Showing posts with label inventory. Show all posts

April 18, 2025

The Material Classification Code (MCC) feature in Oracle EBS Item Master Setup is essential for organizing and managing inventory effectively. This feature was added in 12.2.6 and later enhanced in 12.2.10. Businesses leverage this feature for several key use cases:

1. Inventory Organization & Segmentation

Helps categorize items based on their nature, such as raw materials, finished goods, consumables, or hazardous materials.
Facilitates better searchability, reporting, and grouping of items in inventory.

2. Compliance & Regulatory Tracking

Essential for industries like pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and aerospace, where strict regulations govern material handling.
Allows companies to classify materials based on safety regulations, hazardous handling requirements, or environmental constraints.

3. Pricing & Cost Control

Enables businesses to assign unique classification codes that can be used to apply specific pricing models, taxes, or cost tracking.
Helps in budget planning and cost analysis, ensuring proper cost allocation based on material type.

4. Supplier & Procurement Optimization

Helps in supplier-specific classifications, allowing procurement teams to streamline ordering processes.
Assists in bulk purchasing decisions, determining reorder points for different material categories.

5. Forecasting & Demand Planning

Supports predictive analytics, helping businesses anticipate material consumption trends.
Enables optimized stocking levels, reducing the risk of shortages or overstock situations.

6. Production & Manufacturing Efficiency

Improves BOM (Bill of Materials) management, ensuring accurate material selection during manufacturing.
Helps in work order planning, ensuring the right materials are available at the right time for production.

Setup

1. Setup the Classification Type
Inventory Setup --> Lookup

2. Setup Classification Code
Inventory Setup --> Transactions --> Material Classification Code

3. Assign to Item
Item Master --> Material Classification Type

4. Tag to Transaction Types
Actions--> Material Classification Tagging Assignments

Post this at all transaction level MCC will be maintained and traced.

August 8, 2023

Setting up Oracle Apps Manufacturing involves a series of configurations and setups to enable various manufacturing processes and functionalities.

Organization Structure Setup:

Define Legal Entities, Operating Units, and Inventory Organizations:

Specify legal entities that represent distinct legal entities within your enterprise.
Set up operating units to manage financial transactions and business processes.
Define inventory organizations to manage inventory and manufacturing processes.

Item Master Setup:

Define Items:

Specify item attributes like item type (standard, model, kit, etc.), description, and category.
Set up item relationships, such as substitutes, co-products, and by-products.

Item Costs:

Configure cost information, such as item cost organizations, cost methods (average, standard, etc.), and cost updates.

Bill of Materials (BOM) Setup:

BOM Components:

Create BOMs with details of components and their quantities needed to produce finished goods.
Define alternate BOMs for different manufacturing scenarios.

Effectivity and Revision Control:

Set up effective dates and revision levels for BOMs.
Manage changes to BOMs through approvals and version control.

Routing or Work Definition Setup:

Define Routings:

Create routings or work definitions that outline the sequence of operations required for manufacturing.
Specify resource requirements, work centers, operation sequences, and setup times.

Resource and Capacity Planning:

Set up work centers with capacity details, calendars, and scheduling rules.
Define resources like machines, labor, and tools required for operations.

Work in Process (WIP) Setup:

WIP Parameters:

Configure WIP parameters like job and schedule classes, discrete job settings, and batch control.

WIP Accounting:

Define WIP accounting classes and categories for cost tracking and work order completion accounting.

Quality Management Setup:

Quality Codes and Plans:

Create quality codes to categorize defects and issues.
Set up quality plans with inspection requirements, tests, and tolerances.

Quality Results:

Configure quality result types and result categories to track inspection results.

Inventory Setup:

Inventory Organizations:

Create inventory organizations and define their parameters, such as valuation and costing information.

Subinventories and Locators:

Set up subinventories and locators for organizing and tracking inventory within inventory organizations.

Purchasing Setup:

Supplier Setup:

Define suppliers and supplier sites for procuring raw materials or components.

Sourcing Rules and Purchase Agreements:

Configure sourcing rules to determine the supply sources for items.
Set up purchase agreements for volume discounts or long-term supplier contracts.

Order Management Setup:

Order Types and Processing Rules:

Create order types for different sales scenarios (standard, drop ship, etc.).
Configure order processing rules for order fulfillment and shipping methods.

Master Scheduling/MRP Setup:

Planning Parameters:

Set up planning parameters like planning method (MRP, Min-Max, etc.), netting method, and planning horizon.

Safety Stock and Demand Forecasts:

Define safety stock levels and establish demand forecasts for items.

Costing Setup:

Cost Organizations:

Define cost organizations and their relationships to inventory organizations.

Cost Components and Roll-up:

Set up cost components to categorize costs (material, labor, overhead, etc.).
Configure cost roll-up processes to calculate and update costs.

Shop Floor Control Setup:

Work Center Schedules:

Define work center schedules and operating hours.

Labor and Resource Reporting:

Configure labor and resource reporting for tracking work order progress.

System Integration and Interfaces:

Data Import/Export:

Set up interfaces for data import/export between Oracle E-Business Suite and external systems.

Integration with Other Modules:

Configure integrations with other Oracle E-Business Suite modules like Financials, Procurement, and Order Management.

October 5, 2016

Below Script will help you to get the Inventory Org to Business Group details with Legal Entity, Operating Unit, Ledger, Period details, Inventory Validation org and Purchase Validation org for the Operating unit

This script is in the context of Oracle R12

-------------------
select mp.organization_code org_code,
org.organization_id org_id,
org.name org_name,
hl.location_id,
hl.location_code,
hl.address_line_1,
hl.address_line_2,
hl.address_line_3,
hl.town_or_city,
hl.country,
hl.postal_code,
ou.organization_id ou_id,
ou.name OU,
le.legal_entity_id le_id,
le.name LE,
gl.ledger_id,
gl.name primary_ledger,
gl.currency_code,
bg.name bg,
(select organization_code
from apps.mtl_parameters
where organization_id =
(select parameter_value
from apps.OE_SYS_PARAMETERS_ALL
where parameter_code = 'MASTER_ORGANIZATION_ID'
and org_id = ou.organization_id)) IVO,
(select organization_code
from apps.mtl_parameters
where organization_id =
(select inventory_organization_id
from AP.FINANCIALS_SYSTEM_PARAMS_ALL#
where org_id = ou.organization_id)) PVO,
(select period_name || ' : ' || open_flag
from apps.ORG_ACCT_PERIODS
where period_start_date <= trunc(sysdate)
and schedule_close_date >= trunc(sysdate)
and organization_id = mp.organization_id) inv_period,
(select period_name || ' : ' || show_status
from apps.GL_PERIOD_STATUSES_V
where start_date <= trunc(sysdate)
and end_date >= trunc(sysdate)
and ledger_id = gl.ledger_id
and application_id = 101) gl_ledger_period,
(select period_name || ' : ' || show_status
from apps.GL_PERIOD_STATUSES_V
where start_date <= trunc(sysdate)
and end_date >= trunc(sysdate)
and ledger_id = gl.ledger_id
and application_id = 200) AP_period,
(select period_name || ' : ' || show_status
from apps.GL_PERIOD_STATUSES_V
where start_date <= trunc(sysdate)
and end_date >= trunc(sysdate)
and ledger_id = gl.ledger_id
and application_id = 222) AR_period,
(select period_name || ' : ' || show_status
from apps.GL_PERIOD_STATUSES_V
where start_date <= trunc(sysdate)
and end_date >= trunc(sysdate)
and ledger_id = gl.ledger_id
and application_id = 201) PO_period

from apps.XLE_ENTITY_PROFILES le,
apps.HR_ALL_ORGANIZATION_UNITS ou,
apps.HR_ALL_ORGANIZATION_UNITS org,
apps.HR_ALL_ORGANIZATION_UNITS bg,
apps.mtl_parameters mp,
apps.GL_LEDGERS gl,
apps.HR_ORGANIZATION_INFORMATION ouinfo,
apps.HR_ORGANIZATION_INFORMATION orginfo,
apps.hr_locations hl
where mp.organization_id = org.organization_id
and org.organization_id = orginfo.organization_id
and org.location_id = hl.location_id
and orginfo.org_information_context = 'Accounting Information'
and orginfo.org_information3 = ou.organization_id
and orginfo.org_information1 = gl.ledger_id
and orginfo.org_information2 = le.legal_entity_id
and ou.organization_id = ouinfo.organization_id
and ouinfo.org_information_context = 'Operating Unit Information'
and ouinfo.org_information2 = le.legal_entity_id
and ouinfo.org_information3 = gl.ledger_id
and bg.organization_id = ou.business_group_id
and mp.organization_code in ('V1');

-------------------------

Cycle Count

Types Of Move Order

Move orders are created from different sources.

This can be identified from the Move Order header move order type field.

Different types of Move Orders are

Move Order Requisitions:

These are created from the move order form. Based on the setup at the organization and item level, move orders require approval before they can be allocated and transacted. These requisitions can be created to charge an account or move the material from one subinventory to another.

Replenishment Move Orders:

These are auto-created with pre approved status. Depending on the planning type you can replenish the quantity in a subinventory for an item. Three types of replenishment plans (in relation to move orders) are available:

Min-max Replenishment Planning
Kanban Replenishment Planning
Replenishing Count planning

Based on these sources, when appropriate programs are run, move orders are automatically created.

Pick Wave Move Order Requisitions:

These move orders are specifically for the sales order picking process. When Pick Releasing program is run move orders are created as preapproved and allocated(depending on the Pick Release setup). Pick Confirm process transacts these pick wave move orders.

Inventory

Part-1

1. What are different planning methods in Inventory
There are 5 different planning methods in oracle Inventory

Subinv Replenishment Planning
Min Max Planning
Re-order point planning
Kanban Planning
Periodic Automatic Replenishment

2. What are the setups for different planning method (Min-Max)

Setup the item in master org and assign the item to the org for which Min-Max planning is used

Attributes, Inv Planning method: Min-Max
Min-Max Qty should have been defined
Safety Stock method should be non MRP Planned
Determine what should be the status of the Requisitions created for the planning
Do this with profile option INV: Minmax Reorder Approval
IF Use ASL has been enabled, then Requisition will populate the supplier data from the ASL setup which is assigned to the item
Sourcing rules can be defined for this
Then need to assign sourcing rule to the item
In Inventory responsibility, under Planning run the Min Max planning report with required parameter

3. What is the concurrent program for the planning
Min Max planning report under planning menu in Inventory responsibility

4. What are the setups for expense item?

Should not be Inventory Item
No Stockable
No Transactable
No Costing, Inv Asset

5. How many key flexfields are there in Inventory?

Seven KFF are there in Inventory

Account Alias
Item
Item Category
Item Catalogues
Stock Locators
Sales Order
Service Items

6. What is the use of sales order KFF?

This is used during material transaction when source is Sales Order
Segments are Sales order Number.Sales Order Type.Sales Order Source

7. How we can have the item key flexfield with 2 segments, is it possible, if yes then how, if no then why?

This can be modified using Flexfield>Key> Segments
Query the System Items, then you can modify the existing structure, or you can add a new one.

8. How will you inactivate the Inventory locations
By giving Inactive date in the Location form

9. What all setups you have done in inventory organization implementation

Location
Calendar
Organization
Parameter
Cost Group
Subinventory
Stock Locator
Receiving Options
Shipping Networks
Intercompany Transaction flows
Cost Subelements

10. What is the difference between purchased and purchasable flag for an item?

Purchasable is a status attribute flag, so based on this flag, certain transactions can be controlled for an item.

Purchased flag decides whether to purchase and receive this item.

Purchasable flag decides, whether to order this item in a purchase order.

If purchasable is enabled, item can be ordered in a purchase order, if not, new purchase orders cant be created and approved for the items.

If purchased is enabled, item can be received if already present in an approved purchase order.

Part - 2

What are the valuation accounts used in Inventory

Material An asset account that tracks material cost. For average costing, this account holds your inventory and intransit values. Once you perform transactions, you cannot change this account.
Material Overhead An asset account that tracks material overhead cost.
Resource An asset account that tracks resource cost.
Overhead An asset account that tracks resource and outside processing overheads.
Outside processing An asset account that tracks outside processing cost.
Expense The expense account used when tracking a non-asset item

Other Accounts

Sales The profit and loss (income statement) account that tracks the default revenue account.
Cost of Goods Sold The profit and loss (income statement) account that tracks the default cost of goods sold account.
Purchase Price Variance The variance account used to record differences between purchase order price and standard cost. This account is not used with the average cost method.
Inventory A/P Accrual The liability account that represents all inventory purchase order receipts not matched in Accounts Payable, such as the uninvoiced receipts account.
Invoice Price Variance The variance account used to record differences between purchase order price and invoice price. This account is used by Accounts Payable to record invoice price variance.
Encumbrance An expense account used to recognize the reservation of funds when a purchase order is approved.
Average Cost Variance Under average costing with negative quantity balances, this account represents the inventory valuation error caused by issuing your inventory before your receipts.

What is ABC Analysis and why it is being used

ABC Analysis is an Inventory categorization method to categorize items into 3 different classes A being the most valuable and C being the least valuable ones.
Using this Analysis, it will be easy to monitor and keep on track of the valuable items like frequently doing cycle counts on A class items, etc.

What are the process of cycle count

Create a cycle count header with required data
Assign the items to be counted
Then run the required cycle count report
Using the report do the cycle counts
Then go and Approve the cycle count

What is the different in MO Issue and MO Transfer

MO Issue will move out the stock from inventory against an account
MO transfer will move the stock from one subinventory to other

What is the Picking rule in Inventory

Picking Rule is used to determine the list of items for sales order/ shipping based on the revision, Lot, Subinventory and Locator.
Assign the required Picking Rule to the item in Order Management tab.

What are the criteria in Cycle count

Depending on the requirement, we can trigger cycle count.

We can define regular cycle count of high values items.

If back ordered or pick denied, we can trigger cycle count for those items.

What are the diff in Lot and Serial

Lot control is to control a whole batch of items. for example in drug industry we have batch number which can be controlled using lot where we can track the complete batch using specific data.

Serial control is to monitor and track every single qty of an item like electronic devices where we track by serial number.

What are the material status in a subinventory
What is Physical Inventory

Part - 3

1. What is move order in OM

Move orders generated as part of Pick Wave are the ones from Sales order

2. How a MO is diff from Subinv transfer

Ans: MO generally are the request of movement of items in one organization. It may be of from 3 sources, MO requisition, Replenish MO, Pick Wave MO. MO can be MO Issue which will issue the item from the location and MO transfer which ll transfer the item to another location.

3. What is nettable in Subinventory setup

This will detrrmine whether to consider the onhands of the subinventory as available for planning tasks.

4. What are the status attributes in Item and how many of them

We can define different status for an item combination these attributes as per the business need

Following are the attributes

BOM Enabled

Build in WIP

Customer order enabled

Internal Order enabled

Invoicable

Purchasable

Stockable

Transactable

5. What is the use of status attribute

We can define different status for an item combination these attributes as per the business need

6. Why master org is required

So that we can have an item maintained at master level with common attributes and then we can use the same item across multiple organization instead of defining it again and again.

7. Inventory Master org is mandatory?

Yes. If you will not create any specific master org, then system will consider the same inv org as its master org.

8. What are the Lot control setups

Lot control can be setup at item attributes at organization level.

Either No Control or Full Control

9. How lot number generates

You can generate new Lot numbers during transactions

10. What is serial controlled and what are the setups

Serial control can be setup at item attributes at organization level.

11. How serial numbers are generated

Serial control can be setup at item attributes at organization level.

No Control, At Receipt, At Sales Order issue, Predefined

12. What is the predefined locator in Subinventory and how it works in business

We can setup locator control in 4 diff ways for each subinventory

None: There will not be any locator information required during any transaction

Prespecified: System will ask you to select locator combinations which already been defined in the subinventory during the transaction

Dynamic Entry: Either you can select any locator during transaction or you can create a new combination

Item Level: This will take the locator which has been defined at item attribute level

13. What are the transaction managers

Transaction manager is the inetrface managers which carry out all transaction once submitted by the users

14. Can we change the item name after it created?

Ans: Yes we can change the name in master level.

Part -4

1. How WMS is helpful compared to Inventory

Ans: Warehouse Management (WMS) enables companies to maximize their utilization of labor, space and equipment investments by coordinating and optimizing resource usage and material flows. Specifically designed to support the needs of distribution, manufacturing, asset-intensive, and service businesses, Oracle WMS provides a single-platform across your entire global supply chain.
2. What functionality in inventory uses the calendar
3. What is the diff in inv and wms from accounting perspective
4. What is the use of WMS Rules Workbench
Ans: The Rules workbench enables you to assign strategies, rules and cost group values directly to any number of objects in an assignment matrix
5. Why strategy used
Ans: After you define your rules, you must set up a strategy and then associate the applicable rules. After you assign rules to a strategy, the rules engine can execute the strategies on any objects to which the strategy applies. The rules engine executes each subsequent rule in your strategy until an allocation is completely filled.
6. How many types of bar codes are there
Ans: Mainly 2 types Linear (1 dimensional) and Matrix (2D)

Part - 5

1. What is an item?
An item is a part or services where you can Purchase, Sell, Plan, Manufacture, Stock, Distribute and Prototype.
Items can also be containers for items as well as components you build into other items.

2. Explain Item Master Organization?
An item master organization is a logical entity where you define the item. After you define an item in the item master, you can assign it to any number of other organizations.

3. Define Inventory Organization?
It is a facility which will enable you to store and transact the items. It can be a manufacturing unit, ware house, distribution center etc.

4. What is a subinventory?
Subinventiries are unique physical or logical separations of material inventory. These can be raw material, finished goods or defective material subinventory. You must define at least one subinventory. Subinventories are of two types: storage and receiving
Storage subinventories are intermediate or final put away locations for material. Material that resides in a storage subinventory appears in on hand quantity, and is tracked by the system. The system can book orders against, and use manufacturing processes on material that resides in a storage subinventory. You must define at least one storage subinventory for your implementation.
Receiving type subinventory is only used for receiving items. Items in this subinventories cannot be on-hand or reserved

5. In which table does the subinventory related information for an item is stored?
MTL_SECONDARY_INVENTORIES

MTL_ITEM_SUB_INVENTORIES

6. What is a stock locator?
Locators are structures within subinventories. Locators are the third level in the enterprise structuring scheme of Oracle Inventory. Locators may represent rows, racks, or bins in warehouses. You can transact items into and out of locators. You can restrict the life of locators, establish capacity of a specific locator in weight or units, as well as specify dimensions which define a locator’s capacity by volume.

7. What are the Key flex fields in oracle Inventory?
Oracle Inventory provides the following flexfields:
System Items, Item Catalogs, Item Categories, Stock Locators, Account Alias and Sales Order

8. What are the basic steps involved in defining an item?
Create an item in the item master form
Copy the template from the tools menu to assign specific attributes to the item and save it.
Assign the item to a category from tools menu and save your work
Select organization assignment from tools menu and assign the item to different inventory organizations by ticking the checkbox next to the inventory organizations.

9. What are item attributes?
Item attributes are the collection of information about an item. These are used to store specific characteristics of an item, such as item status, unit of measure, revision control, etc. these can be controlled at either the master or the organization level. These attributes are stored in a table named MTL_ITEM_ATTRIBUTES

10. What is the use of item template?
An Item template is a set of attributes that enable the user to quickly create an Item. You can use the existing templates are you can create your custom template.

11. What is an item category and category set?
A category is a logical classification of items that have similar characteristics.
A category set is a distinct grouping scheme and consists of multiple categories. An item can belong to any number of category sets. We can assign item to one category within each category set. The categories can be retrieved from the table ‘MTL_CATEGORIES_B‘ and item category set from ‘MTL_CATEGORY_SETS_B’.

12. Explain unit of measure (UOM) and UOM class?
The unit of measure (UOM) helps us count the number of items involved in a transaction or the number of items that are stored in a subinventory or a locator.
UOM classes let you group different UMO’s into one category. Eg, quantitycould be a UOM class under which each, dozen, lot etc are separate UOM’s.

13. Explain shipping method?
Shipping methods are the way you ship material. When you create a shipping method, you must enable it before you can use it in a shipping network. If you disable a shipping method, it cannot be used in a shipping network.

14. Describe Interorganization Shipping Networks
An inter-organization shipping network describes the relationships and accounting information between a shipping organization and a destination organization. You must define a shipping network between two organizations before you can transfer material between organizations. When you set up a shipping network you must select a transfer type:Intransit or Direct.
Intransit: Oracle Inventory moves material to an intermediary state before it reaches the destination organization. After the material arrives at the destination organization, you will need a receipt transaction to retrieve it. If intransit is selected, you can define:
Shipping Methods, GL Accounts to use in transit, Material ownership during transfer, Planning lead times and Transfer Charges
Direct: Oracle Inventory moves the material directly to the destination organization. However, for both transfer types, you can determine default receipt routing and whether internal orders are required to transfer material

15. In which tables are the transactional details are stored?

MTL_MATERIAL_TRANSACTIONS
MTL_TRANSACTIONS_INTERFACE
MTL_MATERIAL_TRANSACTIONS_TEMP
MTL_TRANSACTION_ACCOUNTS

16. What is revision control in Oracle Inventory?
A revision is a particular version of an item, bill of material, or routing. Revision control is normally enabled for identifying a modified item. Item can be placed under revision control by checking the box `Revision control` in Inventory tab while defining new item or for existing item. Base table for Item Revision is MTL_ITEM_REVISIONS.

17. What is Picking Order of Subinventory or Locator? Where will you define the order?
The value indicates the priority with which we pick items from subinventory or Locator, relative to another subinventory or locator, where a given item resides. A picking order of 1 means that order entry functions pick items from the subinventory or locator before others with a higher number (such as 2,3 and so on).
The subinventory order is defined in the subinventory definition and the locator order is defined in the locator definition. The default order for both the subinventory and the locator are defined in the organization.

18. What are the different inventory transactions?
A transaction is an item movement within, into or out of inventory. A transaction changes the quantity and location of an item
The following are the different inventory transactions:
Receive an item into an organization from GL account number
Issue an item from an organization into a GL account number
Transfer items from one subinventory to other in the same organization.
Transfer of items between various inventory organizations
Reservation of items

19. Describe various inventory transaction types?
Miscellaneous transaction: This transaction is used to do adjustments in stock due to damage, obsolescence, issuing items for R & D or issuing track able expense items.
Subinventory transfer: This transaction is used to transfer goods from one subinventory to another within the same inventory organization.
InterORG transfer: This transaction is used to transfer goods from one inventory organization to another.
Receiving transaction: This transaction is used to move goods from receiving dock to specified subinventory and locator.
Sales issue: This transaction is used to move goods from pick subinventory to staged subinventory.
WIP issue: This transaction is used to issue materials against production orders

20. What is the difference between a subinventory transfer and a move order?
Both these transactions are used for the movement of items from one subinventory to the other. The difference is that move order generates a pick slip and a subinventory transfer doesn’t.
Move order requires ‘approval’. Also, move orders create allocations. So you can place hold on the material with the intention of picking it up a little later. In subinventory transfer, there is no reservation / allocation.

21. What are the Components used in Customizing a Transaction?
The following are the three components used in a transaction
Transaction Source Type
Transaction Action
Transaction Type
A Transaction Source Type and a Transaction Action come together to form a Transaction Type.

22. What is a Transaction source type?
A Transaction Source Type is defined as an entity against which Oracle Inventory charges a transaction. The following transaction source types come seeded with Oracle Inventory:
Purchase Order
Account Alias
Move Order
Internal Order
Standard Cost Update
Internal Requisition
Sales Order
Cycle Count
Periodic Cost Update
Physical Inventory
Account
RMA (Return Material Authorization)
Inventory
Job or Schedule

23. What is a transaction type?
A transaction type is a combination of a transaction source type and a transaction action. It is used to classify a particular transaction for reporting and querying purposes. Ex:
Sales order issue (txn type) + issue from stores (txn action) = sales order (txn source type)
Move order transfer (txn type) + subinventory transfer (txn action) = move order (txn source type)

24. Name any four purposes where miscellaneous transaction can be used?
Cycle count adjustment, Physical inventory adjustment, adjusting inventory quantity within an inventory organization and decrementing on-hand balances from a subinvemtory

25. Explain inventory control?
Inventory Control is the process by which inventory is measured and regulated according to predetermined norms such as economic lot size for order or production, safety stock, minimum level, maximum level, order level etc.

26. What are the objectives of inventory control?
To meet unforeseen future demand due to variation in forecast figures and actual figures.
To average out demand fluctuations due to seasonal or cyclic variations.
To meet the customer requirement timely, effectively, efficiently, smoothly and satisfactorily.
To smoothen the production process.
To facilitate intermittent production of several products on the same facility.
To gain economy of production or purchase in lots.
To reduce loss due to changes in prices of inventory items.
To meet the time lag for transportation of goods.
To meet the technological constraints of production/process.

27. What are the factors that affect inventory control?
Type of product
Type of manufacture
Volume of production

28. Define ABC analysis?
ABC analysis determines the relative value of a group of inventory items based on a user specified valuation criterion.
This technique divides inventory into three categories A, B & C based on their annual consumption value.
It is also known as Selective Inventory Control Method (SIM)

29. What is consignment inventory?
Consignment Inventory is inventory that is in the possession of the customer, but is still owned by the supplier. In other words, the supplier places some of his inventory in his customer’s possession (in their store or warehouse) and allows them to sell or consume directly from his stock. The customer purchases the inventory only after he has resold or consumed it. The key benefit to the customer should be obvious; he does not have to tie up his capital in inventory. This does not mean that there are no inventory carrying costs for the customer; he does still incur costs related to storing and managing the inventory

30. What are the different planning methods available in Oracle?
Re-order point planning
Min-Max planning
Kanban cards
Subinventory replenishment planning

31. When should the material be ordered?
When on-hand quantity + supply – demand is less than safety stock (safety stock is nothing but minimum inventory level)
[On-hand quantity] + [supply] – [demand] < [min inventory level]

32. Explain re-order point planning?
Reorder point planning uses demand forecasts to decide when to order a new quantity to replenish inventory. Reorder point planning suggests a new order for an item when the available quantity (on-hand quantity plus planned receipts) drops below the item’s safety stock level plus forecast demand for the item during its replenishment lead-time. The suggested order quantity is an economic order quantity that minimizes the total cost of ordering and carrying inventory. Oracle Inventory can automatically generate requisitions to inform your purchasing department that a replenishment order is required to supply your organization.

If the forecast is correct and the order arrives on time, the inventory level should be right at the safety stock level at the time of receipt. In cases where the desired safety stock level changes during the order lead time, Oracle Inventory uses the largest safety stock quantity during the lead-time.

When an order is triggered, the EOQ is the size of the triggered order.

EOQ = square root of: [(2 X annual demand X order cost) / (carrying cost percent X Unit cost)]

Oracle Inventory calculates annual demand as the current demand rate annualized by multiplying the current period demand forecast by the number of periods per year (12 or 13).

Reorder point planning can be performed at the organization level only.

33. Explain min-max planning technique?
Min-Max planning is a tool for planning inventory that looks at user-defined minimum and maximum inventory levels. It does not consider lead times.
We can perform this technique at org level or subinventory level

34. Define cycle counting and explain its use in oracle inventory?
Cycle Counting is a process of periodic counting of individual item / all the items throughout the course of the year to ensure the accuracy of inventory quantities and values.
We can do the cycle counting at Organization / Sub Inventory Level.
Cycle count is used to:
To reconcile system on-hand balances with actual counts in inventory
Maintain control over the items that have higher value

35. When do you perform physical inventory and explain the steps involved in it?
Physical inventory can be performed, whenever there is a need to verify the accuracy of system on-hand quantities. This can be done for entire organization or can be confined to a specific subinventory.
Steps to perform physical inventory:
Define physical inventory
Take a snapshot of system on-hand quantities
Generate physical inventory tags
Enter counts
Do physical inventory adjustments by approving or rejecting
Post adjustments
Purge physical inventory information

36. When can you see such scenario, item available to qty is 0 but available to transact more than 0
If item is not reservable
If Subinventory Allow reservation is not allowed
If Item is lot controlled and lot is expired

37. From where I can see the list of time zones in oracle.
A. The list of time zones and their other details can be found from below 2 tables
fnd_timezones_b, fnd_timezones_tl

38. Can one Asset subinventory be made Non Asset subinventory once transactions created on that?
A. Yes Asset Subinventory flag can be unchecked for that subinventory provided

There is no onhand present in that subinventory. If present you need to issue out and change the flag and receive those back.
There is no accounting details pending in inventory like transaction happened but costing is not yet done.

Questions will be Answered soon if not answered already. Meanwhile you can post more questions in the comment also you can answer to above questions in the comment.
Please help here to rectify if any of the answers are not correct.

Difference between Oracle Inventory and WMS

Both Inventory and WMS modules are used to hold the inventory and do transactions like receiving and picking goods but WMS is more expensive then inventory coz WMS has got some important premium features which is not there in Inventory module.

So to explain the differences are

Inventory without WMS is basically small in size and where the granular level management and information are not required like labor cost, resource cost, etc. For example small shops or small manufacturing units who basically holds the stocks and ship it to their customer where not much of resources involved from warehouse point of view, they can simply fulfil their business requirement by using the Inventory module but if you will consider big transportation companies like UPS, DHL or big retail or FMCG manufacturing companies who manufacture thousands of products and they have their warehouse worked by number of resources, machines maintained by various departments and spread across large locations, they cannot fulfil their business requirement by simply with Inventory module, they need bit more detailed analysis of warehouse resources, cost, efficiency, effectiveness and want to track the time and labour to fulfil the customer demand in a more efficient and cost effective ways then need to go with Warehouse Management System which comes with all these features.

These are the basic features which WMS provides but not in Inventory

WMS comes with rule workbench which makes warehouse management lot easier and efficient by defining different rules, pick rules, putaway rules, label printing rules.
WMS provides cost involved in granular level in different tasks like shipping, picking, fuel costs by machine, labour costs, etc.
From finance or accounting point of view, suppose business maintains a line of products (more than one number of products but in one line, suppose a health care company in its hair care product line makes different products like 100 ml, 200 ml bottles, 10 ml sachets) stores in one subinventory but want to get valuation accounting details for each product. It is not possible by Inventory as in inventory all products are comes under one accounting which is defined in subinventory but the same can be derived in WMS by using cost group rule.
So in Inventory module, accounting details canot be given down the subinventory level but in WMS it can be derived in many different levels, in locator level, lot level, supplier level, etc.
Lot more features are there like operation management, task dashboard where warehouse manager can check each and individual resources and how much they are occupied, according he can assign the task to complete in timely and cost effective way which is lacking in Inventory.
From technology point of view, Mobile devices enabled with RF can be used with WMS, so that means you can do transaction in real time on the go when you do physical movement, you can do the same in system and also get the required label printed on the go. But in Inventory these are two different tasks, you have to physically do the transaction then need to come to the machine and do the transaction in system. In big warehouses where everyday thousands of transactions are happening, this is not a cost effective or efficient solution. But with WMS, all these things will be ease.

Oracle Warehouse Management System

Oracle Warehouse Management System (WMS) is an advanced inventory module with lot of efficient, unique and enhanced features that improves productivity of distribution centers, manufacturing and inventory handing processes. It supports manual data entry, data entry through barcode scanning and through RFID too.

It enables organizations to maximize their utilization of labor, space and equipment investments by coordinating and optimizing resource usage and material flows across a global supply chain on a single platform.

Key Business Processes supported by Oracle WMS are:

Inbound Logistics (Receiving from Supplier, Returns, Corrections)
Outbound Logistics (Picking, Packing, Shipping)
Reverse Logistics (Customer Returns)
Stocking and Internal Inventory Movements
WIP JOB Assembly completion, Component issues

Broad Based Support for Warehouse Processes

Oracle WMS provides a robust warehouse solutions platform to efficiently manage the flow of goods and warehouse resources across a wide variety of business processes including order fulfilment, manufacturing, field service, inbound logistics-from receipt, inspection to storage, counting and replenishment.

Optimize Warehouse Resources

Oracle WMS enables users to optimize resources such as storage space, labor and equipment using rules based execution. Putaway rules based on configurable parameters like velocity, volume and material classifications. Rules can be used to minimize fragmentation, enforce storage policies, reduce obsolescence or implement other storage restrictions. Similarly pick tasks for outbound orders can be generated considering one or more goals such as reduction in material handling (tasks for full or split cases), reduce travel time (nearest location), minimize obsolescence (FIFO) or other customer specific preferences (grade, color, size, etc).

Advanced Wave and Task Planning

Using wave planning, Oracle WMS can fulfil a large number of orders quickly by streamlining the full execution process. Oracle WMS provides a flexible and powerful planning tool with a dashboard to create, plan and track wave progress, drilldown to task or line level and the ability to configure exceptions to facilitate proactive resolution of issues. Advanced Wave Planning also includes task planning features that can be used to group and dispatch tasks based on an execution criteria.

Planned and Opportunistic Crossdocking

Oracle WMS can identify crossdocking opportunities in the warehouse by matching expected receipts with outbound shipments and manufacturing component requirements using flexible crossdock rules. These rules allow the users to have greater of control over supply and demand eligibility for crossdocking and minimize the product wait time in outbound staging areas before getting crossdocked.

Demand Driven Replenishment to Forward Pick Locations

Oracle WMS offers Push and Pull based replenishments to forward pick area for warehouses to efficiently pick high volume of orders lines. The Pull replenishment feature automatically creates a replenishment task when a potential shortage is detected in the forward pick area. The dynamic replenishment execution capability ensures that pick areas are replenished with minimal oversight and pick tasks are dispatched only when material is available to pick. Push based replenishment allows a warehouse to effectively manage a surge in demand e.g., promotions by replenishing a forward pick area based on future demand visibility of an item.

Improve Loading Efficiency and Dock Door Utilization

Oracle WMS facilitates integrated transportation planning and execution by leveraging the dock door appointments created in Oracle Transportation Management (OTM). Oracle WMS ensures that orders are released based on the dock appointments and material is staged to the correct dock door. Oracle WMS improves trailer loading by recommending loading of containers in the reverse stop sequence of a multi-stop shipping itinerary.

Support for Advanced and Non-traditional Warehousing Processes

Competitive pressures and globalization is forcing traditional warehouses to take on value added services previously reserved for manufacturing and service centers. It is forcing manufacturing centers to take on warehousing and order fulfillment activities. Oracle WMS offers advanced material and resource handling capabilities for these additional business flows.

Repair Services, Returns, Disposition, Teardown and Refurbishment

Oracle WMS also offers the materials management feature set required in reverse logistics operations. Users can define required return product flow to guide subsequent inspection and rework processing (repair, teardown, etc.). This enables users to seamlessly manage reverse logistics operations in the same distribution centers that handle vendor receipts and customer order fulfilment.

Manufacturing, Assembly and Distribution

Oracle WMS provides a seamlessly integrated system for all manufacturing execution processes including repair and maintenance business processes. Oracle WMS supports component picks for discrete jobs and schedules, ingredient picks for process manufacturing batches, parts picks for maintenance work orders and repair orders generated in Enterprise Asset Management or Depot Repair.

Adapt to Changing Needs

To adapt rapidly changing business requirements driven by customers, regulatory bodies, new product introductions, fluctuating demand and global outsourcing, Oracle WMS provides a configurable, rules-based infrastructure that easily adapts to changing business needs and compliance mandates without customization.

Distributed Deployment of Oracle Warehouse Management

Customers can deploy WMS in a decentralized environment that is physically decoupled from rest of the E-Business Suite (EBS), making it possible to leverage the latest features in WMS but with older EBS installation or potentially non-EBS host systems. Distributed WMS also ensures greater availability of WMS instance, it is an “always on” solution that is unaffected by the network connection or the general availability of the host system.

Pick Method Suited for Warehouse Business Needs

Oracle WMS provides flexibility to warehouses to choose a pick methodology that is aligned with the ordering profile of the item. It supports pick and pass, zone picking and cluster picking to reduce warehouse travel. It enables one-step pick and pack directly into shipping cartons thus eliminating downstream packing operations.

Personalized Mobile User Interfaces and Workflow Processing

Oracle WMS facilitates efficient transaction processing by enabling users to configure mobile transaction pages for their specific needs. This allows the user to view or enter only the required information that is needed to complete the transaction for a specific business context.

Rules-Driven Processes

Oracle WMS has, at its core a flexible and powerful business rules engine, which permits extensive tailoring of key WMS processes such as directed picking and putaway, labeling, material routing selection and task dispatching without the need to customize code as shown in Figure 2. This extensible rules based architecture enables key processes to evolve and adapt dynamically.

RFID Enabled

Oracle WMS provides out of the box support for RFID and EPC technology for addressing RFID labeling compliance. EPC’s can be extracted from an inbound ASN and provided on outbound ASN’s to customers. Oracle WMS also provides a flexible framework to automate any warehouse transaction via RFID or any other sensor based on an event detection infrastructure.

Device Agnostic Material Handling Equipment Integration

Warehouse Control System (WCS) feature in Oracle WMS provides out of the box integration with material handling equipment such as conveyors, carousels, ASRSs, pick to light and even voice directed picking systems. Customers can deploy diverse equipments using an open API device integration to request tasks, and receive responses from diverse equipment types. Managerial workbenches enable real-time monitoring of the equipment and provide real-time visibility to the entire automation environment.

Oracle WMS enables organizations to transform their materials management operations to agile fulfilment centers through optimal use of inventory supply and warehouse resources. It leverages a flexible framework that provides supply and demand matching, advanced task management, automation hardware support and support for the breadth of materials management processes frequently required in warehouses, manufacturing facilities and service depots

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