RDC Order and Stock Level Replenishment Overview

Use RDC order and stock level replenishment to maintain product at both consignment and non-consignment customer locations.

With consignment locations, you store product at the customer's locations, charging the customer only for the product that was actually used. The customer returns any unused product back to you at the end of the contract. With non-consignment locations, you charge the customer up-front for all product that is sent to their location.

To maintain product at both consignment and non-consignment locations, collect order and stock level replenishment data with an RDC Palm device on a regular basis. You can use Order or Levels mode to collect the necessary data. The system processes the data for each mode differently depending on whether it is for a consignment or non-consignment location.

Note: If you have customer locations that use flat files instead of Palm devices to collect count data, upload and process the data using RDC Flat File Processing.

Order Mode

Use Order mode to manually enter quantity needed or used, as follows:

Non-consignment locations – Use to create orders for the customer. With the Palm device, enter items and quantities needed. Upon upload of the order information, the system sends you a message – if you are the RDC Administrator or defined user – that an order has been created. You can review the order information from the sync log, Sales Order Entry screen, or Remote Order Entry Review Queue. If errors occurred, such as the system not recognizing a product ID for an uploaded item, resolve the errors. Process a sales order from the Sales Order Entry screen. Orders can be created for products which may or may not already exist at the customer location.

Consignment locations – Use to create billings of usage, which charges the customer for the product and quantity used, for the customer location. Every time the customer uses a product, they scan the product and enter the quantity used on a Palm device. Upon upload of the information, the system sends you a message – if you are the RDC Administrator or defined user – indicating that a billing of usage has been created for the customer. You can then review the billing of usage from the sync log, Sales Order Entry screen, or Remote Order Entry Review Queue. If errors occurred, such as the system not recognizing a product ID for an uploaded item, resolve the errors. Process the billing of usage from the Sales Order Entry screen.

Note: You will need to perform regular counts in Levels mode to replenish consigned inventory.

Levels Mode

Use Levels mode to count the amount of on-hand inventory at a customer location, and then create replenishment transfers, as follows:

Non-consignment locations – Use to create replenishment transfers. With a Palm device, count on-hand quantities for items at the customer location. Items with on-hand quantities below their minimum stocking level will be replenished back to their maximum stocking levels.

Upon upload of the count information, the system sends you a message – if you are the RDC Administrator or defined user –that a replenishment transfer has been created. You can review the order information from the sync log, Sales Order Entry screen, or Remote Order Entry Review Queue. If errors occurred, such as the system not recognizing a product ID for an uploaded item, resolve the errors. Process the replenishment transfer from the Sales Order Entry screen.

Consignment locations – Use to create billings of usage, which charges the customer for the product and quantity used, and replenishment transfers for the customer location. Count on-hand quantities for all items at the customer location to create both billings of usage and replenishment transfers.

The system creates billings of usage for items with quantities below their maximum stocking levels. Upon upload of the information, the system sends you a message – if you are the RDC Administrator or defined user – indicating that a billing of usage has been created for the customer. You can then review the billing of usage from the sync log, Sales Order Entry screen, or Remote Order Entry Review Queue. If errors occurred, such as the system not recognizing a product ID for an uploaded item, resolve the errors. Process the billing of usage from the Sales Order Entry screen.

Create replenishment transfers by running the Suggested Consignment Auto Transfer utility. This utility compares the uploaded count quantity with minimum stocking levels for each item. It then suggests replenishment transfers up to the defined maximum for any item with quantity below the minimum. Use the Consignment Transfer Queue to review suggested transfers and then create the actual replenishment transfer.

Note: You can view the most recent uploaded count quantity for an item in the Customer / Vendor Specific Part Numbers screen's Level field.