An effective Warehouse Operation must include all the tools needed for timely and accurate shipping, receiving and perpetual inventory control. Alliance provides tools for item-level visibility into item locations and lots, ABC analysis, physical inventory, transaction audits and "light" assembly needs.

Using these tools, Alliance provides the ability to control the goods in your warehouse, to minimize shrinkage and lost material, and to increase picking efficiency and warehouse productivity. Alliance uses the following functions in this process:

• Item information
• Item maintenance
• Inventory control flags for location/lot/serial numbers
• Warehouse setup and restocking

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Fractional Inventory

Alliance's fractional inventory supports precise values when making inventory transactions. Fractional inventory also gives you the ability to accurately adjust quantities when shipping items to customers. Even if partial quantities are shipped, the invoice will be accurate.

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Item Master Files

Before processing sales orders, purchasing or manufacturing an item, an Item Master Record must be established.

Use the Item Master File to establish attributes of an item. Included in the Item Master File are the item's description, including product line and class, units of measure and conversion factors, and weight. Inventory parameters, such as lot/location control and primary location, are included, as well as planning parameters, cost parameters and GL information.

To ease item maintenance, establish a default Item Master record in Alliance. Add a new item to inventory more rapidly by using a Default Item Master record and making the needed changes to the new item.

An item can also reference an existing item number for General Ledger control, pricing, costing, etc. Reference fields identify a "same-as-item-number," which results in fewer records being created and maintained. This saves disk space and maintenance time, for items with nearly identical characteristics, such as differing only in color, size and packaging.

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Item Text

If an item requires text, use the Alliance Item Master Text screen. You keep an unlimited amount of text and attach dates and user IDs, or use previously entered information. There are also review dates attached to the text to act as a reminder to review.

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Item Type Code

The item type in Alliance is described by a user-defined code entered in the system. Alliance supports an unlimited number of item types such as sub-assemblies, components and finished goods.

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Maximum Inventory Control

With Alliance, items can be received and allocated to customer orders, shipped, transferred and moved. Return goods authorizations (RGAs) can also be created, while controlling items at the warehouse, location and lot levels.

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Multiple Units of Measure

Alliance supports user-defined units of measure. An item can be purchased in one unit, packaged in another, inventoried in another, priced in a fourth and sold in a fifth, as long as the conversion factors are known.

To use several units of measure for an item, you must define an inventory unit of measure and the conversion factors used to derive the other units.

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Use Customer Item Numbers

Alliance accepts customer, vendor or manufacturer item or catalog numbers, and allows the use of these numbers for order entry. A cross-reference table links the various names and numbers for an item. It also enables sales and purchasing personnel to look up items using these reference numbers, perhaps to find substitutes or complementary items.

Analysis of Vendors Through Receipts

In Alliance, the Receiving function uses information from open purchase orders to check the reliability of vendors. Deliveries received prior to an acceptable user-defined time frame are highlighted. Quantities exceeding a user-defined, over-shipment percentage are also flagged and printed on an exception report. This information can then be fed into vendor performance records for use in making decisions about vendors.

Each receipt is tracked separately and provides information regarding the carrier, pro number and number of cartons received. To print a receiving ticket, press a function key from the Purchase Order Receiving Screen. One ticket is printed for each of the items received.

Balance History

The Inventory Balance History Screen displays information regarding the current inventory status of an item and its historical data. The available historical information includes current year and prior year for customer orders, customer shipments, customer returns, purchase receipts, purchase returns and purchase rejects.

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Carrier Selection

When Alliance is supplied with state and zip code information, it automatically selects a carrier based on weight/quantity information for the order. A carrier selection flag controls this function.

Component Availability

The BOM Availability Inquiry displays the component quantities on hand against the customer requirements. You can display all components of the parent item, or only those components in short supply.

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Direct Shipments

In Alliance, customer orders can be shipped directly from the manufacturer. An item can be flagged in the Item Master as one that is direct-shipped for all customers or a warehoused item can be flagged to be drop-shipped for a particular order.

Alliance automatically generates purchase orders for direct-shipped items for each ship-to location.

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Dock-to-Dock (Cross-Dock) Shipments

Alliance also accommodates dock-to-dock shipments. Items are transferred from an inbound truck to the outbound carrier on the shipping dock without being received into the warehouse.

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Full Audit Trails

All transactions that affect inventory are captured in Alliance for reporting purposes. This log provides accounting and tracking of all inventory movements. Full lot traceability is also provided.

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General Ledger Account Numbers

All general ledger account numbers affected by inventory transactions are listed. The system records all inventory transactions and assigns General Ledger numbers, by item and warehouse or by transaction, to accumulate and categorize costs associated with these transactions.

Group Shipments

Through a special routine, Alliance can identify customers on the same route. All the orders ready to be shipped in that group can be identified and printed.

Inquiry Programs

Alliance offers a wide variety of item inquiry programs. Through them, you can display inventory balance history, inventory forecasts, the Location Master and Item Master text. Use these inquiries to display a history of any inventory movement or adjustment. Search for an item by its description, generic code, item number or class.

Inventory Control in the Warehouse

Alliance maintains inventory, requirements, and planned replenishments at a warehouse level. Warehouses can be used for any physical or logical grouping of items. This flexible arrangement enables tracking of inventory in as many plants, stockrooms or warehouses as needed. Codes can also be assigned by warehouse to track consignment inventories.

Alliance displays the inventory balance of an item through the Inventory Balance Status Screen. This screen shows, by item and warehouse, how many items are available, on hold, in transit, in inspection, and allocated.

Inventory Valuation

Four costing techniques are available in Alliance: Standard, Current, Average and Lot-for-Lot. You can select the costing techniques that best fit your needs.

Standard and Current costs have eight cost buckets. All material costs, as well as user-defined burden costs and the routing, can be captured.

Costs can be rolled up for manufactured items through the Bill of Material. Rolling into a future cost bucket assists a cost accountant to map simulations with the Alliance cost roll-up function.

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Invoicing

Invoices can be generated at various times in the order cycle. For instance, invoices for will-call orders can be printed on-line, just after the order is placed and picked. Invoices for regular orders can be produced in a batch process at any time during the day.

Kit Items

Alliance supports kit items with the BOM function. You can enter an item number for a kit which explodes the kit BOM down to two levels, prints it, and allocates the components on the picker. This guides assembly of the order by the shop floor or warehouse staff.

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Manufacturing Orders

The Manufacturing Receipts program accepts a quantity of a parent item into stock and automatically issues or backflushes the component sets from stock.

Alliance provides a BOM maintenance capability. You can create, delete, change and copy bills on-line. Components can be tied to a router and mass replacements to bills are supported. Effectivity dates can be assigned to components. Components can be issued from a warehouse different than the warehouse where the parent is received. Future enhancements include full work order support and make-to-order processing.

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On-line Inventory Adjustments

Inventory adjustments occur on-line in Alliance. The user-defined reason codes enable users to track and analyze inventory usage. Audit trails include concise and easy-to-read screens and reports.

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Perpetual Inventory Control

Alliance is an on-line real-time system that provides a view into current inventory status at any given time throughout the workday.

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Physical Inventory

The Alliance physical inventory process freezes present inventory balances calculated by the system and prints and tracks inventory tickets. After a physical count of your items is conducted and recorded on the item tickets, enter the amounts in the system.

Warehouse transactions can continue during a physical inventory because a snapshot of the item balance is taken before the count, and is netted to the new counts when available. This feature reduces the time typically lost during a physical inventory.

Alliance compares quantities in the item records with the new counts. After reviewing the differences and verifying that all tickets are accounted for, you can run the Update Physical Inventory Report. This process updates all the inventory records with the variance from new item counts and produces a report of the new inventory status.

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Pick Slips by Carrier

Pick slips can be printed in user-defined carrier sequence.

Print Documents Only When Needed

Alliance provides you with the ability to print all shipping, acknowledgment and invoicing documents at any printer location. Duplicates of these documents can be reprinted at any time and as often as required. The documents include:

• Acknowledgment
• Pick List
• Packing List (shipper)
• Bill of Lading
• Invoices
• Proforma Invoice
• Return Goods Authorization (RGA)

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Purchase Order Receiving

Receiving in Alliance is an on-line, interactive function. Inventory is affected immediately and is available to any back-order waiting to be filled. The receipt transaction can move material directly into stock or into an inspection area. After approval, inspected stock can be transferred into inventory. Material that does not meet quality control specifications can be rejected or returned to the vendor. Items can also be scrapped from the receiving screen.

Returned Goods Authorizations

Returned Goods Authorizations (RGAs) can be created in Alliance allowing the receiving dock to track inbound inventory and update customer returns history.

Routing

The routing function in Alliance is used to enter the following information for the assembly of an item:

• Sequence number
• Operation number
• Work center
• Amount (in pieces or hours)
• Setup time
• Designated crew
• Labor grade
• Yield

An unlimited number of routing comments can be attached to an item's routing sequence.

Shipping Confirmation

A sales order shipping confirmation function confirms shipments at an item/order level. At ship confirmation you have the option of using a single-step order confirmation if the entire order is shipped as ordered.

With Alliance, each line item of a correctly picked complete order does not need to be confirmed. If the shipment does not match the order, the shipping clerk can confirm the lines that are shipped as ordered and override the quantities in the rest of the order. The system automatically creates a back-order if allowed by the customer.

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Summarized BOM

The component usage quantities totaled for a given parent item can be displayed. The at-level total cost for the quantity of items at each level can also be seen. When the system extends the cost information for all components, it supports rolling standard, current or future cost.

An implosion or explosion in indented or single-level form can also be performed.

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Usage Class

Alliance provides the controls to identify an item based on its annualized usage cost - the ABC classification. Set the annual total usage cost range for each ABC code in the System Reference files.

You can specify as many ABC classifications as the company requires and adjust them as needed. The range of values used can be in monthly or yearly usage dollars, depending on how the ABC report is run. You can run the year-to-date report at any time.

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Value Added Processing (Light Manufacturing)

Alliance offers a number of light manufacturing capabilities useful for planning and tracking simple assembly, repackaging and value-add operations. They include:

• Multi-level BOM
• Indented where-used inquiries
• Summarized costed BOM
• Routing and work center definition
• Work order inventory backflush transaction
• Multi-level BOM

Unlimited multi-level BOMs are used to create the product structure in a light manufacturing process. Two-level BOMs are used to define sales kits that are picked and assembled upon order.

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Warehouse Records

A warehouse locator program keeps track of the actual location of inventory in a particular warehouse. Each item in each warehouse operates independently and can be defined as location-required or location-free. When used, all inventory movement must be tracked by location or lot number. There is no limit to the number of lots or locations that can be defined. Each item/warehouse record contains:

• Replenishment rules
• Inventory classification
• Prior history of the item
• Item balance maintenance

The Item Balance File Maintenance Screen enables you to enter all information about how an item is warehoused. This screen contains the warehouse ID, ABC classification, bin location, lot and serial number sensitivity, prime pick locations and other pertinent information. With Alliance, multiple items can be warehoused in one location, and multiple locations can store the same item.

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Work Center Records

The work center maintenance function is used to create work centers for routings.

You can enter all the information needed to describe the work center, including standard and current labor rates in fixed or variable burden percentages, and set -up rate. A performance factor, standard queue and move hours is also included.


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Alliance Reports Document

A full list of the Warehouse Operations reports will be provided upon request. Contact us for more information.

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Location Control-Inquiry Capability

Items can be stored in fixed or random locations in warehouses. Alliance keeps track of all inventory movement including shipments, receipts and miscellaneous transactions. An inquiry displays the vendor's item number, transaction quantity, locations, lot numbers, availability, and on-hand and allocated quantities, by item and warehouse.

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Lot Traceability

If some or all items are lot-sensitive, Query/400 can trace the lot ID of the item in Alliance as it was received and later shipped to a customer. The lot numbers have an expiration date for control purposes. Some items can be set up as lot-sensitive, other items as bin/location-sensitive, and different items can be flagged for both lot and location tracking. A complete audit trail of all inventory transactions provides a detailed history of all items.

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Multiple Warehouse Capability

Alliance is a multi-warehouse system enabling you to take orders at any location for shipment from any other. Even if items are located in different warehouses, you create only one sales order in Alliance.

This facility eliminates duplication of effort and simplifies order tracking.

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Random Locators

When Alliance stores items in random locations, each location contains the last date of activity for that item and location, and an expiration date, if one is used. You can also store comments about the items in a location for later review.

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Serial Number Control

With Alliance, you have the ability to track serial numbers on items shipped to customers. Serial numbers can be automatically assigned to items within a range; simply give the system the starting number and the entire range is correctly assigned. Serial numbers are assigned at shipment time.

Ship From Multiple Warehouses

Any line item on an order can be shipped from a warehouse different than the balance of the line items. This is done by simply "unfolding" the order detail line (showing more information), and changing the warehouse designation for that line item. At order picking time, picking tickets automatically print in the correct warehouse.

If items from multiple warehouses are shipped the same day, one invoice is generated. If shipped on separate days, separate invoices are generated, one for each shipment and invoice run.

A Location Master Screen enables you to define the locations and the capacity of each location in the warehouses. Add or delete warehouse locations on this screen.

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