Batch Materials

Understand and use batch reservations, material move orders, and inventory transactions. Understand differences between high-level reservations and detailed-level reservations. Create detailed-level reservations. Understand material transactions. View move orders and enter pending product lots. Understand how to manage inventory shortages and to reserve a batch as a supply source for inventory reservations. Cross-integrate the Process Execution application with Mobile Supply Chain applications for Oracle Process Manufacturing.

This chapter covers the following topics:

Requirements

Does the application support automatic ingredient reservation?

Yes. The application can reserve ingredients automatically or manually.

Reserve Ingredients Automatically or Manually

Use automatic reservation to select lots without your intervention. Make manual reservations using the Item Reservations window and Select Available Inventory window. The Picking Rules engine provides the appropriate input parameters like Batch, Product, Ingredient, and Material Requirement Date for reservation suggestions that indicate the lots from which the material can be picked.

Can inventory shortages be managed from the shop floor?

Yes. The Inventory Shortages window displays a line by line summary of materials that have a planned quantity greater than available inventory.

Manage Inventory Shortages from the Shop Floor

Inventory shortages display in the Inventory Shortages window. Production Operators can determine the shortage and act on it immediately from the shop floor.

Using Reservations, Move Orders, and Transactions

The following sequence of steps summarizes how you can use reservations, move orders, and transactions to control material movement from staging to production:

  1. Create a batch.

  2. Optionally, create high-level or detailed-level reservations or both.

    Reservations are a guarantee of available inventory. When you create a batch, if there is sufficient available inventory, then you can configure the application optionally to create a high-level reservation. This high-level reservation guarantees the quantity you need is available at the time of batch production. Once the batch is created, you can also create detailed-level reservations. A detailed reservation specifies the lot to reserve, and the subinventory and locator from which to reserve it.

    Refer to "Creating High-Level Reservations" and "Creating Detailed-Level Reservations" for more information.

  3. Create a move order.

    Move orders are documents used to control the movement of inventory. Move orders are useful to manufacturers to more closely model and control the movement of inventory from storage locations to a production staging location or shop floor. The use of move orders is optional in Process Execution. Use move orders by selecting Create Move Order parameter. Move order is allocated to the batch when you perform picking and is based on picking rules. The picking rules provide suggestions for picking material from the inventory. If you select the Rule Based Reservation Time Fence parameter, then you can use picking rules.

    Refer to “Setting Up” for more information on setting up parameters.

  4. Pick material and move to supply subinventory. This creates a detailed reservation to the batch in the supply subinventory.

  5. Consume the ingredient from the supply subinventory by releasing the batch, releasing a step, performing incremental backflushing, or by consuming manually.

  6. View the details of the ingredient consumption that are recorded as material transactions on the View Material Transactions window.

Understanding Batch Reservations

A reservation is a guaranteed allotment of material to a specified demand or supply source. Reservations can be made against on-hand inventory or different document types like a batch, sales order, or purchase order. You can have high-level or detailed-level reservations for items in a batch. A high-level reservation guarantees that the quantity you need is available in the inventory when you execute the batch. A detailed reservation specifies the lot to reserve, and the subinventory and locator from which to reserve it. Once you have detailed reservations for a material to a batch, other sources of demand are prevented from reserving or using this inventory.

When inventory is allocated during picking, reservation is used as the basis for this allocation, and when the inventory is consumed the reservation is relieved. If there is no detailed reservation, then the allocation is done based on the picking rules. Refer to "Ingredient Picking Workbench " for information on ingredient picking and the Oracle Inventory User's Guide for detailed information on picking rules.

Reservations can be transferred from one demand or supply source to another, but reserved inventory cannot be allocated to another demand source or transferred to inventory. The Item Reservations window is used to view and update batch reservations. Reservations are not updated automatically upon change in planned or WIP planned quantity. View all unconsumed reservations as exception quantities on the Material Exceptions window.

Firm Planned Orders cannot have reservations as they are used for planning a batch and actual inventory does not need to be reserved while planning. Lab batches with update inventory indicator set to No cannot have any reservations. A lab batch with update inventory set to Yes is treated as a regular batch and it can have reservations and be both a source of demand or supply.

Creating High-Level Reservations

Create high-level reservations to ensure that items required for batch production are available in the inventory organization. High-level reservations are created automatically during batch creation when Create High-Level Reservations is enabled and the material requirement date is within the Reservation Time Fence specified on the Oracle Process Manufacturing (OPM) Process Execution Parameters window. Refer to "Setting Up" for information on OPM Process Execution parameters.

You can also create high-level reservations for a batch or a material line by choosing Reserve Batch and Reserve Line respectively from the Inventory menu on the Batch Details window.

If the entire planned quantity for an ingredient is not available in the inventory, then the high-level reservation is created only for the available quantity. You can create reservations for a batch or a material line. Creation of high-level reservation is allowed in pending and WIP status of a batch or for items associated with steps. High-level reservations cannot be created for lot indivisible items.

Prerequisites

To create high-level reservations for a batch

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Choose Reserve Batch from the Inventory menu. Reserved Qty displays the reserved ingredient quantity.

To create high-level reservation for a material line

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Select the material line.

  3. Choose Reserve Line from the Inventory menu. Reserved Qty displays the reserved quantity for that line.

Creating Detailed-Level Reservations

A detailed-level reservation is an inventory reservation for an item at a more detailed-level of inventory control-revision, lot, subinventory, and locator. Detailed reservations are ‘hard’ reservations; once you have reserved material to a batch, other sources of demand are prevented from reserving or using this inventory. Detailed-level reservations can also be partially detailed. For example, you can reserve a lot without having to specify the subinventory or locator. If the lot is moved around between the time you create the reservation and the time it is needed in the batch, then you do not have to update the reservation. If the lot exists in more than one location at the time it is needed, then it can be picked from any of those locations based on picking rules.

Reservation of a lot-controlled item at the subinventory level cannot be created without specifying the lot information. Detailed-level reservations can be created manually or automatically. A detailed reservation can be created in the following ways:

Rules Based Reservations

Rules based reservations enable the creation of detailed-level reservations based on suggestions from picking rules. Picking rules can be inventory picking rules or the Oracle Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) picking rules in case of WMS-enabled organization. The application determines whether the item qualifies for rule-based reservations depending on the Rule Based Reservations Time Fence parameter and the item requirement date. If the requirement date is within the reservation time fence, then the item qualifies for rules-based reservation. Refer to "Setting Up” for more information.

To create rules-based reservation automatically

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Choose AutoDetail Batch from the Inventory menu. Reserved Qty displays the reserved quantity for the ingredients.

To create detailed-level reservation for a material line

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Select the material line.

  3. Choose AutoDetail Line from the Inventory menu. Reserved Qty displays the reserved quantity for that line.

To create a detailed-level reservation manually

Create detailed-level reservation manually for a batch and material lines using the Select Available Inventory window from the Item Reservations window. Refer to “Using the Select Available Inventory window” for more information.

To create a detailed-level reservation using the Item Reservations window

Create a detailed-level reservation manually for a batch and material lines using the Item Reservations window. Refer to “Entering Reservations” for more information.

Entering Reservations

The Item Reservations window lets you view, insert, and update the reservations for a batch.

To enter reservations

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Click Reservations or choose Maintain Reservations from the Inventory menu.

    Refer to the Oracle Inventory User's Guide for detailed information on the Item Reservations window.

Creating Reservations Using the Simulator and Optimizer

You can create reservations for a batch using the Oracle Process Manufacturing Product Development Simulator and Optimizer tool. Refer to the Oracle Process Manufacturing Product Development User's Guide for detailed information.

Transacting Materials

The Material Transactions window displays all the material transactions for a batch and can complete the transactions for materials reserved for a batch. If you do not have any material reservations for a batch, then enter material transactions by entering the required quantities on this window and then transacting them. The transaction date also displays and has the following defaults:

Transaction dates do not update if you change the:

When you enter material transactions in the Material Transactions window select a transaction type for:

If you issue or return lot-controlled ingredients, products, or byproducts, then specify the lots using the Lot Entry window. Refer to "Using the Lot Entry Window" for more information.

For batches in WMS-enabled organizations, you can yield a product into a License Plate Number (LPN) or reserve and consume ingredients from an LPN, by specifying the LPN for the transaction on the Material Transactions window. Refer to "Integrating Process Execution with Mobile Supply Chain Application" for more information.

Prerequisites

To transact material

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Choose Transact Material from the Inventory menu.

  3. The Material Transactions window displays.

  4. The following fields are display only:

    • Line Type indicates the material type as ingredient, product, or byproduct.

    • Line is the line number of the material in the batch.

    • Item is the inventory item on the material line.

    • Revision is the revision of the item on the material line.

    • Target Qty is the quantity of the item to transact for the current transaction. This field has the following defaults:

      • When you release a batch, the WIP planned quantity is the target quantity.

      • When you incrementally backflush a batch, the incremental quantity is the target quantity.

    • Transacted Qty is the quantity of the item transacted in the current transaction.

    • Exception Qty is the quantity of the item not transacted in the current transaction.

    • UOM is the unit of measure in which the item is expressed.

    • Subinventory is the subinventory for the item.

    • Locator is the locator in the subinventory for the item.

    • WIP Plan Qty is the planned quantity of the item to consume or yield.

    • Actual Qty is the actual quantity of the item consumed or yielded.

  5. Pending Move Orders is selected when pending move orders exist for this item. It is deselected when there are no pending move orders.

  6. Pending Reservations is selected when unconsumed reservations exist for this item. It is deselected when there are no unconsumed reservations for the item.

  7. Dispensable is selected if the item is to be dispensed. Refer to the Manufacturing Execution System for Oracle Process Manufacturing User's Guide for more information on dispensing.

  8. Select Transact to select the material line to transact.

  9. Enter a Transaction Type for:

    • Products as WIP Complete or WIP Complete Return

    • Ingredients as WIP Issue or WIP Return

    • Byproducts as WIP Complete

  10. Enter Item Revision if the item is revision-controlled.

  11. Enter the Subinventory from which the item is to be consumed.

  12. Enter the Locator in the subinventory from which the item is to be consumed.

  13. Enter the Lot number to use for the consumption if the item is lot-controlled. The list of values for the Lot field also displays lots with null expiration dates.

  14. Enter the LPN to yield into an LPN or consume from an LPN. You can enter LPN for WIP Issue, WIP Issue Return, WIP Completion, and WIP Completion Return transactions. This field is enabled only WMS-enabled organizations.

  15. Quantity is the quantity of material being consumed from the specified lot. This defaults to the reserved quantity of the item, if you have made reservations for this item. You can edit this field.

  16. UOM is the unit of measure in which the quantity is expressed.

  17. Secondary Qty is the quantity of material to consume or yield, if the item is dual unit of measure controlled.

  18. Secondary UOM is the unit of measure in which the secondary quantity is expressed.

  19. Enter a Reason code as the reason for the transaction.

  20. Transaction Date is the date of transaction.

  21. Primary Qty is the quantity of the item to consume or yield in the primary unit of measure.

  22. Primary UOM is the primary inventory unit of measure for the item.

  23. Onhand Qty is the total quantity available in inventory in the specified subinventory and locator.

  24. Available to Transact is the usable material that you can use for the transaction.

  25. Click Transact to complete the transaction or click Cancel to cancel the changes and close the window.

To view move orders

Click Move Order. Refer to “Viewing Move Orders” for more information.

To select the available inventory for creating transactions

Choose the Select Available Inventory from the Actions menu. Refer to the Oracle Inventory User’s Guide for more information on this window.

To assign lot numbers

Click Lot Serial. Refer to "Using the Lot Entry Window" for more information.

Viewing Material Transactions

You can view the material transactions for a batch using the View Material Transactions window. The configuration for this window is the same as the Material Transactions window except that the fields are not editable.

To view the material transactions for a batch:

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Choose View Material Transactions from the Inventory menu. Refer to "Transacting Materials" for a detailed window description.

Using the Lot Entry Window

The Lot Entry window lets you choose lot numbers for the line item quantity to issue or return. You can view the Lot Entry window only for items that are lot-controlled. Lot/Serial is not enabled if a Lot is already entered on the Material Transactions window.

To assign lot numbers

  1. Navigate to the Material Transactions window.

  2. Click Lot/Serial.

    Refer to the Oracle Inventory User's Guide for detailed description of the window.

Viewing Material Exceptions

The Material Exceptions window displays the items not transacted. This window has the same field definition as the Material Transactions window and displays when you:

The Material Exceptions window lets you:

Prerequisites

To view material exceptions

  1. Navigate to the Material Exceptions window.

  2. The following fields are display only:

    • Line Type indicates the material type as ingredient, product, or byproduct.

    • Line is the line number of the material in the batch.

    • Item is the inventory item on the material line.

    • Revision is the revision of the item on the material line.

    • Target Qty is the quantity of the item to transact for the current transaction. This field has the following defaults:

      • When you release a batch, the WIP planned quantity is the target quantity.

      • When you incrementally backflush a batch, the incremental quantity is the target quantity.

    • Transacted Qty is the quantity of the item transacted in the current transaction.

    • Exception Qty is the quantity of the item not transacted in the current transaction.

    • UOM is the unit of measure in which the item is expressed.

    • Subinventory is the subinventory for the item.

    • Locator is the locator in the subinventory for the item.

    • WIP Plan Qty is the planned quantity of the item to consume or yield.

    • Actual Qty is the actual quantity of the item consumed or yielded.

  3. Pending Move Orders is selected when pending move orders exist for this item. It is deselected when there are no pending move orders.

  4. Pending Reservations is selected when unconsumed reservations exist for this item. It is deselected when there are no unconsumed reservations for the item.

  5. Select Dispensable if the item is to be dispensed.

    Refer to the Manufacturing Execution System for Oracle Process Manufacturing User's Guide for more information on dispensing.

  6. Select Transact to select the material line to transact.

  7. Enter a Transaction Type for:

    • Products as WIP Complete or WIP Complete Return

    • Ingredients as WIP Issue or WIP Return

    • Byproducts as WIP Complete

  8. Enter Item Revision if the item is revision-controlled.

  9. Enter the Subinventory from which the item is to be consumed.

  10. Enter the Locator in the subinventory from which the item is to be consumed.

  11. Enter the Lot number to use for the consumption if the item is lot-controlled. The list of values for the Lot field also displays lots with null expiration dates.

  12. Quantity is the quantity of material being consumed from the specified lot. This defaults to the reserved quantity of the item, if you have made reservations for this item. You can edit this field.

  13. UOM is the unit of measure in which the quantity is expressed.

  14. Secondary Qty is the quantity of material to consume or yield, if the item is dual unit of measure controlled.

  15. Secondary UOM is the unit of measure in which the secondary quantity is expressed.

  16. Enter a Reason code as the reason for the transaction.

  17. Transaction Date is the date of transaction.

  18. Primary Qty is the quantity of the item to consume or yield in the primary unit of measure.

  19. Primary UOM is the primary inventory unit of measure for the item.

  20. Onhand is the total quantity available in inventory in the specified subinventory and locator.

  21. Available to Transact is the usable material that you can use for the transaction.

  22. Click Proceed to complete the transaction or Cancel to cancel the changes and return to the Batch Details window.

Editing Material Transactions

The Correct Material Transactions window displays the transactions for all materials of a batch and lets you make corrections to the displayed completed transactions.

Prerequisites

To correct transaction corrections

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Choose Correct Material Transactions from the Inventory menu.

  3. The Correct Material Transactions window displays.

  4. The following fields are display only:

    • Line Type indicates the material type as ingredient, product, or byproduct.

    • Line is the line number of the material in the batch.

    • Item is the inventory item on the material line.

    • Revision is the revision of the item on the material line.

    • Target Qty is the quantity of the item to transact for the current transaction. This field has the following defaults:

      • When you release a batch, the WIP planned quantity is the target quantity.

      • When you incrementally backflush a batch, the incremental quantity is the target quantity.

    • Transacted Qty is the quantity of the item transacted in the current transaction.

    • Exception Qty is the quantity of the item not transacted in the current transaction.

    • UOM is the unit of measure in which the item is expressed.

    • Subinventory is the subinventory for the item.

    • Locator is the locator in the subinventory for the item.

    • WIP Plan Qty is the planned quantity of the item to consume or yield.

    • Actual Qty is the actual quantity of the item consumed or yielded.

  5. Pending Move Orders is selected when pending move orders exist for this item. It is deselected when there are no pending move orders.

  6. Pending Reservations is selected when unconsumed reservations exist for this item. It is deselected when there are no unconsumed reservations for the item.

  7. Dispensable is selected if the item is to be dispensed.

    Refer to the Manufacturing Execution System for Oracle Process Manufacturing User's Guide for more information on dispensing.

  8. Select Correct to select the material transaction to correct.

  9. Enter a Transaction Type for:

    • Products as WIP Complete or WIP Complete Return

    • Ingredients as WIP Issue or WIP Return

    • Byproducts as WIP Complete

  10. Enter Item Revision if the item is revision-controlled.

  11. Enter the Subinventory from which the item is to be consumed.

  12. Enter the Locator in the subinventory from which the item is to be consumed.

  13. Enter the Lot number to use for the consumption if the item is lot-controlled. The list of values for the Lot field also displays lots with null expiration dates.

  14. Quantity is the quantity of material being consumed from the specified lot. This defaults to the reserved quantity of the item, if you have made reservations for this item. You can edit this field.

  15. UOM is the unit of measure in which the quantity is expressed.

  16. Secondary Qty is the quantity of material to consume or yield, if the item is dual unit of measure controlled.

  17. Secondary UOM is the unit of measure in which the secondary quantity is expressed.

  18. Enter a Reason code as the reason for the correction.

  19. Enter a new Transaction Date for the transaction.

  20. Primary Qty is the quantity of the item to consume or yield in the primary unit of measure.

  21. Primary UOM is the primary inventory unit of measure for the item.

  22. Onhand Qty is the total quantity available in inventory in the specified subinventory and locator.

  23. Available to Transact is the usable material that you can use for the transaction.

  24. Click Correct to save the changes to the material transactions or Cancel to cancel the changes and return to the Batch Details window.

Viewing Move Orders

Move orders are documents used to control the movement of inventory. Move orders are useful to manufacturers who want to more closely model and control the movement of inventory from storage locations to a production staging location or shop floor. They allow planners and facility managers to request the movement of material within a warehouse or facility for purposes like replenishment, material storage relocations, and quality handling. You can generate move orders either manually or automatically. Refer to the Oracle Inventory User's Guide for information on creating move orders.

You can configure the Oracle Process Manufacturing (OPM) Process Execution application to create move orders automatically during batch creation for items with insufficient inventory in the supply subinventory but available in another subinventory, by setting up the Create Move Order parameter. Move orders are created only if the item requirement date is within the Move Order Time Fence. The use of move orders is optional in Process Execution. Refer to "Setting Up" for more information OPM Process Execution Parameters.

Prerequisites

To view a move order

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Choose View Move Order from the Inventory menu.

    Refer to the Oracle Inventory User's Guide for detailed information on move orders.

Entering Pending Product Lots

The Pending Product Lots window lets you specify the exact revision of the product and the lot where a product is yielded.

To enter pending product lots

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Select the product to view the pending product lots.

  3. Choose Pending Lots from the Inventory menu.

  4. Enter Sequence as the order the lots are to be yielded.

  5. Item Revision displays the item revision for the material line if it is revision-controlled. Otherwise, the highest revision displays. You can edit this field.

  6. Enter the Parent Lot number. This is the parent lot to which a new lot is associated. The lot has default attributes derived from this parent lot during creation. This field does not display for lab lots.

  7. Enter the Lot Number.

  8. Expiration Date is the date of expiry for the product.

  9. Enter the Quantity to yield into the lot.

  10. The following fields are display only:

    • UOM is the unit of measure for the material. This defaults to the UOM specified on the material line.

    • Secondary UOM is the secondary unit of measure for the material. This displays if the item is dual unit of measure controlled. The value defaults from the secondary UOM specified on the material line.

    • Primary Qty is the material transaction quantity calculated using the Primary UOM.

  11. If the item is dual unit of measure controlled, then enter the Secondary Qty of the material in the secondary unit of measure.

  12. Item Revision displays the item revision for the material line if it is revision-controlled. The highest revision displays by default. You can edit this field. The material is yielded in the specified Item Revision.

  13. Enter a Reason Code to associate with the transaction.

  14. Click Done.

To generate a new parent lot

Click Generate Parent. A new parent lot is generated.

To generate a new lot

Click Generate Lot. A new lot number is generated.

Managing Inventory Shortages

The Inventory Shortages window lets you view all inventory shortages for production batches during batch creation if material shortages exist. Shortages are based on material available to reserve (ATR) at the inventory organization level. The inventory shortages for phantom batches also display. For nonreservable items, the available to transact (ATT) values are used to compare against the planned quantity of the material to determine shortage. Inventory shortages do not display for lab batches when the Update Inventory indicator is deselected.

Select the Process Execution Parameter Check Shortages to display inventory shortages. The inventory shortages window displays:

In case of revision control items, the shortages are derived based on the revision of the item used as a material in the batch. Nonstockable items are not considered for checking shortages.

To display inventory shortages at the organization level

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Choose View Org Level Shortages from the Inventory menu.

  3. The following fields are display only:

    • Line is the material line number.

    • Item is the inventory item that corresponds to the material line.

    • Revision is the item for which the shortages exist. This is the revision on the material detail line.

    • Item Description is a brief description of the item.

    • Planned Qty is the planned quantity for the item.

    • Reserved Qty is the material quantity reserved in the line for high-level or detailed-level reservations.

    • UOM is the unit of measure for the material line used in the batch.

    • Onhand Qty is the quantity available for this item in the current organization.

    • Available to Reserve is the quantity of the item in the current organization that can be reserved for this batch.

    • Available to Transact is the quantity of the inventory item in the current organization that can be transacted for this batch.

To display inventory shortages at the subinventory level

  1. Navigate to the Batch Details window.

  2. Choose View Subinventory Level Shortages from the Inventory menu.

Using the Select Available Inventory Window

You can create a detailed-level reservation manually for a batch and material line using the Select Available Inventory window. The Select Available Inventory window displays the available to transact inventory organized based on the inventory picking rules defined for an item. Use this window to create a detailed-level reservation manually or a transaction for a batch and material line. Refer to the Oracle Inventory User's Guide for more information.

Reserving a Batch as a Supply Source for Inventory Reservations

You can reserve the product yield of a production batch as a source of supply for the inventory reservations. For example, reserve the product yield of a batch to a sales order. Refer to "Appendix D", Oracle Inventory User's Guide, and Using Oracle Order Management with Process Inventory for more information on reserving a production batch to a sales order. If you reserve the output of a batch, then you cannot perform any batch actions that result in deduction of the on-hand quantity.

Integrating Process Execution with Mobile Supply Chain Applications

Oracle Process Manufacturing (OPM) Process Execution supports the Mobile Supply Chain Applications (MSCA), if the Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) is installed. Using handheld mobile devices, you can record transactions. For example, ingredient consumption, product yield, and resource usage can be recorded. OPM Process Execution and WMS interact through the use of move orders. You can use WMS Picking and Putaway with OPM Process Execution, and yield products into a License Plate Number (LPN). An LPN, is the basic entity managed by WMS; it can, for example, represent a pallet or similar grouping of inventory. Refer to Oracle Process Manufacturing Mobile Supply Chain Application for Oracle Process Manufacturing for more information.