Slow moving help (page 1)

• Introduction
• Obtaining a slow moving (SM) BOM
• Slow moving's menu options
• Settings
• Sample output
• Recording substituted parts

Introduction

Parts nos. from slow moving inventory can be compared with part nos. of your current project in order to look for possible substitutions of parts in order to use up inventory.  File names of BOMs from SolidWorks and SyteLine end with _sw.csv and _sl.xlsx respectively.  By adding a third file to the mix ending with _sm.xlsx, which contains a BOM of slow moving parts, the comparison can be made by clicking the 2nd run button on the menu bar, i.e, the second green triangle icon.

Obtaining a slow moving (SM) BOM

Go to https://app.powerbi.com/, then click PC Indiana Dashboards > Inventory (on the left side menu) > Inventory Forecast.  This will lead to a page that looks like this:

At the upper right is the "View" drop down menu.  From that pick "Actual size". (If you don't resize to "Actual size", then the "More options" menu is difficult to access.)  Now go to the "More options" menu (the three dots, ...) and choose "Export data" and "Data with current layout".  Name the file you are exporting to anything you want, except that the end of the file name must end with "_sm.xlsx", for example slowmoving_sm.xlsx.

To use this file, drag and drop it into the bomcheck program the same way that you drag and drop _sw.xlsx and _sl.xlsx files.

Slow moving's menu options

You'll notice on the top menu bar a number of icons and buttons. These are:

1. Run bomcheck button:  This button runs the bomcheck program. (Does not access the _sm BOM.) It compares sm to sl BOMs.
2. Run comparator button:  The button runs the comparator in order to compare sw and/or sl BOMs to parts with in the sm BOM
3. The "clear", X, button:  Delete all entries from bomcheck's drag/drop list so that you can repopulate it with other files that you want to examine.
4. folder button:  Open the last folder you used from which you dragged files from.
5. filter: This is a mask by which you can select what part nos. the comparator compares.  This filter is examined in more detail on page two.
6. % similarity:   When the comparator is run, you'll see a column named "similar" in the results. The number there indicates the similarity of the text from the sw/sl descriptions to those of the pn descriptions from the sm BOM.  This similarity does not guarantee that the sm part can replace a part from the sw/sl BOM, but rather allows the user to examine those parts first since they are more likely to be a candidates for alternate parts.  In the menu's text entry box for % similarity you can enter a number to mask out lesser scoring parts.  For example, if you enter 50, then only scores of 50% and above will show in the results.
7. age:   In the comparator's results is a column named "age". This is how long ago it's been since that part was last used (days).  If for example 60 is entered, then only parts that have been sitting on the shelf for more that 60 days will be shown.
8. switches:   Check boxes by which you can filter results even more:
   1. Include "Demand" pns. The default is to filter out parts where there is a Demand for those parts.
   2. Include "On Hand" pns. The default is to filter out "Qty On Hand" parts that are zero.
   3. Ignore drop list settings. Ignore the settings shown at File > Settings > drop list

Note: Whenever you hover your mouse over any of these buttons, you'll see a description of the button at the bottom of the main window.

Settings

If you go to File > Settings, you will find a "drop list" and an "exceptions list".  Any part number in the drop list will not appear in results of the comparison of slow moving parts.  In the example above, any part nos. that begin with 10, 24, 25, etc. will not be shown.  These numbers are pump, paint, stickers, etc. part numbers.  Exceptions to the list are in the exceptions list.  For example, 2672 is for VFD electrical components.

Sample output

The first three columns, i.e. pn sw/sl, desrip sw/sl, and cost_ come from the SolidWorks and/or SyteLine data that you entered (i.e. _sw.csv and _sl_.xlsx files).  The remainder of the columns are a result of the comparison of the sw/sl BOMs to the sm BOM.

Blank cells in the first three columns means that the first non-blank cell above a blank cell has the same value as the non-blank cell.  That is, the cells that are blank were made that way in order to remove clutter.

Recording substituted parts

1. If necessary, especially if the alternate part is a higher cost, verify with management that the subsitution is OK.  Add those part numbers to the assembly BOM in SyteLine.
2. For the part numbers that are being substituted, in SyteLine make the "Effective date" for those parts later than the date that the system is to be built.  For the alternate parts that you just added set the "Obsolete date" to be that same date.
3. The last column in the slow moving comparisons table is titled alt qty.  Enter there the quantity of alternate part numbers that will be substituted for the original part.  Export that table to an Excel file.  Place it in the Engineering folder under the CO for that order.  The file name should end with _alts.xlsx.