The power of SIMMS Inventory Management Software’s Advanced BOM Management Solution

The SIMMS Kitting module is designed for use by manufacturers whose goods are often resold in many different configurations. This module enables you to track items as they are sold either individually or as components of a Kit, equipping you to make wise and up-to-the minute production decisions.

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The power of SIMMS Inventory Management Software’s Advanced BOM Management SolutionWith the SIMMS inventory software's Kitting module, you can add the power of kitting and phantom kitting to your Inventory software solution, creating and managing groups of inventory items packaged together as kits (such as the components of a computer system) and sold to others for assembly, but we don’t stop there, the SIMMS Kitting module enables you to utilize a new feature we call Phantom Kitting adding even more added value to the SIMMS kitting module then ever before. An explanation of the differences between the standard kitting method and phantom kitting method can be found below under the section titled Kitting Methods.

Kitting Methods
With the SIMMS Kitting module you have two (2) methods of kitting available to utilize;

* Standard Kitting;

The SIMMS Standard Kitting (BOM) method is designed for use by manufacturers whose inventory items are often sold in bundled packages at pre- determined prices. This module enables you to package a group of inventory items as kits, and to track the kits as they are sold to customers either as individual items or components of a kit; thus, equipping you with wise and up-to-the minute production decisions. With standard kitting, BOM (Kit) items are inventory items created by packaging units of other inventory items together for sale to and assembly by the customer. For example;

Instead of assembling a complete car for sale or selling each part as a separate item, the manufacturer might package a kit consisting of the frame, wheels, motor, seat and transmission, which the purchaser could easily assemble.

Kit Schema Maintenance is enhanced further so a non-stock item can be designated as a component of a kit item. This saves time and disk space since there is no need to create item records for non-stock items.

* Phantom Kitting;

SIMMS Phantom Kitting enables the user to designate certain kits in the system with a flag telling SIMMS that the selected kit cannot be built, instead of building the kit if you select a phantom kit to insert within a transaction, all of its kit components are inserted as separate line items in the transaction as well, for example;

Lets say you sold car stereos and you know that when you sell a specific car stereo you also have to sell separately a stereo harness and 20 feet of wire, obviously those items have to be easily adjustable at the transaction stage and obviously you don’t rebuild those kits before hand, you only have to sell those items separately and need to be reminded to do so.

Now with Phantom Kitting this is made possible with ease, because when you insert the phantom kit (car stereo as per the example) into the sales transaction the 20 feet of wire and harness are also inserted as separate line items, now the sales person can adjust the extra components inserted if need be (change the price, or perhaps swap with another item more applicable to the person he is selling too, or even just remove if the customer doesn’t want the extra items for example) the whole point of phantom kitting is to assure that when a user is selling an item he/she doesn’t forget an important associated item as well.

Of course Phantom kitting can be used on the purchasing end of the system as well as it only makes sense.

Creating a Kit Schema

Kit schema’s are a definition of the kit to be build or sold in other words what inventory items make up the bill of materials for the kit item.

Kit Schema Maintenance is further enhanced so a non-stock item can be designated as a component of a kit formula. You are not limited to stock items thereby saving you time and energy.

Of course you can define if a specific item can be adjustable during the kit build process, in other words allowing you the ability to change the quantity utilized during the kit build.

This is also where you tell SIMMS if the selected kit is to be a phantom kit as explained above under the kitting method section.

Kit schema’s are a definition of the kit to be build or sold in other words what inventory items make up the bill of materials for the kit item.
Figure 1: Kit Schema Maintenance

Building Kit Items
SIMMS Inventory Software provides the ability to build kits with ease and the options to make your job easier, all you have to do is;

* Kit Selection - Select the kit you wish to build;
* Set Build Qty - Enter the quantity you wish to build;
* Location Selection - Select a location where you wish the finished product to be built in;
* Options - Utilize some of the options available to you in the kitting process like, override the production lot if you desire, enter an expiration date for the finished product should the item you are building utilize expiration dates (setting in item manager set for an item telling SIMMS the item uses expiration dates), feel free to click Forecast at any time in the kit building process (illustrated below Figure 3: Kit Component Forecast screen) where you can easily determine if you have sufficient component quantity to complete the kit(s) build or if you have to generate an automated PO for shortages, if you wish you can also print off a Job Card for your assembly line to utilize in the kit build process;
* Allocation of components - Click Automatic Allocation if you wish SIMMS to automatically pull the components from whatever location they are available in, or manually select what location you wish to pull the items from;
* Compatible items – if you desire you can click show compatible items for a specific component to opt to utilize an alternate item.

* Assign Component Serial Numbers - If components are serialized you can easily select what serial numbers are to be pulled for each applicable component as illustrated below in Figure 4: Serial Number Assignment Screen;
* Assign Serial numbers to finished kit(s) – If required you can assign serial numbers to the finished kit(s) build;
* Finish up - Adjust the auto calculated kit cost if required, enter a scrap value, and click Finish Kit.

SIMMS Inventory Software Kit Building Screen
Figure 2: Kit building screen

Utilize some of the options available to you in the kitting process like, override the production lot if you desire, enter an expiration date for the finished product should the item you are building utilize expiration dates (setting in item manager set for an item telling SIMMS the item uses expiration dates), feel free to click Forecast at any time in the kit building process (illustrated below Figure 3: Kit Component Forecast screen) where you can easily determine if you have sufficient component quantity to complete the kit(s) build or if you have to generate an automated PO for shortages, if you wish you can also print off a Job Card for your assembly line to utilize in the kit build process;
Figure 3: Kit Component Forecast screen

SIMMS Inventory Software Kit Componenet Serial number Manager
Figure 4: Serial Number Assignment Screen

SIMMS Inventory Software Kit Serial number Manager
Figure 5: Serial Number Assignment Screen

Utilizing Phantom Kits in transactions
SIMMS Inventory Software provides the ability to utilize phantom kits within transactions ease, all you have to do is;

* Define a Phantom kit – before you can utilize a phantom kit in a transaction you have to have one defined in the system, to do this select an existing kit schema or create a new one and enable the phantom kit flag as illustrated below in Figure 6: Kit Schema Manager;
* Initiate a new transaction – begin a transaction, enter the applicable header information and click the items tab as you would for any transaction;
* Select a Phantom Kit – select the phantom kit using any method you desire, (search, upc code, scan the item code into the transaction, select item by code, select item by alias or just select item by description) as illustrated below in Figure 7: Inserting a phantom kit;
* Select Quantity - Enter the quantity you wish to insert, and click insert.
* Phantom Kitting Automation – and now the phantom kit automation takes over inserting the appropriate components with quantities as defined as illustrated below in Figure 7: Inserting a phantom kit;
* Proceed, adjust modify, delete and save - From this point forward you are free to modify line items, add additional line items or remove component line items as you desire.

SIMMS Inventory Software Phantom Kit Schema Manager
Figure 6: Kit Schema Manager

Inserting Phantom kits in SIMMS Inventory Software

Figure 7: Inserting a phantom kit

Tracking In-house Movement of Kit Items with Manufacturer Lots
When moving units of an item from one warehouse or bin to another, you can specify the Manufacturer lot numbers of the units being moved.

Identifying Phantom Kit Items
Phantom Kit items are clearly flagged on their inventory records and on the transaction lines of sales orders, invoices and shipped sales orders.

Integration of Kitting with Serial Numbers
Kit item units can also be individually serialized. This permits the assigning of serial numbers to units of a kit item, in addition to assigning a kit number to each kit itself.

Integration of Kitting with Lot Control
Lot control numbers can be assigned to groups of kit item units, in addition to assigning a specific kit number to each unit. For example, all of the kits for the assembly of a computer workstation packaged on a particular day, by a particular person, or using particular parts, can be assigned a specific lot number.

Kit Formula Listing
An Inventory Control report that displays information about standard kit formulas provides a quick way to review standard kit item formulas in order to select the one that best suits a desired purpose. You can specify all or a range of item numbers and components, and can sort by item number or component.

SIMMS Inventory Software Kit Schema Report
Figure 8: Kit Schema Listing

For more information proceed to www.kcsi.ca

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Press Contact Info:
Sheldon Kornyk
KCSI
Phone: 604-504-7936
Fax: 604-504-7976
Email: sheldon@kcsi.ca
Website: www.kcsi.ca

About KCSI
Sheldon Kornyk stays involved in every aspect of Kornyk Computer Solutions International (KCSI) including but not limited to marketing, operations, R&D, product development, customer relations (PR) even web site development and design. Sheldon Kornyk is a visionary as he has a gift for being able to tell what the industries require as far as software automation and makes every effort to provide for all industries, as a result he has released several software packages including but not limited to SIMMS Inventory software, CRM Unleashed and (PLP) Personal Life Plan software.

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