Operation
Introduction
FILLRATE100 helps making one decision: what to send to where and when.
FILLRATE100 automates this decision for each SKU at each location of your supply chain.
A regular day running FILLRATE100:
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There are one or more uploads of stock and transit for the SKU-Locations.
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There is one data submission with the suggested replenishment quantities. This is done by email and leaving a file to be retrieved via SFTP.
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The company should replenish all the items according to the suggestions.
Note that there is no manual intervention in FILLRATE100 for this to happen.
However, you may be interested in using FILLRATE100 interface for several reasons. In this section we can explore some of them.
Downloading files with Replenishment Orders
The purpose of FILLRATE100 is to automate the decision of how much of each SKU to replenish at each location.
Everyday this calculation is executed and made available through different alternative channels:
1. Main file: sku_ro_YYYY-MM-DD_H-M.csv containing all replenishment for the day is generated and put in the FTP server to be retrieved, so the customer can use it in an internal automation or simply use to manually generate the orders.
2. Groups of emails: when you configure groups in Configuration -> RO mail configuration, two files per group will be produced, one CSV and one XLS. These are sent to the email list for the group. These are also made available in the FTP server to be retrieved.
3. Downloadable files: in Tools -> Download files the main file CSV and all the XLS files can be downloaded. The list keeps the last week so the customer can download current and past files up to seven days old.
Everyday this calculation is executed and made available through different alternative channels:
1. Main file: sku_ro_YYYY-MM-DD_H-M.csv containing all replenishment for the day is generated and put in the FTP server to be retrieved, so the customer can use it in an internal automation or simply use to manually generate the orders.
2. Groups of emails: when you configure groups in Configuration -> RO mail configuration, two files per group will be produced, one CSV and one XLS. These are sent to the email list for the group. These are also made available in the FTP server to be retrieved.
3. Downloadable files: in Tools -> Download files the main file CSV and all the XLS files can be downloaded. The list keeps the last week so the customer can download current and past files up to seven days old.
Reviewing settings
It is good practice to review from time to time several settings for the SKU-Locations.
Creation of new SKU-Locations may cause some of them to have incorrect settings. The most frequent incorrect settings are:
1. Replenishment frequency
If this is not set correctly, daily mails to suggest replenishment will not filter the right set of SKU-Locations.
2. Transit time
This is not critical, however this information affects the dynamics of buffer adjustments. If actual transit time is much longer than configured, adjustments may be oscillating. And if much shorter, then adjustments will be much slower than desired.
3. Unit cost
This information is optional, hoowever when it is incorrect, reports of consolidated inventories may not reflect the actual position or evolution.
4. Origin
When origin for a SKU-Location is another location within your company, it is advisable to set it exactly with the same value as the corresponding location. Doing so will allow FILLRATE100 to check stock at origin when this feature is enabled (see parameters in configuration).
Creation of new SKU-Locations may cause some of them to have incorrect settings. The most frequent incorrect settings are:
1. Replenishment frequency
If this is not set correctly, daily mails to suggest replenishment will not filter the right set of SKU-Locations.
2. Transit time
This is not critical, however this information affects the dynamics of buffer adjustments. If actual transit time is much longer than configured, adjustments may be oscillating. And if much shorter, then adjustments will be much slower than desired.
3. Unit cost
This information is optional, hoowever when it is incorrect, reports of consolidated inventories may not reflect the actual position or evolution.
4. Origin
When origin for a SKU-Location is another location within your company, it is advisable to set it exactly with the same value as the corresponding location. Doing so will allow FILLRATE100 to check stock at origin when this feature is enabled (see parameters in configuration).
Looking for stock in other locations
In Current Status, the column 'All locations' has a clickable symbol to display all the locations where that SKU has a positive stock, along with its buffer.
Looking for equivalent SKUs for a given SKU
In Current Status, when you click on any item, in the section SKU Data, 'Show Equivalent SKUs' is clickable to display all the equivalent SKUs for that SKU.
Note: Stock and transit is only available for the SKU-Location but not for its equivalents.
Note: Stock and transit is only available for the SKU-Location but not for its equivalents.