This is a simple way to go from the customer order to making the order and shipping the order. It involves a few simple steps:

1. Receive and enter the customer order
2. Automatic credit review
3. Automatic release of the shop order tied to the customer order
4. Issue material, report labor to the production order receipt
5. Pick the order, ship the order, invoice the customer

With lean, you can skip processing the demand through MRP. You can go directly from the customer order to the shop order creation.

If Location Control is turned on in Baan IV, then inventory should never be negative.

If Location Control is not turned on in Baan IV, and the parameter “Negative Inventory Allowed” in INV Parameters is set to “NO”, then inventory should never be negative.

In Baan V and LN, the parameters in Inventory Handling Parameters determine whether you can have negative inventory. If these parameters are set to “NO”, then inventory should never be negative.

If you setup the “From” and “To” Location fields in the Work Center file, this will then determine the locations for material issue transactions and production reporting transactions.

The reporting of the transactions would happen through production reporting, JIT600, or using the Shop Floor labor posting, SFC600, or Shop Floor Posting from SFC650.

Remember, any location used in the work center file must first be set up in the location master file. Using an MES solution by-passes the need to key any of the data to ERP LX.

What should you do if you have negative inventory reflected in your system?

You should do a cycle count or inventory adjustment, but first, do a review of the inventory or location history to determine when this happened.

If a negative inventory is allowed, it most likely will be corrected upon receipt of the item. For example, assume that there is a PO that has not been received in Baan/LN, but the goods came in and got shipped out on a sales order. The inventory goes negative, but when the PO receipt is entered, the inventory would be corrected. In this case, no adjustment should be made.

A little due diligence will go a long way to ensure that you are only making an adjustment to your system when warranted.