Tracking Parts

Part tracking is simply a means of identifying sets and subsets of parts. Tracking serves the following three major purposes:

• To track the usage and location of material. Parts with lot or serial tracking are usually items of higher value (due to material costs or to having value added through processing), or items whose use might have a great impact, such as a vehicle part, drug, or invasive medical device. Different companies may choose to value item differently. An item treated as an expense item by one company, might be carefully tracked by another company due to company policies or the intended use of the item.
• To allow the user to develop a structure of usage for tracked materials. If you make or buy a tracked item composed of tracked components that are, in turn, composed of other tracked components, you could see the multi-level structure of the top-level tracked part. Alternatively, you could view a tracked subcomponent and see all the parent assemblies that include the subcomponent. This is particularly useful when dealing with an audit or investigation, such as a recall of an item due to a faulty component. By looking at all assemblies that included the faulty component, you can determine which items to recall for rework or replacement.
• To indicate additional information about a part. All parts in a lot might share a certain supplier or specific characteristics. You can specify the part attributes that you want to track so you track the exact components most pertinent to your products.

In IFS Applications, the tracking information about a part is a portion of the unique identifier of material in a location. The same part might be brought into the same location many times and, unless the part has tracking information, you have no way to know when each particular item came in. However, if the part is serial and/or lot/batch tracked, the inventory system can group the items based on part number, lot or serial values, and location, and can display the quantities of those tracked items.

Specific Types of Part Tracking

There are several levels of tracking offered in IFS Applications. They are:

• Serial tracking (serialization): Identifies a single part by a unique number.
• Lot/batch tracking: Identifies one or a group of parts by lot or batch number..
• Waiver/Deviation/Rejection (W/D/R) number: Identifies one or a group of parts that have been marked or tagged as unusual or not to standard.

Serial tracking and lot/batch tracking are the most common methods for tracking parts. Generally the W/D/R number is an exception-based identifier.

You can identify multiple types of tracking for one part. For example, a serialized part could also have a lot/batch tracking number and/or a W/D/R number.

Tracked Structures

When you track serial or lot/batch numbers, you can create tracked structures if the Multi-Level Tracking check box in IFS/Part Catalog is selected. A tracked structure is a structure that is lot and/or serial-tracked, at least, at the parent level.

IFS Applications automatically creates tracked structures when you follow the procedure below:

1. Reserve parent lot/batch or serial numbers.
2. Reserve or issue component material.

These automatically created tracked structures include the parent and component parts, serial numbers, and W/D/R numbers.

You can view tracked structures in various windows, such as the Shop Order As-Built Structure window.

For more information about different types of part tracking, follow the appropriate link:

About Part Serial Handling, About Lot/Batch Tracking, About Multi-Level Tracking, About Component Lot Rule and About Arrival and Receipt.