Cut Length¶

Holding Stock for Cut Offs.

We have introduced a method of holding cut length stock for certain stock items.
These items will be bought in certain lengths, but will be of such a value that it is worthwhile keeping cut length stock.

An example of this would be the profile for an awning. This is bought in 4, 5 or 6 metre lengths (or any size, in fact).
The amount used will be approximately the width of the awning.
If an awning was 2300mm wide and it was cut from a 5m piece, then there would be a 2700mm length left.
This has a significant value and can be used in the manufacture of another awning.
The system now holds specific information about the length of each piece that is in stock for each product.
When that stock item is used, the system is able to select the most appropriate length to use.
In the above example, if another awning is made that is 2100mm wide, then the profile can be cut from the 2700mm wide piece, but if the awning is 3100mm wide, then it will have to be cut from a 5m wide piece.
There will then be two cut lengths held against this item, one of 2700mm and another of 1900mm.
If the size of the cut length is below a certain dimension (eg 1000mm), it should be considered as scrap.

The following changes have been made to the software:

We need to hold a new field for a stock item called ‘Cut Length’. This will be true/false and will default to false.

There is a new field in the stock item called ‘Scrap Below’.

We have created a new table that will hold the cut lengths against the stock items.
This holds stock item id, cut length size, and quantity.
This holds the records of full stock lengths and cut-down lengths eg from the above example you may have the following (starting from 10 5m lengths):

Length Quantity
5000 8
2700 1
1900 1

There is a new form that allows the entry of pieces in this table.
This is incorporated in the Stock Setup > Stock transaction Entry form.
When a piece (or pieces) are added to or taken away in this form, the overall stock in hand figure in the stock item is updated.
The stock in hand is held in the main stock record because this means we do not have to change any other stock reports.

When the stock calculation is done (when the product is manufactured or changed to WIP – depending on setup) the following calculations take place for a stock item with ‘Cut Length’ = true.

Instead of simply deducting the on sales order and stock in hand figures in the stock record, the program examines the cut length records to see what the best available length is.
Once it has identified this, it alters the records accordingly and updates the on sales order and stock in hand figures in the stock record.

Example using the stock held above (stock in hand is 44.6m):

Length Quantity
5000 8
2700 1
1900 1

An awning is made with a profile that is 2100mm wide.
This means the program should choose the 2700mm length.
Stock in hand then becomes 42.5m.
The cut length records should be altered to the following:

Length Quantity
5000 8
1900 1
600 1

Another awning is made that is 2500mm wide. Stock in hand becomes 40m. Cut lengths become:

Length Quantity
5000 7
2500 1
1900 1
600 1

Another awning is made that is 1850mm wide.
Stock in hand becomes 38.1m (anything below 100mm is scrap) and cut lengths are as follows:

Length Quantity
5000 7
2500 1
600 1

However it needs to be a bit more sophisticated than this because we could have orders with multiple awnings on them.
This means we need to try to optimise the way in which the cut lengths are used.
This could be done by doing a dummy pass on the whole order to see the most efficient way of using the stock.
We will write an algorithm to handle one-dimensional cutting optimisation.

PVC Lengths

For PVC lengths, it is now possible to not hold remainders ie do not calculate left over amount and create sub stock records.

This is required to calculate the amount of stock that will be used in making a vertical blind that uses PVC vanes instead of fabric.
Normally the fabric calculation would be ‘Fabric x Fabric Length’, but PVC vanes are solid and are bought in 5m lengths.
However we will still use the same calculator.

The stock item will be set up as ‘cut length’ = true and the user will enter the number of 5m (5000mm) lengths they have in stock.

The program now takes into account the number of vanes (found from the relevant vanes table), the vane length calculated (man drop – headrail depth) and then works out how many cut lengths are required.

Example:

A blind requires 17 vanes and each vane has a vane length of 1500mm. There are 100 5m cut lengths in stock.

The system should work out that you can cut 3 x 1500mm vanes from a 5m length. This means we can get 15 vanes from 5 x 5m lengths and 2 vanes from 1 x 5m length.
If ‘Scrap Below’ = 0, then the stock usage will be as follows:

Starting stock: 100 5000mm lengths

End stock: 94 x 5000mm lengths, 1 x 2000mm length, 5 x 500mm lengths.

If ‘Scrap Below’ = 2500, then the end stock would be: 94 x 5000mm lengths.
If we set the ‘Scrap Below’ figure high enough, it will not calculate any left over stock.