How to Maximize Material Utilization by Nesting

Manufacturers are always keen to maximize utilization of materials.   Consequently, when making smaller components from large raw materials, it pays big to nest smaller parts in the void spaces created by the production of larger ones.

A Bill of Materials typically corresponds to a single made item (finished good).  Consequently, the conundrum of how to report production of several items from a single work order is a perplexing one.  We came up the following solution. WilloWare.com sells a tool, called Quick Disassembly, this recommendation would require the purchase of this tool - Accellos,com also sells such a tool as part of their Bar Coding integration to Dynamics GP Manufacturing.

Here's a brief overview of the main points of this solution:

1. Configure the Large Raw Material as a Make/Buy item in Item Engineering Data.
2. Create an Archive Bill of Material for each configuration of cuts (nested smaller finished goods).
3. Purchase the Large Raw Material
4. Create disassembly transactions using the ARCHIVE Bill of Materials to convert the large raw material into the numerous smaller finished goods.
5. Using SmartLists and WilloWare's BOM Import utility, this process can be done, on-the fly for ad-hoc configurations.

Example:

A single sheet of MDF is approximately 60 x 120 inches.  In order to optimize consumption of the material, MDF is typically cut into several disparate “nested” items simultaneously.  For instance:

2 x T-5s and 2 x T-4s – the most common scenario

Or 

2 x T-5s and 4 x T-3s – the least common scenario

Figure 1

As you can see from the figure above, to optimize the yield from MDF materials, a decision must be made as to what additional items should be made when T-5s are made.

Our recommendation is to create an ARCHIVE Bill of Materials for each configuration of cuts:

1.     T-5A = 2 x T-5s and 2 x T-4s

2.     T-5B = 2 x T-5s and 4 x T-3s

Sheets of MDF are purchased and Quick Disassembly transactions are made for T-5As or T-5Bs resulting in the consumption of the MDF and production of the required T-5's and the additional T-3's or 4's.

Item BOM        SUB        Components

T-5A----|

            |--- T-5 x 2 --- Usable sqft of MDF

            |

            |--- T-4 x 2 --- Usable sqft of MDF

T-5B----|

            |--- T-5 x 2 --- Usable sqft of MDF

            |

            |--- T-3 x 4 --- Usable sqft of MDF

Quick Disassembly by WilloWare uses the GP Manufacturing Bill of Materials to disassemble inventory items into component parts. This tool typically creates a simple disassembly transaction based on an Inventory Adjustment, and is ideal for manufacturers needing a simple method to take apart an item and get the components back into inventory.