Understanding Kit Information

A kit is a collection of inventory items that are packaged together into a parent item and sold under a parent name. To better understand kits, consider the trend toward mass configuration in industry. Mass configuration enables consumers to configure anything, from electronic systems to automobiles, from a vast list of component parts, which offers consumers flexibility in their purchases. Each kit that is sold can be unique, even though all its component parts are standard.

A kit is typically made up of several types of inventory items:

• Parent item

  A parent item represents the assembled item. Generally, the system does not carry inventory for a parent item. You must set up a parent item in the Item Master and designate it with a stocking type of K (for kit). The Item Master determines how the system calculates the price.

• Components

  Components are the actual inventory items that are contained in the kit. You set up components in the Item Master as regular stock items. The system automatically orders components.

• Features and options

  Features and options are additional items for the kit. Feature items have a stocking type of F (for feature). The system recognizes feature items as second-level parent items because the system does not carry inventory for the feature items. You set up the actual inventory items in the bill of material.

For example, you might store several computer components together, such as a monitor, hard drive, keyboard, and mouse. When you sell the items, you sell them collectively as a computer system. In another example, you might store the same computer components in different locations within a warehouse. By entering the items as kit components, you can easily locate each item and assemble the final product.

The bill of material lists which items are included in the kit. Bills of material can have up to 999 levels. A level consists of components, features, and options. Each level can consist of various parts. For example, you define a feature in a component of a parent kit and then enter the feature as a parent. The parent of the feature parent is the first level. The feature becomes a second level (a child of the first level). Although features can have components, when its components become part of the kit, they are simply kit components. The system only supports single-level kits, not multi-level.

After you enter each kit component and you assign a line type to the component, feature, or option, the system checks component item numbers against the Item Master table (F4101). Kits can also contain non-stock components, such as a flyer or catalog. The system does not validate the non-stock item numbers against the F4101 table.

After you enter the kit item master records, you must identify the location where the kit is stored on the Item/Branch Plant Info. form in the Item Branch program (P41026). If you have set the Item Branch Validationprocessing option in the Bill of Material Revisions program (P3002) so that the system does not validate the existence of an item/branch record, you do not have to set up the location of a component in the branch/plant where the kit is created.

See Entering Branch/Plant Information.

You can set the appropriate processing options to view kit components in the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Sales Order Management system and the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Procurement system.