8 Understand Grade and Potency
This chapter contains these topics:
8.1 About Grade and Potency
Manufacturers in the process industry need full control over the quality of products they make or buy. Examples are the food, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. Grade and potency qualifications allow you to categorize your products more specifically and trace their movement through the manufacturing/distribution process.
In JD Edwards World systems, grade and potency are mutually exclusive. You can only use one or the other to categorize an item. All items that are grade or potency controlled must also be tracked by lot number. Grades and potencies divide items by their specific makeup or characteristics without changing item numbers. Lots identify a specific group of items with the same item number.
For grade and potency controlled items, you can enter a standard (preferred) value for each item. You can also enter a range of acceptable values that allow you to continue operations with grades or potencies that are outside the standard value, but still acceptable for your use. This helps to establish and maintain quality levels in your products, but is flexible enough to keep your operations running when the standard level of product is not available.
The grade or potency for each lot is used by programs that calculate on-hand and available quantities. All items that are grade or potency controlled must be lot controlled.
Grade identifies an item's particular specification makeup, and allows the system to separate one lot from other production lots without changing the item number. Examples are diamonds, lumber, and raw turquoise.
You can use grades to classify items by their characteristics, such as quality, strength, or integrity. If you activate grade control, certain functions edit for grades and will not perform transactions if the items involved do not meet the grade parameters.
Potency refers to the percentage of active ingredient within a solution, for example, 40% solution of hydrochloric acid, 3.2 beer versus standard percentages of alcohol, and coffee with varying strengths of caffeine.
Only items that meet the grade or potency range requirements stated in the bill of material are issued to the shop floor for production. Components outside the range will not show as available or on-hand in the Shop Floor Control material inquiries.
The system records grade or potency and lot transfer transactions in the item ledger and the general ledger, so that accounting is incorporated into the tracking.
You can order only a certain grade or potency of an item. Sales order and purchase order systems accommodate grade and potency standards and ranges.
8.2 Grade and Potency Control
The following are grade or potency control fields on the Manufacturing Data form:
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Grade/Potency Pricing - determines how to price grade or potency controlled items in Sales Order Management.
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Grade Control - identifies whether the item is grade controlled.
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Potency Control - identifies whether the item is potency controlled.
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Standard Grade - identifies the standard grade of the item, for example, premium or average. The value entered here provides the default for several forms in manufacturing.
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Standard Potency - identifies the standard percentage of active ingredients normally found in an item. The value entered here provides the default for several forms in manufacturing. The potency standard is used for the potent unit of measure conversion, in certain cases.
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From and Through Grade - defines the allowable grade ranges for an item.
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From and Through Potency - defines the allowable potency ranges for an item.
The system uses these values when you create a branch/plant record for the item.
You define grades in the user defined code list 40/LG.
Define the user defined codes for the potent units of measure in the user defined code list 00/UM. For each potent unit of measure that you define, you must enter P in the second space of the Special Handling Code field, located in the detail area of the User Defined Code form.
Define a conversion for each potent unit of measure to a physical unit of measure in the Unit of Measure Conversions form. For example, 100 gallons of a solution at 80% potency = 80 potent gallons, 80 potent gallons of a solution at 80% = 100 gallons.
8.3 Lot Control Items
Use the Item Branch/Plant Information screen to identify the item as a lot controlled item. Grade and potency controlled items must be lot controlled. Define one of the following values as the Lot Process Type:
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Blank = Lot assignment is optional. Numbers must be manually assigned. Quantity can be greater than one.
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1 = Lot assignment is used. Numbers are assigned by the system using the system date in YYMMDD format. Quantity can be greater than one.
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2 = Lot assignment is used. Numbers are assigned in ascending sequence using the next number convention. Quantity can be greater than one.
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3 = Lot assignment is required. Numbers must be manually assigned. Quantity can be greater than one.
Figure 8-1 Item Branch/Plant Information screen
Description of "Figure 8-1 Item Branch/Plant Information screen"
When you attach an ingredients list to a work order header, commitments are created for the components. How these commitments are created depends on the parameters of Commitment Method, Commitment Control, and Hard or Soft Commit. After you set up these parameters, commitments can be created in the same manner using both the Enter/Change Order or Order Processing programs.
When an item is defined as lot controlled, the system allows only those lots within the range eligible for commitments on the ingredients list. The system issues a warning during parts list attachment if the grade of a lot-controlled ingredient falls outside the valid grade range. Any remaining quantities are committed to the primary location.