New user questions - Bill of Materials, Intercompany sales, general questions

[Kevin M. Myer-2]

Hello,

I am trying to use Ofbiz in a testing environment, to prototype some
of our company processes, with an eye to replacing multiple systems
with an integrated package.  We predominantly make and install
concrete products, so the e-commerce side of Ofbiz is of little
interest to us at this point.  A small percentage of our sales would
be considered retail sales (brick-and-mortar); the remainder would be
intercompany sales to various regional offices, who in turn offer our
product installed, as a service.

To give a generalized view of our concrete products, we might offer
two different pieces for a given installation project; for instance, a
flat piece of block, and then an L-shaped piece of block.  Each piece
can come in multiple styles and in multiple colors and all styles and
colors are interchangeable (five styles and five colors would result
in 50 different products - 25 flat pieces and 25 L-shaped pieces).
For my catalog, I have created two virtual variant products, one for
the flat pieces and one for the L-shaped pieces, and then used the
style and colors as the features.  I'm struggling to figure out how to
setup a bill of materials, so that when an office orders pieces (which
can be variable in size and are not ordered by the piece, but by
either square footage or by linear feet), we can generate production
runs.  The materials used to make the pieces are all raw materials -
sand, cement, and aggregate, and there is not a precise formula that
says in order to get one piece, use this much sand, this much cement
and this much aggregate.  At the same time, it does not seem that I
can create a production run for a finished/manufactured product
without a bill of materials.  This may sound stupid, but is there a
way to create a dummy bill of materials, that essentially requires
time but not materials, with the end result being a finished product?

Second, once an office orders an item and we make it, we ship it to
them, usually using our own fleet, so I will need to investigate and
likely have the shipping options extended.  What I'm trying to figure
out is how to account for these intercompany sales and shipments.  Is
it possible to have a payment type that essentially functions as a
journal entry, since we are in essence moving funds from one pocket to
another?  Once we receive the product on the installation side, I am
viewing the WorkEffort piece as the piece needed for scheduling and
tracking the installation cost of the job.

General questions:
Are there any reference sites that are using Ofbiz for their primary
accounting software?
Are there any reference sites that are using Ofbiz that are NOT in the
e-commerce business?

Thanks,
Kevin

[BJ Freeman]

did a concrete setup similar,last year, took about 6 months. Looking to
do a similar one for building concrete tunnel components.

the hardest part was the manufacturing setup.
they also have computer controlled mixing that had to be added.

in general look at the configured PC100 and enchiladas for a beginning
point.
even thought you won't use the ecommerce you will use the orderentry,
which is basically the same with a few differences.
Each of your offices can use the orderentry.

company delivery is already setup so just have to have a facility for
each office and do inventory transfers.

you can setup each office as a profit center in accounting that also is
time consuming only in getting the GL setup the way your Accountant
wants it.

I still export to Quickbooks as a back up and more financial reporting.




=========================
BJ Freeman
http://bjfreeman.elance.com
Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation  <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
Specialtymarket.com  <http://www.specialtymarket.com/>

Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist

Chat  Y! messenger: bjfr33man
Linkedin
<http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1237480&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro>


Kevin M. Myer sent the following on 6/8/2010 12:09 PM:

> Hello,
>
> I am trying to use Ofbiz in a testing environment, to prototype some
> of our company processes, with an eye to replacing multiple systems
> with an integrated package.  We predominantly make and install
> concrete products, so the e-commerce side of Ofbiz is of little
> interest to us at this point.  A small percentage of our sales would
> be considered retail sales (brick-and-mortar); the remainder would be
> intercompany sales to various regional offices, who in turn offer our
> product installed, as a service.
>
> To give a generalized view of our concrete products, we might offer
> two different pieces for a given installation project; for instance, a
> flat piece of block, and then an L-shaped piece of block.  Each piece
> can come in multiple styles and in multiple colors and all styles and
> colors are interchangeable (five styles and five colors would result
> in 50 different products - 25 flat pieces and 25 L-shaped pieces).
> For my catalog, I have created two virtual variant products, one for
> the flat pieces and one for the L-shaped pieces, and then used the
> style and colors as the features.  I'm struggling to figure out how to
> setup a bill of materials, so that when an office orders pieces (which
> can be variable in size and are not ordered by the piece, but by
> either square footage or by linear feet), we can generate production
> runs.  The materials used to make the pieces are all raw materials -
> sand, cement, and aggregate, and there is not a precise formula that
> says in order to get one piece, use this much sand, this much cement
> and this much aggregate.  At the same time, it does not seem that I
> can create a production run for a finished/manufactured product
> without a bill of materials.  This may sound stupid, but is there a
> way to create a dummy bill of materials, that essentially requires
> time but not materials, with the end result being a finished product?
>
> Second, once an office orders an item and we make it, we ship it to
> them, usually using our own fleet, so I will need to investigate and
> likely have the shipping options extended.  What I'm trying to figure
> out is how to account for these intercompany sales and shipments.  Is
> it possible to have a payment type that essentially functions as a
> journal entry, since we are in essence moving funds from one pocket to
> another?  Once we receive the product on the installation side, I am
> viewing the WorkEffort piece as the piece needed for scheduling and
> tracking the installation cost of the job.
>
> General questions:
> Are there any reference sites that are using Ofbiz for their primary
> accounting software?
> Are there any reference sites that are using Ofbiz that are NOT in the
> e-commerce business?
>
> Thanks,
> Kevin
>

[BJ Freeman]

also have a look at
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OFBIZ/Application+Reference+for+Manufacturing+Manager+Application+%28Tab%29

=========================
BJ Freeman
http://bjfreeman.elance.com
Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation  <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
Specialtymarket.com  <http://www.specialtymarket.com/>

Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist

Chat  Y! messenger: bjfr33man
Linkedin
<http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1237480&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro>


BJ Freeman sent the following on 6/8/2010 2:29 PM:

> did a concrete setup similar,last year, took about 6 months. Looking to
> do a similar one for building concrete tunnel components.
>
> the hardest part was the manufacturing setup.
> they also have computer controlled mixing that had to be added.
>
> in general look at the configured PC100 and enchiladas for a beginning
> point.
> even thought you won't use the ecommerce you will use the orderentry,
> which is basically the same with a few differences.
> Each of your offices can use the orderentry.
>
> company delivery is already setup so just have to have a facility for
> each office and do inventory transfers.
>
> you can setup each office as a profit center in accounting that also is
> time consuming only in getting the GL setup the way your Accountant
> wants it.
>
> I still export to Quickbooks as a back up and more financial reporting.
>
>
>
>
> =========================
> BJ Freeman
> http://bjfreeman.elance.com
> Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation
> <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
> Specialtymarket.com <http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
>
> Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist
>
> Chat Y! messenger: bjfr33man
> Linkedin
> <http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1237480&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro>
>
>
>
> Kevin M. Myer sent the following on 6/8/2010 12:09 PM:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am trying to use Ofbiz in a testing environment, to prototype some
>> of our company processes, with an eye to replacing multiple systems
>> with an integrated package. We predominantly make and install
>> concrete products, so the e-commerce side of Ofbiz is of little
>> interest to us at this point. A small percentage of our sales would
>> be considered retail sales (brick-and-mortar); the remainder would be
>> intercompany sales to various regional offices, who in turn offer our
>> product installed, as a service.
>>
>> To give a generalized view of our concrete products, we might offer
>> two different pieces for a given installation project; for instance, a
>> flat piece of block, and then an L-shaped piece of block. Each piece
>> can come in multiple styles and in multiple colors and all styles and
>> colors are interchangeable (five styles and five colors would result
>> in 50 different products - 25 flat pieces and 25 L-shaped pieces).
>> For my catalog, I have created two virtual variant products, one for
>> the flat pieces and one for the L-shaped pieces, and then used the
>> style and colors as the features. I'm struggling to figure out how to
>> setup a bill of materials, so that when an office orders pieces (which
>> can be variable in size and are not ordered by the piece, but by
>> either square footage or by linear feet), we can generate production
>> runs. The materials used to make the pieces are all raw materials -
>> sand, cement, and aggregate, and there is not a precise formula that
>> says in order to get one piece, use this much sand, this much cement
>> and this much aggregate. At the same time, it does not seem that I
>> can create a production run for a finished/manufactured product
>> without a bill of materials. This may sound stupid, but is there a
>> way to create a dummy bill of materials, that essentially requires
>> time but not materials, with the end result being a finished product?
>>
>> Second, once an office orders an item and we make it, we ship it to
>> them, usually using our own fleet, so I will need to investigate and
>> likely have the shipping options extended. What I'm trying to figure
>> out is how to account for these intercompany sales and shipments. Is
>> it possible to have a payment type that essentially functions as a
>> journal entry, since we are in essence moving funds from one pocket to
>> another? Once we receive the product on the installation side, I am
>> viewing the WorkEffort piece as the piece needed for scheduling and
>> tracking the installation cost of the job.
>>
>> General questions:
>> Are there any reference sites that are using Ofbiz for their primary
>> accounting software?
>> Are there any reference sites that are using Ofbiz that are NOT in the
>> e-commerce business?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Kevin
>>
>
>