Understanding Preflushing

Preflushing is the act of using the Order Processing program (R31410) to enter issue transactions for all material that is required for a work order when you process the work order. Materials include those that are not required until the last operation in the routing instructions, which could occur weeks or months in the future. These items are issued at the start date of the work order when you use the Order Processing program.

Important: You should not use the preflushing method unless the manufacturing cycle time is short enough to ensure that materials are physically moved to the shop floor within the same day that the issue transaction is recorded. If the cycle time is longer than a day, a discrepancy appears in the inventory records because the materials have been deducted from inventory records, but not physically removed from inventory stock.

You can set a processing option to issue only preflush items. If you leave this processing option blank, the system preflushes any item that is associated with the work order, regardless of the issue code of the item.