Requisition ContainerLoadPlan

Dependent upon configuration, we are able to produce a container loading plan for a requisition; currently this is only available when the requisition has been automatically generated by the system.

For the system to produce an automatically generated requisition with a container loading plan, all of the following conditions need to be met:

1) There is client-specific configuration held for the customer that specifies that we can/will produce container loading plans for them.Ṫ

2) There are one or more active stations for the customer where the station is configured to automatically generate requisitions

3) There is configuration held for the customer that specifies that we will create automatically generated requisitions (with a container loading plan) as per an agreed scheduleṪṪ

NOTE: The schedule is typically daily; the system will assess the current demand and inventory levels at a set time each day and may produce one or more requisitions at the set (reoccurring) time.

4) For the active station(s) which are configured for automatic requisition generation, there is at least one active par level which is configured with the Automatic Requisition Option: ContainerFill.

Note that this one option of four, the options are:

1: Manual Material will not be included in any automatically generated requisitions - must be ordered manually (although this includes using Requisition Templates).

2: Scheduled Material will included in automatically generated requisitions - its expected to be ordered on a regular and consistent ordering cycle

3: Events Material will included in automatically generated requisitions that are triggered from events - such as approval of an inventory count or ad hoc requests made via the portal

4: ContainerFill Material will be included in an automatically generated Requisition to fill a container if there is forecast demand

To be clear, only materials which are configured with the last option will be considered for inclusion in the system-generated requisition.

5) The item must be orderable - in other words, the status of the material must be either "Current" or "Phase Out" and the status of the par level must be either Active or Phased Out (with no final supply date OR a final supply date that's in the future).

6) There is inventory available at the supplying warehouse

7) There is demand for the materialṪṪṪ

8) Materials must have weight and volume attributes defined (without this information, the system will have no idea the qty of the product that can be accommodated within a container).

If the system does produce a container-filled requisition, it will be created in status: Awaiting Approval (the normal status for automatically generated requisitions is: Awaiting Station Review).

In the scenario that there is sufficient demand and sufficient inventory at the warehouse that will not fit in a single container, the system will produce multiple requisitions. There is a 1:1 ratio between a system-generated, container-filled requisition and a [sea] container; in other words, such a system-generated requisition will never specify a loading list of materials that exceeds the maximum loading a [sea] container.

If a container loading plan is available for a requisition, you will see a button beneath the requisition-lines data grid on the Edit Requisition page titled: Container Load Plan, if you click on this button, you will see a new window which will show a static graphic showing an illustrative container loading plan.

Beneath the image is a data grid which details the materials that have been included in the container loading plan; you will likely need to scroll down to see the list of materials; each material will have a color assigned to it that will relate to the image above the data grid.

TIP: you can toggle the image on/off by clicking on the eye icon that is shown above the container loading plan image.

On the window, the top section shows the type of container being loaded, the maximum volume of it and its maximum weight; it also shows the utilizaton from the loading (note: it will be rare that the utilization is 100%).

Beneath this panel, you will see the eye icon that I mentioned above, that you can use to show/hide the container loading plan image. By default, the page will load with the image in static mode; as you wish, you can switch to interactive mode - this will allow you to zoom in, zoom out and rotate/spin the loading plan so you can view it from any direction/angle.

[[File:SLX_ReqContainerLoadingPlan_ModalWindow_Interactive.JPG]

When in interactive mode, you will see a circle in the center of the graphic that is split in 4x quarters, there will be two black quarters and two white quarters in opposing positions. Additionally, when in interactive mode, the Export to PDF button on the toolbar above the graphic is automatically hidden; the button will only be presented to you when in static mode.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If any changes are made to a definition of the requisition, the loading plan is invalidated - you will be warned if this will happen. Such changes would include:

• Removing a line from the requisition
• Adding an extra line to the requisition
• Increasing or decreasing the order qty on an existing requisition line

The loading plan that the system generates will be dependent upon many factors, including:

• inventory held
• current demand
• configuration for the number of days to look-ahead for demandṪṪṪṪ
• weights and volumes of the materials where there is both demand and inventory
• stacking configuration (the system will only permit a maximum of one pallet to be stacked on top of another); not all materials can support other products to be stacked on top of them and for the products which do permit pallets to be stacked on-top, there is a maximum weight that can be stacked on top, which is typically <= the weight of a full container of the product that is on floor of the container
• grouping of materials - not all materials can be loaded in the same container - thus certain materials can only be loaded with a finite list of other eligible materials; this is achieved via Loading Groups, which is defined on a per material basis.

If you a planner (station provisioning manager) and you are happy with the requisition that has been generated by the system, you can approve it in the usual way. As mentioned above, a PDF can be produced by the system which can be shared with the warehouse team to pick and load the [sea] container.

Ṫ for IT support team only, this means that that there is config for Cargo planning in the OrganizationAttributes table for the specific client.

ṪṪ for IT support team only, this means an entry in the ScheduleTaskConfig

ṪṪṪ for IT Support team only, this means that there must records in the NWADetail table, where there is a +ve OutQty and the parent NWAHeader record is in status: Active.

ṪṪṪṪ for IT Support team only, this relates to the optional OrganizationAttributes configuration flag, Group Name: CARGOPLANNER_SERVICE, Attribute Name: AUTOGEN_MAX_EARLYSHIP_DAYS