Flexible Commodity

This page is accessed via Order Management > Material Management > Flexible Commodity.

Defining a Flexible Commodity allows you to group items together that may or may not share similar attributes, but they do share the same rates.

Following are examples using Flexible Commodities:

1. You have a group of items that belong to a commodity called Produce. Those items are made up of milk (skim, whole, etc.), and eggs (large, medium, small). All of the items in this Produce commodity should be shipped in the same equipment type, a 48' or 53' refrigerated trailer (remember, commodities are used to assist with equipment selection). However, since milk is so much heavier than eggs, the carrier charges more to transport it. So, while all the items in the Produce commodity can be shipped in the same piece of equipment, there will be different rates charged for the egg items and the milk items. In this case, you would set up two different Flexible Commodities, one called Milk, the other called Eggs. Each of these will be charged a different rate. You will do this by selecting COMMODITY from the Flex Commodity Qual ID drop-down list, and then selecting the appropriate commodity under the Commodity field that appears below it. You need to map these flexible commodities to itinerary legs or line items on bills or invoices in order for this to work properly.
2. You have a group of items that belong to a commodity called Housing Materials. Those items are made up of wall board and paint. All of the items in this Housing Materials commodity should be shipped on the same type of equipment, a 48' flatbed trailer. Your contract with the carrier states that items with different NMFC codes have different rates. Because of this, you will need to set up two different Flexible Commodities, one for the wall board NMFC code and another for the paint NMFC code. Each of these will be charged a different rate. You do this by selecting NMFC_CLASS from the Flex Commodity Qual ID drop-down list, and then selecting the appropriate NMFC code under the NMFC Class field that appears below it. You need to map these flexible commodities to itinerary legs or line items on bills or invoices in order for this to work properly.
3. You have a set of items that belong to two different commodities, one is called wall board, the other is called spackle. Wall board can only be shipped on flat bed trucks, but spackle can be shipped on flatbeds or traditional trailers (this is why they are defined as different commodities). The rates for both of these commodities are the same. In this case, you would set up one Flexible Commodity, called housing materials. After you select COMMODITY from the Flexible Commodity Qualifier drop-down list, you save two different Commodities (one for wall board, the other for spackle) under the Commodity field below it. You need to map these flexible commodities to itinerary legs or line items on bills or invoices in order for this to work properly.

Flexible Commodity Fields

1. Enter a Flexible Commodity Profile ID.
2. Enter a Flex Commodity Profile Name.
3. If you have flexible commodities listed on your itinerary leg and the Compatible check box is selected, then these flexible commodities are included on that itinerary leg. If the Compatible check box is not selected, then these flexible commodities are not included on that itinerary leg.
4. Select a Flexible Commodity Qualifier from the drop-down list. This tells the system what the basis is for the Flexible Commodity. For example, if you are defining the Flexible Commodity by Commodity, as in examples #1 and #3 above, then you would select COMMODITY from the drop-down list.

Flexible Commodity Detail

Depending on which selection you selected in the previous step, different fields appear in this section. The name of the field matches what you selected in the drop-down list in the previous step (for example, the field will say Commodity, if you selected COMMODITY).

1. Enter the appropriate flexible commodity detail.
2. Click Save for each commodity detail you define.