Current Inventory Balances

Inventory is stored in stock locations according to balance type.  Balance types are defined within Inventory Control.  Up to four balance types can be defined for the system.  Each balance type has two flags:  Order Planning and Distribution.  If the Order Planning flag is Yes, then inventory in that balance type at a manufacturing warehouse is included in the planning balance for Master Scheduling, Requirements Planning, and Just-in-Time schedule calculations.

If the Distribution flag is set to Yes, the inventory can be used with the inventory reservation and backorder features in Order Processing.  It is possible to set both the Order Planning and Distribution flags to Yes.  In this case, it is theoretically possible to double-count the inventory--by both promising it to a customer and scheduling it for use on the shop floor.  MAC-PAC provides two options for avoiding this problem:

·     The Sales Order Planning flag is defined on the Warehouse Description File (within Design Engineering) for manufacturing warehouses.  It determines whether sales sourced from distribution inventory at the manufacturing warehouse are included in demand calculations.  Setting this flag to Yes gives MAC-PAC visibility into sales demand against inventory that is available for both planning and distribution. 

·     When the Sales Order Planning flag is No, MAC-PAC subtracts inventory reserved for customer orders from the balance available for planning. 

Inventory at distribution warehouses can also be included in the current inventory available for planning.  On the Warehouse Description File (maintained within Design Engineering), you must set the Available for Planning flag.  If this flag is set to Yes, distribution inventory within the warehouse is included in the planning balance.

In summary, the following calculations are used to determine the planning balance:

1.   For the manufacturing warehouse, if the Planning flag on the balance type is Y, the quantity is added to the total.

2.   The Work-in-Process balance is added to the total.

3.   For the manufacturing warehouse, if any balance types are available for both planning and distribution (both Order Planning Flag and Distribution Flag = Y on the balance type), and sales orders are not considered for planning (the Sales Order Planning Flag on the Warehouse Description File is N), then the inventory quantity reserved for customer orders is subtracted from the total. 

4.   For every distribution warehouse associated with the plant, the Warehouse Description File is read to determine if balances at the warehouse are available for planning.  If so, any distribution balance at the warehouse is added to the total.