Set up many custom items

[ddell]

I'm a mfg of made to order product with many varied specs that we want to track. No two items will have the same specs and the items will be customer specific. My software supplier has suggested setting up items and using the kit option to build the items. I'm wondering if extender would be a more fluid option to do so. But extender doesn't offer any type of inventory tracking.

Is it easy to get extender fields to print as part of an order, for example?

Also, there doesn't seem to be any way to get changes made within an order to be saved back to an item.

 

[jazgeek]

are you using manufacturing? If so, a product configurator would be a good thing for you.

We do something similar where we have standard product with almost an infinite # of options. We used to enter each and every configured item as a seperate bill of material in GP.... well you can imagine how many bom's have been created over the years.

Now we're implementing a configurator which autocreates the bom's on an order by order basis.



-----------
and they wonder why they call it Great Pains!

jaz

 

[ddell]

No we aren't using manufacturing. We are a small operation and at this time don't believe we need it.

 

[jazgeek]

well, kits are your only option then. xtender is not going to link or do anything to inventory in terms of depletion.

adding the fields to the reports shouldn't be a problem.



-----------
and they wonder why they call it Great Pains!

jaz

 

[Dukester0122]

if you plan to use it for reporting then the item category would be your best bet. i've seen companies use it for size, height,width, color,etc.

if you plan to use it for order entry then creating the kit would be best.

the sales configurator module in manufacturing gives you the ability to create Option Category just like item category but this should be assign only to configurable finished items

 

[bklenzman]

If I understand your problem correctly, the configurator options mentioned above will not work because your process is engineer to order, and you wouldn't be able to specify up front all possible options that are available to select from to "configure" a finished good.

You might want to look at the Inventory BOM and assembly transactions.

 

[Dukester0122]

jaz-what do you mean by autocreating the bom's? did you mean creating an archive bom for each sales order?

 

[jazgeek]

not exactly Duke, what we have is a configurator that "creates on the fly" a bill of material that could be archived or not (depends on the setting)

basically if you were making suits, you'd have a basic set of patterns, you pick cloth, you pick buttons, you pick size etc and it would create a BOM for production based on your selections (lots of logic behind it)



-----------
and they wonder why they call it Great Pains!

jaz

 

[Dukester0122]

one of our division makes custom cabinets and the color,size, table tops,lights,etc. changes on every order. we use configurator to pick every piece of option category. how will your customization work during order entry?

 

[jazgeek]

our customization is not for Great Plains, we're dropping Great Plains for everything except financials and going with another ERP system that feeds financial info to GP.

Product is called Seradex.

There is a third party configuration addon that works at the sales order entry screen called Horizons Configurator, it can make kits for you based on logic etc. I found it very complicated to make the initial configuration but fairly easy to use at SOP entry once everything was set up properly.



-----------
and they wonder why they call it Great Pains!

jaz

 

[Dukester0122]

I've read an article about Seradex a few months back and checked their website a couple of times already. I like what I saw but it would be a totally new investment which I'm very impressed how you were able to convince management to change applications.

 

[jazgeek]

Thank you for your compliment, fortunately I am management.

When your company runs mostly from custom crystal reports, it's a fair bet you're due for a change.

I've read so many white papers regarding system longevity and legacy issues. Most companies keep their ERP system on a 4-6 year cycle to fully realize ROI, it made sense to keep GP, but lack of functionality in a make to order environment precluded the necessity to change our front end at the 5 year mark. CRM, Configuration, EPR, MRP, CRP, Subcontracting etc are not correctly addressed in our current GP/Horizons setup and we were not willing to invest the moola required for a GP manufacturing solution. Seradex was a nice mid ranged application that would grow with us with added functionality and customization capabilities. It was also a bonus to leverage our existing investment in GP from the financial end.



-----------
and they wonder why they call it Great Pains!

jaz

 

[Dukester0122]

Whne the time comes and I need to sell Seradex to upper mgmt, can I call you since you're the owner anyways.

 

[jazgeek]

certainly

contact me first via email at my tek-tips forum handle at yahoo dot com.



-----------
and they wonder why they call it Great Pains!

jaz

 

[Dukester0122]

appreciate if you can provide me with the modules and cost

 

[jazgeek]

email me, open forum is not a place to discuss such.

-----------
and they wonder why they call it Great Pains!

jaz

 

[Dukester0122]

Just did.