be pick components from the shop floor location. 


Set up a Logistics Path

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Every object in DEAR Inventory has a location. 

  • Products specify a Warehouse location where the product is stored.
  • Sales Orders specify a Sale location where the product is sold.
  • Production orders specify a Production warehouse location (Shop floor) where finished goods are produced. 


As in real life, a product cannot be in two places simultaneously and cannot be transferred between locations at the click of the mouse. The physical movement of stock requires actions to be triggered and time – logistics paths are set up to reflect that. 


NOTE: The Logistics path can specify that the Warehouse location, Sale location and/or Shop floor are the same physical location, but it must be defined as a Shop floor location.


Set up a Logistics Path:

  1. Select the Logistics Path tab on the location screen.
  2. Click the + button to add a new Logistics Path.
  3. Fill in the fields:
    • Components – a drop-down selection field. It contains the list of all locations. This is a stock storage location where components will be picked from. 
    • Shop floor – a drop-down selection field. It contains the list of all locations defined as Shop floor locations set up for the system. This is a production location.
    • Demand – a drop-down selection field. It contains the list of all locations. This is the sale location that will generate production demand. 
  4. Continue adding Logistics Paths until you have finished.
  5. Save your changes.

NOTE: Each warehouse or retail location can be connected to multiple Shop floor locations. However, each Shop floor location can only be connected to one warehouse. 


How the Logistics Path works

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Let us look at an example to see how a Logistics Path works in the system. 


Our company has 6 locations:

  • Dubai Warehouse
  • Dubai Plant
  • Dubai Shopfront
  • Moscow Warehouse
  • Moscow Plant
  • Moscow Shopfront.


It is logical that everything that is sold in Dubai will be delivered from the Dubai stock and produced at the Dubai plant. It is illogical to produce the products in Moscow and deliver components for this production from Dubai when there is production in Dubai. 

So, in this sample, there will be 2 logistics paths:

  • Dubai Warehouse - Dubai Plant - Dubai Shopfront
  • Moscow Warehouse - Moscow Plant - Moscow Shopfront.


Example:

  1. There is a Sales Order for a Finished Product in the location: Dubai Shopfront
    • This means that the Finished Product was sold in the Dubai Shopfront location and should be delivered to the Dubai Shopfront location (to be delivered to the customer or collected by the customer).
  2. The Logistics Path set up is Dubai Warehouse - Dubai Plant - Dubai Shopfront.
  3. DEAR generates a Production Order with location 'Dubai Plant' (Shop floor location).  
    • The Dubai Plant location has Bin 1, Bin 2, Bin 3 set up. 
    • The operations in the Production Order define Work Centers(e.g. Workshop 1, Kitchen) as their places of production. Each Work Center is connected to a Bin on that Shop floor. All components for a production operation should be delivered to the appropriate bin:
      • Operation 1 - Work Center 1 - Bin  1
      • Operation 2 - Work Center 2 - Bin 1
      • Operation 3 - Work Center 3 - Bin 2.
  4. The Logistics Path specifies that the components are stored in Dubai Warehouse. They must be delivered to the correct bins in Dubai Plant. DEAR creates transfer orders for the components from Dubai Warehouse → Bin 1 and Dubai Warehouse → Bin 2. The transfer order creates a record in the Movements tab for that product. Stock Availability is reduced in the warehouse location and increased in the accepting location.

    NOTE: If a warehouse location and shop floor location are the same, no transfer order is created.
    • Example: 5 items of a component is needed to transfer from Dubai Warehouse to Dubai Plant.

      Availability - Dubai Warehouse:
      Stock value - 100.00 (the price for each is 10.00)
      On hand - 10.00 (no any orders for this component)
      Available - 5.00 (5 items are now available in the stock because 5 items are allocated)
      On order - 0.00 (no replenishment orders for this component)
      Allocated - 5.00 (because 5 items are needed for the production order)


      Availability - Dubai Plant:
      Stock value - 0.00
      On hand - 0.00
      Available - 0.00
      On order - 0.00
      Allocated - 0.00


    • Example: After the picking is done for the Production Order, a Transfer order appears for the component; the Component Movement tab contains the Transfer order.


      Availability - Dubai Warehouse:

      Stock value - 50.00 

      On hand - 5.00

      Available - 5.00 (5 items are left in stock)

      On order - 0.00 (no replenishment orders for this component)

      Allocated - 0.00
       
      Availability - Dubai Plant:
      Stock value - 50.00
      On hand - 5.00
      Available - 0.00
      On order - 0.00
      Allocated - 5.00 (stock is allocated for the production order)


  5. When the finished goods are produced, they should be stored somewhere. This is the procedure similar to the movements of the components: by default, the finished good is Put Away to the Dubai Plant location. If the Put Away location is not the default location, the accomplishing documents and stock movements should be executed.


Editing the Logistics Path

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Editing a Shop floor location

Shop floor locations are edited from Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins, on the Locations tab.


It is possible to edit the location name of the Shop floor by clicking the name and pressing the Save button. When the name is edited, it is changed in all objects where it is used (Production Orders, Products, etc.).


It is possible to check/uncheck the Default location checkbox for the Shop floor. When unchecked, the location is no longer set for the Production Orders by default. If the checkbox is unchecked for the location and no any other location is checked as default, there is no default location set in the Production Order and the user has to choose the location according to the set logistics path.


It is not possible to delete the location or bin if there are references to it, i.e. if it is used in any objects (orders, etc.). It is possible to delete the location if references to it are removed (i.e. orders voided, etc.). Locations can be deprecated to make them unable to be selected.


Editing the Logistics Path

Logistics Path locations are edited from Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins, on the Logistics Path tab.


It is not possible to delete the logistics path if there are references to it or change the locations inside the logistics path if there are references. It is possible to delete the logistics path if there are no references to it. 

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