Fabric Off Cuts¶

Fabric Off Cuts (Without Optimisation)

When a roller blind is made, there are often bits of fabric left over.
These are called ‘off cuts’. It is sometimes possible to use these off cuts to make other blinds.
Therefore we have created a method of recording off cuts and then being able to find them later.

There are new parameters called ‘Use Fabric Off Cuts’ in Administration > Parameters and in Blind Details > Blind Types.

The latter only appears if blind identifier = Roller or Austrian/Roman or Pleated or Panel or Woodweave.

There is also a new table called ‘Fabric Off Cuts’. This holds fabric id, date, width, drop and location.
There is a new tab against the Fabrics form called ‘Off Cuts’ which will show the fields in this table.

There is a new flag against the stock record called ‘Use Fabric Off Cuts’. Regardless of whether the ‘Use Fabric Off Cuts’ is true or not, if it is set to true in the stock record, then fabric off cuts will be used.
The rule should be that if it is set to true in the blind type record then fabric off cuts are held, but if false then only those stock records with the flag set to true will be used.

The new flag is also now a column option in ‘Stock Enquiry’ and it is also possible to import the field in Administration > Import From Excel > Stock Update.

The tab will only be displayed the blind identifier = Roller or Austrian/Roman or Pleated or Panel or Woodweave.
There is a new report in Reports > System Reports called ‘Fabric Offcuts’. This lists all the off cuts in the table, showing fabric description, date, width, drop and location. It is grouped by blind type.
When an order is being saved, the program now checks to see if ‘Use Fabric Off Cuts’ is switched on for each blind type in the order detail lines.
We also take into account whether ‘Fabric Optimisation’ is switched on for the fabric in the order detail line.
If fabric optimisation is switched on for a fabric, then nothing is done with off cuts at this point.

If ‘Use Fabric Off Cuts’ = true and ‘Fabric Optimisation’ = false, when the order is saved, the detail lines are analysed to see whether a fabric off cut can be used or not.
For example, if there is a detail line for a roller fabric with fabric = Fabric A, we should check to see if there is an off cut record for it and to see if a blind can be cut from it ie width and drop in the detail line < width and drop in off cut record (usual rules for calculators apply – ‘Width or Drop’, ‘Width’ and ‘Drop’).
If there is a cut off that can be used, then it is used and the fabric cut off record is removed.
If there is not one available, then the size of the piece of fabric is calculated, and a cut off record is created for the bit that is left over.

Example: a fabric roll width is 2000mm and the calculator is ‘Width or Drop’. The blind required is 1200mm width, with a drop of 1400mm.
The BOM is calculated as being 1200mm width x 1650mm drop. The fabric will then be cut so it leaves a piece that is 350mm x 1200mm.
This piece should be stored in the ‘Fabric Off Cuts’ table.

If there is only one detail line for this fabric, that that is fine. If there is more than one, then it becomes a lot more complicated.

For example, let’s say there are 7 detail lines in an order, all for the same fabric, and fabric optimisation is switched off, but ‘Use Fabric Off Cuts’ is switched on.
The best way to do this would be to actually run a fabric optimisation just for this fabric in this order.
It should first check to see if the off cuts table contains record to fulfil the blinds for that fabric.
The off cuts will be used only if all the blinds can be made with off cuts. If not, a fabric optimisation should be run and then fabric off cut records created.

Finally, we can also hold a location for the off cuts. This will only be known when the order is manufactured.
If an off cut has been created, then we need to enter the location of where it is being stored. This is done at the ‘Order Made’ stage.

Also , there is a new report in Stock Control > Reports called ‘Fabric Off Cuts’. This lists by fabric, the off cuts that exist.
It shows group no, date created, width, drop, location.
At the ‘Order Made’ stage, it is now possible to amend the width and drop of the record that is being stored.

There is another new report in Stock Control > Reports called ‘Fabric Off Cuts Matching’.
This will look at all blinds that have not yet been manufactured and check to see if there is a piece of fabric that can be used to make a blind.
The report only shows detail lines where there is a match, and shows order no, order detail id, fabric description, width cut, drop cut, group no*, location*, width*, drop*. (* = from ‘Fabric Off Cuts table).
If a fabric off cut is used, then we need a method of recording this.
This work will be done in a new development item in the ‘Bill of Materials’ View in ‘Window Blind Amend’.

There is a new button on this form called ‘Import Fabric Off Cuts’. When selected, the user will be able to import a spreadsheet of fabric off cuts.
The spreadsheet contains column headings and columns for stock code, width, drop, location, rotation (this field not mandatory).

Order Processing > Orders > Fabric Off Cut

At the moment it is possible to print a report that shows a list of fabric off cuts in Stock Control > Reports > Fabric Off Cuts.
It is now also possible to save the location of an offcut against a blind detail line.

Therefore we need to be able to edit a serial detail line, and be able to enter the location of the offcut – this means that the bill of materials quantity should be reduced to zero for the fabric in that blind.

The location can be edited in the serial detail line in Order Processing > Orders > Context Menu > View Serial Details.

We have made the following changes:
We have added new editable column in Serial Detail Line screen.
It is visible if Parameters > Quote/Order Processing > Use Fabric Off Cuts is enabled.
It allow the selection of the fabric off cuts location (only if the detail size is correct).
If fabric off cut location is selected then BOM quantity for this fabric is reset to 0.

The location of the offcut can now be printed on ‘Works Order – Bespoke 46’.
It is printed in brackets after the fabric description in the top two labels and the big label.

Fabric Off Cuts flags

We have a customer that wants to be able to use fabric off cuts but they do not want the system to calculate them automatically.
When they enter an order, the order save should check to see if there are any suitable fabric pieces that can be used.

There is now a new parameter to use off cuts but not to automatically create them.
This parameter is called ‘Use Fabric Off Cuts’.
The existing parameter of this name has been changed to ‘Create Fabric Off Cuts’.

If ‘Create Fabric Off Cuts’ is set to false, then the fabric cuts are not created automatically.
A user will have to enter them manually in Stock Control > Fabric Off Cuts.

If ‘Use Fabric Off Cuts’ is set to true, there is new functionality in the order entry program, at the save order stage.

When order is saved, the program examines the fabric off cut records to see if there any fabric off cuts that can be used.
If there are, then these are displayed in a pop up form. This form shows the fabric description, width, drop and location.
It only display pieces of fabric that are at least as big as the piece required to make the blind (or blinds).
The user is then able to select the piece of fabric they want – this then records the location against the relevant serial detail line(s) and zeroises the fabric usage in the BOM.

It also writes the order number, order detail line id and serial id against the fabric off cut.
There could be a situation where there is more than one blind on the order with the same fabric.
Let’s say there are two blinds on an order that use the same fabric.
We do not want to use fabric off cuts for one blind only.
Therefore we calculate the size of the piece of fabric required for both blinds. This is calculated in the optimise routine (the overall width and drop required).

It is also possible to undo this, because the piece of fabric may not be suitable.

Order Processing > Orders > Fabric Off Cut

There is now functionality so that one offcut can be used for multiple detail lines.
We do not validate the sizes to see if they can be used.
When the order is saved, the user is given the chance to select off cuts from the right hand side of this form.
If the relevant off cut record is pointed at, then the left hand arrow can be used to assign the off cut to the detail line.
For this to work, the following flags must be switched on in Parameters.

Fabric Off Cuts (Imperial Setup)

If Blindata only has ‘Use Fabric Off Cuts’ set to true (and ‘Create Fabric Off Cuts’ = false) then this will now work properly if ‘Imperial Setup’ = true.
If ‘Imperial Setup’ = true, when records are imported for fabric off cuts, they are now converted into metric sizes, but displayed as Imperial sizes.

Order Processing > Orders > Fabric Off Cut

If a blind type is set up with ‘Optimise Fabric At Order Entry’ and there is an order detail line where a fabric off cut is being used, that line is now excluded from the optimisation.