Enforce Integer Values of Quantities for Planned Make Orders

Manufacturing processes typically uses rounding rules for the ingredients so that the dependent demand that is generated are in integer quantities. Oracle Supply Planning now considers the rounding rules so that the component demand is generated in quantities that conform to how manufacturing execution happens.

In manufacturing industries, it is useful to generate demand for the ingredients/components in rounded quantities as certain materials used in work orders must be tracked in whole units rather than partial or decimal quantities, as they are physically indivisible. Their unit of measure reflects this, such as each, box, cans, or cases.

For example, paints are stocked in 1-liter cans and used in manufacturing pumps. If each pump requires approximately 800 ml of paint, producing six pumps requires 4.8 liters. Instead of issuing a fractional quantity, it is practical to round up and issue 5 liters (or five cans). Similar considerations apply to materials issued in sheets, rolls, boxes, or cartons.

Component Yield Consideration: Some components, like electronic connectors, have a defined component yield rate to account for potential assembly losses. For instance, if the component yield for a 4-pin connector is 97.5%, manufacturing 1,000 sub-assemblies requires 1,000 / 0.975 = 1,025.64 connectors. Since decimals are impractical, the quantity is rounded to 1,025 while picking and issuing this component.

By issuing whole units, the system ensures accuracy in inventory tracking and minimizes inefficiencies.

The process begins by defining an Enforce Integer policy within the Item Structures. This policy ensures that specific materials or components are tracked and issued in whole numbers rather than fractions. Enforce Integer option can have values Round up, Round down or None. This is the existing behavior prior to this feature.

With this update, Oracle Fusion Cloud Manufacturing inherits the Enforce Integer policy for components into work definitions, where it applies to the manufacturing process. For standard components, the policy is automatically inherited, whereas for ad hoc components, you have the flexibility to specify whether integer enforcement is required.

Supply Planning considers the Enforce Integer policy and rounds off the component requirements accordingly when generating supplies. For example, if item RA_COMP is the component of RA_ASSY, the usage for the component is 1.5, and Enforced Integer selected is Round up, then for a demand of 5 on RA_ASSY, Supply Planning creates a planned order of quantity 5 on RA_ASSY and a component requirement (planned order demand) of 8 {roundup (5*1.5)} for RA_COMP.

When a work order is created, Oracle Manufacturing inherits the Enforce Integer value for components and substitutes from the work definition. Enforce Integer can be edited for ad-hoc components up until the time the work order is released. Once work orders are generated, Supply Planning collects the component requirements in their rounded integer quantities and plans accordingly.

Use Case 1:

In this use case:

  • For the assembly RA_ASSY, two components RA_COMP1 and RA_COMP2 are defined in the Item Structure in Oracle PIM. 
  • The enforce integer requirement for component RA_COMP1 is Round down, while for RA_COMP2 it is Round up. The component yield for RA_COMP2 is 0.9
  • When the work definition is created for the assembly in Oracle Manufacturing, it inherits the Enforce Integer policy for components. Enforce Integer is read only for the components inherited from the Item Structure.
  • An ad hoc component RA_ADHOC1 is added into the work definition. Enforce Integer can be edited for ad hoc components, and in this use case, it is Round up.

             Work Definition in Oracle Manufacturing

Work Definition in Oracle Manufacturing

After the collections process in Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain Planning, the components with enforce integer requirements can be seen in Item Structures as shown in the given screenshot.

  Item Structures in Supply Chain Planning

Item Structures in Supply Chain Planning

  • A supply plan is created with a forecast demand on assembly RA_ASSY of quantity 45. It generated a planned order of quantity 45 on RA_ASSY to satisfy the forecast.
  • The planned order on assembly is exploded to its components.
  • The usage of RA_COMP1 is 0.5 and enforce integer requirement is Round down. Supply Planning created the planned order demand as round down (45*0.5) =22, and a planned order for RA_COMP1 of quantity 22.
  • The usage of RA_COMP2 is 0.6, component yield is 0.9 and enforce integer requirement is Round up. Supply Planning created the planned order demand as round up ((45*0.6)/0.9) =30, and a planned order for RA_COMP2 of quantity 30.
  • The usage of RA_ADHOC1 is 0.5 and enforce integer requirement is Round up. Supply Planning created the planned order demand as round up (45*0.5) =23, and a planned order for RA_ADHOC1 of quantity 23.

                    Supply Plan Output

Supply Plan Output

Use Case 2:

In this use case the set up remains same as of use case 1. A work order is created in Oracle Manufacturing for assembly RA_ASSY of quantity 25 and collected into Oracle Supply Chain Planning. Supply Planning collects the component requirements in their rounded integer quantities.

In this case, the usage of RA_COMP1 is 0.5 and enforce integer requirement is Round down. The work order demand is collected as round down (25*0.5) = 12. Similarly for component, RA_COMP2 the work order demand is collected as round up ((25*0.6)/0.9) = 17. For component RA_ADHOC1, the usage is 0.5 and enforce integer requirement is Round up, the work order demand is collected as round up (25*0.5) = 13.

  Work orders with Enforce Integer

Work orders with Enforce Integer

The work order is planned further in Supply Planning and planned orders are generated in integers for corresponding work order demands.

Work order in Supply Planning

Work order in Supply Planning

External File Upload (FBDI)

You can also enforce the integer requirement for components of an assembly through FBDI file ScpBillofMaterialImportTemplate.xlsm. The column name is Rounding Direction. The valid values are:

1 - Round up

2 - Round down

3 - None

 For work orders, you must provide the rounded value for the components in the FBDI file in case you want to implement the Enforce Integer Requirement policy.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

  • The Enforce Integer value is read-only in the work definition for the components defined in an item structure. You can edit this value only for ad hoc components.
  • This feature is supported for both unconstrained and constrained supply plans.
  • This feature is supported for both Supply plans and Demand and Supply plans.
  •  This feature is applicable to Discrete, Process and Flow work methods. This change is also applicable for both standard items and ATO models.

Key Resources

  • Refer to feature Enforce Integer Quantities for Materials in Work Orders and Production Transactions in Oracle Fusion Cloud Manufacturing.

Access Requirements

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains these privileges can access this feature:

  • Monitor Supply Planning Work Area (MSC_MONITOR_SUPPLY_PLANNING_WORK_AREA_PRIV)
  • Run Plan with Snapshot (MSC_RUN_PLAN_WITH_SNAPSHOT_PRIV)
  • Edit Plans (MSC_EDIT_PLANS_PRIV)

These privileges were available prior to this update.