1. Using Order Promising
  2. Use Alternative Resources and Substitute Components

Use Alternative Resources and Substitute Components

Use alternative resources or substitute manufacturing components to reduce delay when promising your item. Use them in your bill of resources so you can provide earlier, more accurate promise dates.

Your factory might have more than one resource that can do the same job or more than one manufacturing component that it can use to build an item. If the primary resource or the manufacturing component isn’t available, then Promising can use an alternative resource or a substitute manufacturing component. You specify them in the item's primary work definition, and Promising will use them to schedule a make-to-order request.

  • Promising attempts to use the primary resource to meet demand, on time or with minimum delay.
  • Promising uses a bill of resources when it calculates a make flow for each capable-to-promise request. It can use check availability to see if an alternative is available, then use the alternative to schedule production.
  • If the primary resource can't meet demand, then Promising uses the alternative resource to fulfill whatever demand that the primary can't meet.
  • Promising assumes the primary resource is critical because its part of the setup for your bill of resources, so Promising assumes that all the alternative resources for the primary are also critical when it creates your bill of resources.
  • Each of these points also applies to a substitute manufacturing component.

Requirements

  • You must add each alternative resource to the item's primary work definition. You can use the Manage Work Definitions task in the Work Definition work area to do this. Learn more about work definitions. For details, see Overview of Work Definitions and Create Work Definitions for Configured Items.
  • You can specify only one primary resource for each operation.
  • You can specify one or more alternative resources for each primary.
  • If you specify more than one alternative, then Promising uses the sequence that you specify in the Alternate Resource Priority attribute on the bill of resources to determine which one to use. Assume you specify these values on your bill of resources.
    Alternate Resource Alternate Resource Priority
    x 1
    y 2
    z 3

    Promising will use x first, then y, then z.

  • Make sure each alternative resource is part of the same operation and is in the same organization as the primary. Data collection validates this requirement when you collect data.
  • Each of these points also applies to a substitute manufacturing component.

For details and examples, go to REST API for Oracle Supply Chain Management Cloud, then expand Supply Chain Planning > Simulation Sets > Bill of Resources > Alternate Resources. Also, see Guidelines for Using Alternate Resources and Substitute Components for Planned Orders.

Example for Alternative Resources

Assume you have two alternative resources.

Assembly Operation Sequence Number Resource Resource Type
ASM-1 Operation 10 R1 Primary
- - R2 Alternative 1
- - R3 Alternative 2

Here's what your data will look like in Planning.

Organization Assembly Work Area Work Center Resource Operation Sequence Number Resource Sequence Number Alternative Number
M1 ASM-1 WA-1 WC-1 R1 10 10 0
M1 ASM-1 WA-1 WC-1 R2 10 10 1
M1 ASM-1 WA-1 WC-1 R3 10 10 2

Here's what data will look like in your bill of resources.

Organization Assembly Work Area Work Center Primary Resource Alternative Resource Alternative Resource Priority
M1 ASM-1 WA-1 WC-1 R1 - -
M1 ASM-1 WA-1 WC-1 R1 R2 1
M1 ASM-1 WA-1 WC-1 R1 R3 2

Example for Substitute Manufacturing Components

Assume you have two substitute manufacturing components.

Assembly Operation Sequence Number Component Component Type Substitution Priority
ASM-1 Operation 10 CMP-1 Primary -
- - CMP-1-Sub-1 Substitute 1 1
- - CMP-1-Sub-2 Substitute 2 2

Here's what your data will look like in Planning.

Organization Assembly Operation Sequence Number Component Component Substitute Substitute Usage Quantity Rank Substitution Start Date
M1 ASM-1 10 CMP-1 - - - -
M1 ASM-1 10 - CMP-1-Sub-1 1 1 Date-A
M1 ASM-1 10 - CMP-1-Sub-2 1 2 Date-A

Here's what data will look like in your bill of resources.

Organization Assembly Component Component Substitute Usage Quantity Substitute Component Quantity Substitute Component Priority Start Date
M1 ASM-1 CMP-1 - 1 - - Date-A
M1 ASM-1 - CMP-1-Sub-1 - 1 1 Date-A
M1 ASM-1 - CMP-1-Sub-2 - 1 2 Date-A