Using the journals Management by Journal

289 Figure 20.41: Managing the Paths from one Location to Another in a Product Form This will let you configure logistics rules individually for each product. For example, when a specific product arrives in stores it can automatically be sent to quality control. In this case it must be configured with rules on the product form. The fields that make up those rules are: • Source Location: the rule only applies if a product comes from this location, • Destination Location: the rule only applies if a product ends up in this location, • Type of move: automatic, manual, automatic with no steps, • Lead time for move, • Name of operations: a free text field which will be included in the automatic stock move proposed by OpenERP. There are two main logistic flows: • Pushed Flows • Pulled Flows Push flows are useful when the arrival of certain products in a given location should always be followed by a corresponding move to another location, optionally after a certain delay. The original Warehouse application already supports such Push flow specifications on the Locations themselves, but these cannot be refined per product. Pull flows are a bit different from Push flows, in the sense that they are not related to the processing of product moves, but rather to the processing of procurement orders. What is being pulled is a need, not directly products. You will now see some examples of using these locations and logistics by product: • A rentable product, • A product bought in China, following its freight by ship from port to port, • A product that you want to send to quality control before putting it in stocks. Example 1: A rentable product A rentable product is just a product delivered to a customer that is expected to be returned in a few days time. When it has been delivered to the customer, OpenERP will generate a new goods receipt note with a forecast date 290 at the end of the rental period. So you generate a list of goods pending receipt that you confirm when they are returned to your stores. To do this you should configure a product with the following rules: Table 20.11: Example Product For Rental Field Value Source location Customer Destination location Stock Type of Movement Manual Lead time 15 days Operation Product return Then when the product is delivered to the customer, OpenERP automatically generates a goods receipt form in draft state ready for returning it to Stock. This is due in 15 days time. With such a system your forecasts and stock graphs can always be correct in real time. Example 2: Management of imports by sea To manage products that follow a complex logistical import path by sea and then into customs, create as many ‘Supplier’ locations as there are steps, then create rules to move the product from one place to the other during the purchase. Take a product that has been bought in China and delivered to you stores in Brussels, Belgium. Import by sea takes around 7 weeks and must go through the following steps: • Delivery from the supplier to the port of Shanghai: 2 days, • Sea transport from Shanghai to the port of Antwerp: 1 month, • Customer at the port of Antwerp: 2 weeks, • Delivery by truck from the port of Antwerp to your stores: 3 days. You should track the movement of your goods and enter all the documents as each move is made so that you know where your goods are at any moment, and can estimate when they are likely to arrive in your stores. To do this, create all the locations for the intermediate steps: • Shanghai Port, • Antwerp Port, • Antwerp Customs. Finally, in the product form, create the following rule to show that when purchased, the goods do not arrive at your stores directly, but instead at the port of Shanghai. In this example the stores are configured to enter all the products in a location called ‘Input’. Table 20.12: Rule to move products automatically to Shanghai Port Field Value Source location Input Destination location Shanghai Port Type of Movement Automatic without steps Lead time 2 days Operation Sending to Shanghai Port OpenERP will then change the usual product receipt which has them arriving in the Input location to a delivery from this supplier to the external port. The move is automatically carried out because operations at this level are too labour-intensive to be done manually. You then have to create a rule on the product form to move it from one location to another: