Setting Up Containers
Use containers to package and store finished goods at the end of a production line and to warehouse them in single-level containers before shipping. Also use containers to consolidate goods going to the same location. A container can be a box of finished goods, a pallet of boxes, or a truckload of pallets.
You can:
• Create a single-level container in DO Container Maintenance (12.19.7). You can add contents to a container in DO Container Maintenance, DO Pre-Shipper/Shipper – Auto, and DO Pre-Shipper/Shipper Maint, you can also merge and modify pre-shippers in the two shipper programs.
• Package single-level containers off the production line.
• Build hierarchies of containers from boxes to truckloads, with intermediate sizes.
• Add, delete, and remove containers and items from shipping documents.
You must set up item numbers representing containers such as boxes, pallets, racks, or truck trailers in Item Master Maintenance (1.4.1). Containers can be managed like any item in the system. You can use no order planning or inventory tracking to full MRP with lot/serial control to track expensive racks, truck trailers, or other specialized containers.
If you want to track container inventory, assign a nonzero GL cost to container item numbers. This ensures that the system creates inventory transactions of type ISS-UNP when you confirm shippers that reference these container items. If you do not want to track container inventory, create dummy item numbers for containers that have zero GL costs.
Establishing and Modifying Hierarchies
Containers and items have a hierarchical structure. To establish a master container hierarchy, create a container by first using DO Container Maintenance to specify the items in each container. Both DO Pre-Shipper/Shipper Maint and DO Container Maintenance maintain containers one level at a time; however, use either program to build a container hierarchy by first creating a container that contains the items, then re-entering the program to create a new container that contains the first container.
See User Guide: QAD Sales for examples of container-item relationships.
Example: You create a container for a large box using DO Container Maintenance that contains the item, small box. Then, use DO Container Maintenance to create a pallet to hold the large boxes and assign the large box container to the pallet container. Finally, use DO Pre-Shipper/Shipper Maintenance to assign the pallet container to an existing shipper or create a new shipper to contain the pallet container.
Use DO Pre-Shipper/Shipper Maint to group the containers and add any items not in containers to create a complete shipment. Since containers are predefined in DO Container Maintenance, when you specify a container ID in the Content (Items) frame, that container's items are implicitly attached to the shipper.
You can establish container hierarchies and add containers and items to other containers by either building down.
Building down containers is a process of adding containers and items to existing container structures. In DO Pre-Shipper/Shipper Maint, you can build down into containers, adding items and other containers to larger containers.