The availability check analyses the development of the available balance within the expected lead time of the part. This means that the system analyses if all demands can be satisfied on the promised dates even after a change occurs. A change can be an order entry, an issue of some sort, or the reservation of parts. Only changes within the part's lead time are considered, as the availability of the part beyond the lead time is considered to be under control (unlimited).
Calculation
The availability analysis makes sure that the plannable quantity does not become negative within the part's expected lead time. It calculates how much is plannable at a specific time without creating shortages for any other order, based on the available inventory as well as all the planned supplies and demands.
Example of Availability Analysis
For a part with a lead time of seven days and an available balance of 100 pieces, the plannable quantity is:
Date | In | Out | Projected Avail Quantity | Plannable Quantity |
200X-02-07 | 90 | 10 (100 - 90) | 10 (least of 410, 10) | |
200X-02-08 | 1000 | 1010 (10 + 1000) | 410 (least of 410, 1010) | |
200X-02-09 | 500 | 510 (1010 - 500) | 410 (least of 410, 510) | |
200X-02-10 | 100 | 410 (510 - 100) | 410 (least of 660, 410) | |
200X-02-11 | 500 | 910 (410 + 500) | 660 (least of 660, 910) | |
200X-02-12 | 200 | 710 (910 - 200) | 660 (least of 660, 710) | |
200X-02-13 | 50 | 660 (710 - 50) | 660 (least of 1660, 660) | |
200X-02-14 | 1000 | 1660 (660 + 1000) | 1660 (least of 99999999, 1660) | |
200X-02-15 | 1500 | 160 (1660 - 1500) | 99999999 |
Plannable quantity shows the uncommitted portion of the quantity in stock and the planned production, with the lead time taken into consideration. You can calculate the plannable quantity by taking the least of the previous plannable quantity and the available quantity from the bottom up. This gives you the quantity that can be planned for orders without causing other orders to be delivered late.
This topic is divided in 3 sections: when entering customer order lines and sourcing lines, when automatic reserving customer order lines and when releasing and reserving shop orders.
The Availability Check at Customer Order Entry and Customer Order Sourcing
The availability check at customer order entry is a planned delivery date estimation based upon an organization's material constraints. It is an order-promising calculation that verifies and/or suggests a delivery date by analyzing material. It considers the available material for single-level product structures.
The availability check not only performs availability analysis but also calculates the earliest possible delivery date for orders that cannot be delivered on the date requested by the customer. This way, the chances of fulfilling the delivery date as planned increase significantly.
The following parameter controls how the availability check at customer order
entry/sourcing function works;
Select the Availability Check check box in the
Inventory Part/Misc Info window, for the appropriate
site, you specify whether or not the part should be subject to availability check
at customer order entry/sourcing. The system will consider the availability when
a future demand arises if the part is availability-checked at order registration.
It will also review if it is possible to meet the desired date without delaying
any other orders.
The availability check is primarily designed for make-to-stock and distribution operations.
Continuing with the example before:
A customer order with a due date of February 9 and a quantity of 600 pieces is registered for the part. The availability check shows that the plannable quantity on this date is only 410 pieces, so that not all of the requested amount can be issued on the desired day. Instead, the availability check goes forward in time and stops at February 11, which is the first day when the plannable quantity is greater than 600 pieces.
The availability check proposes to the user that 600 pieces of the parts can be delivered on February 11. The plannable quantity, including the new order, would be as shown below. If you choose to update the quantity or the date of the existing order line, a new availability check is run.
Date | In | Out | Projected Avail Quantity | Plannable Quantity |
200X-02-07 | 90 | 10 (100 - 90) | 10 (least of 410, 10) | |
200X-02-08 | 1000 | 1010 (10 + 1000) | 60 (least of 60, 1010) | |
200X-02-09 | 500 | 510 (1010 - 500) | 60 (least of 60, 510) | |
200X-02-10 | 100 | 410 (510 - 100) | 60 (least of 60, 410) | |
200X-02-11 | 500 | 600 | 310 (410 + 500 - 600) | 60 (least of 60, 310) |
200X-02-12 | 200 | 110 (310 - 200) | 60 (least of 60, 110) | |
200X-02-13 | 50 | 60 (110 - 50) | 60 (least of 1060, 60) | |
200X-02-14 | 1000 | 1060 (60 + 1000) | 1060 (least of 999999, 1060) | |
200X-02-15 | 1500 | -440 (1060 - 1500) | 99999999999 |
The Availability Check at Customer Order Automatic Reservation
IFS Supply Chain comprises flexible reservation management processes. These can vary depending on the requirements for delivery assurance for different parts. Availability check is a fundamental aspect of reservation handling in IFS Supply Chain.
The availability check ensures that when automatically reserving parts, the available balance does not become negative. If so, the system will warn you and the reservation job will not succeed. In this situation the planner does not want the system to automatically make reservations but chooses instead to make the reservations manually.
The following parameter controls whether the availability check at customer order automatic reservations shall be run or not: Availability Check at CO Reserve, in the Inventory Part/Misc Info window.
If the availability check is not passed, the reservation is not executed and the background job gets in status Warning. The customer order can be monitored in the Handle Customer Order Shortages window.
Note: It is strongly recommended to not use availability check for condition
code handled parts, since the result from the availability check may be misleading.
The Availability Check at Shop Order Release and Reservation
Again the availability check ensures that when releasing and automatically reserving parts, the available balance does not become negative. If so, the system will warn you and the reservation job will not succeed.
The following parameters control how the availability check function works in shop order:
If the availability analysis returns a negative plannable quantity at shop order release, the shop order is released but you get a planning alert of type Low, which can be seen in the Planning Alerts - Shop Order window.
At shop order reservation of material, if the availability analysis returns a negative plannable quantity, the material is not reserved and you receive a warning message informing about the availability problem.
The Availability Check for Orders in Planned State
The availability check can also be performed for one or more shop orders which are in Planned state. This check has to be initiated manually as the automatic availability check does not consider orders in Planned state.
All components of the selected shop orders will be included, even if they do not have the Availability Check check box selected.
Although the check will use the Date Required of individual shop order components by default, it is also possible for you to pick another plan date instead.