ofbiz for logistics

[Jim S]

We have been evaluating ofbiz for small startup logistics company and would
like to hear feedback from the community if this can be achieved by using
ofbiz. We searched the mailing list except of couple of threads but they
are not much helpful.

Our basic requirements are:
1. Packages from a client arrive in our warehouse.
2. We ship the packages to the customers.
3. Any packages that are not received by the customers are returned to our
warehouse by the person making the delivery.
4. At the end of day a report is send to the client and very next day the
undelivered packages are returned to the client warehouse.

When a package arrive in our warehouse we would like to store information
on the package contents too. I think the incoming packages to our warehouse
can be associated to a purchase order and received in the warehouse and
when we deliver the packages, it can be done by creating a sales order,
making an inventory issuance etc.? Is it a right way to do it?

We are not sure how to receive the packages, I think ofbiz only allow to
receive the goods/products and there has to be product(s) in the system
before product(s) receipt, right? but we don't want to store that much of
information, just the packages and the content of the packages ...

Has anyone done this before and can share their experience?

Thanks in advance !!

--
Thanks,
Jim

[Adrian Crum-3]

OFBiz includes the ability to track shipments, but it doesn't support a
vertical application like the one you describe. It should be fairly easy
to extend the existing shipment functionality to support a logistics
company.

Adrian Crum
Sandglass Software
www.sandglass-software.com

On 5/26/2014 12:05 AM, Jim S wrote:

> We have been evaluating ofbiz for small startup logistics company and would
> like to hear feedback from the community if this can be achieved by using
> ofbiz. We searched the mailing list except of couple of threads but they
> are not much helpful.
>
> Our basic requirements are:
> 1. Packages from a client arrive in our warehouse.
> 2. We ship the packages to the customers.
> 3. Any packages that are not received by the customers are returned to our
> warehouse by the person making the delivery.
> 4. At the end of day a report is send to the client and very next day the
> undelivered packages are returned to the client warehouse.
>
> When a package arrive in our warehouse we would like to store information
> on the package contents too. I think the incoming packages to our warehouse
> can be associated to a purchase order and received in the warehouse and
> when we deliver the packages, it can be done by creating a sales order,
> making an inventory issuance etc.? Is it a right way to do it?
>
> We are not sure how to receive the packages, I think ofbiz only allow to
> receive the goods/products and there has to be product(s) in the system
> before product(s) receipt, right? but we don't want to store that much of
> information, just the packages and the content of the packages ...
>
> Has anyone done this before and can share their experience?
>
> Thanks in advance !!
>

[Pierre Smits]

Hi Jim,

Your starting view point is a bit incorrect. For a Logistics Service
Provider (lsp), in general, the incoming packages should be associated with
a sales order as it is a customer who orders the shipment. And for each
packages you would then have, at least following parties, involved:

   - The company - the internal organisation that is legal responsible for
   the order, invoice and shipment
   - The customer - the external organisation that wants to have the
   package shipped and delivered
   - The person accepting the package

When the lsp is using other lsp's (for e.g. first-mile, last-mile or
hub-to-hub transports), these other lsp's should be regarded as suppliers
(sub-contractor).

Regards,

Pierre Smits

*ORRTIZ.COM <http://www.orrtiz.com>*
Services & Solutions for Cloud-
Based Manufacturing, Professional
Services and Retail & Trade
http://www.orrtiz.com

[Jim S]

Adrian, Pierre, thanks for your feedback.

Pierre I may not have been through in my analysis but I would like to
mention few points. The shipment logistics provider basically comes under
the distribution logistics which involves
1. Receiving the packages from client.
2. Storing the packages in the warehouse at a certain location, we call it
a distribution centre. This is need for picking later.
3. Picking the packages and deliver to the customer.

The shipment or packages from the client is an incoming shipment to the
logistics so I think best way would be to associate the incoming shipment
to a purchase order in ofbiz. Receiving the shipment will create necessary
information in the ofbiz. There is an interesting shipment type available
in ofbiz i.e. transfer I think it can be used since the shipment is really
transferred from the client to the logistics and from logistics to the
customer?

The next step is to pick the packages, lade vehicle & provide a detail of
the packages (address information, packages information) on a sheet to the
driver. We can utilize the pick sheet to create the picking and delivery
information. I think we may need to rewrite code for certain part of the
order picking in ofbiz to model it for logistics. Once the packages are
delivered, the shipment status can be updated in ofbiz.


--
Thanks,
Jim

[marcopaul]

Hey Jim,

I found these diagrams way too late in the process of evaluating ofbiz, they are phenomenally useful for figuring out OFBiz’s terminology for how it treats things like packages vs. shipments vs. products vs. inventory items, etc and how they are related internally.

https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OFBTECH/Data+Model+Diagrams



--P

On May 31, 2014, at 6:33 AM, Jim S <[e-mail]> wrote:

> Adrian, Pierre, thanks for your feedback.
>
> Pierre I may not have been through in my analysis but I would like to
> mention few points. The shipment logistics provider basically comes under
> the distribution logistics which involves
> 1. Receiving the packages from client.
> 2. Storing the packages in the warehouse at a certain location, we call it
> a distribution centre. This is need for picking later.
> 3. Picking the packages and deliver to the customer.
>
> The shipment or packages from the client is an incoming shipment to the
> logistics so I think best way would be to associate the incoming shipment
> to a purchase order in ofbiz. Receiving the shipment will create necessary
> information in the ofbiz. There is an interesting shipment type available
> in ofbiz i.e. transfer I think it can be used since the shipment is really
> transferred from the client to the logistics and from logistics to the
> customer?
>
> The next step is to pick the packages, lade vehicle & provide a detail of
> the packages (address information, packages information) on a sheet to the
> driver. We can utilize the pick sheet to create the picking and delivery
> information. I think we may need to rewrite code for certain part of the
> order picking in ofbiz to model it for logistics. Once the packages are
> delivered, the shipment status can be updated in ofbiz.
>
>
> --
> Thanks,
> Jim

[james_sg]

Hi Jim,

I share the same view as Pierre that you should not be using the purchase order for it.

Your workflow should be something like this:
1) When packages arrive, you should create a Sales Order for this. In this case, you need to add function to allow editing the description of each sales order line item.
2) Approval of Sales Order
3) Receive the inventory via product. OFBiz allows receiving product without PO. You need to add function for OFBiz to support products with serialized barcode. During goods receiving, a unique barcode is generated for each serialised product. You will also need to make changes to ensure the received goods is reserved to the correct sales order.
4) Packing as usual.

Jim S wrote

Adrian, Pierre, thanks for your feedback.

Pierre I may not have been through in my analysis but I would like to
mention few points. The shipment logistics provider basically comes under
the distribution logistics which involves
1. Receiving the packages from client.
2. Storing the packages in the warehouse at a certain location, we call it
a distribution centre. This is need for picking later.
3. Picking the packages and deliver to the customer.

The shipment or packages from the client is an incoming shipment to the
logistics so I think best way would be to associate the incoming shipment
to a purchase order in ofbiz. Receiving the shipment will create necessary
information in the ofbiz. There is an interesting shipment type available
in ofbiz i.e. transfer I think it can be used since the shipment is really
transferred from the client to the logistics and from logistics to the
customer?

The next step is to pick the packages, lade vehicle & provide a detail of
the packages (address information, packages information) on a sheet to the
driver. We can utilize the pick sheet to create the picking and delivery
information. I think we may need to rewrite code for certain part of the
order picking in ofbiz to model it for logistics. Once the packages are
delivered, the shipment status can be updated in ofbiz.


--
Thanks,
Jim

[Jim S]

Paul, Thanks for sharing the information.


--
Thanks,
Jim

[Jim S]

Okay ... but we just receive the packages and don't pick and pack items of
our own. We only need to transfer the packages received from a client to
the customer.

Even the shipping logistics like UPS when they ship a package to a customer
they only have information about the shipping party (client), ship to party
(customer), number of packages, type of package, weight, dimension of the
package. In turn UPS provide a unique shipping digest and tracking number
for the package so that client/customer can track the shipment.

Certainly as a logistics we don't need to know the part number of the items
in the package and this information is only internal to the client. I think
the way ofbiz works is when you receive a package or inventory you must
have the product ID for the item in the system, right? so I guess the
process you described won't work.

Thanks,
Jim

[marcopaul]

Instead of messing around with it, I would just have just one standard part number called PACKAGE or something, if you don’t care about distinguishing between what’s in said boxes - as far as ofbiz and the business is concerned, you’re taking in and reselling just one unique widget (a package).

Ofbiz tracks individual inventory items, but they need a master product to be associated with for the data model to work.  In your eyes though maybe you would have different service/priority levels levels for the packages, and in that case you could have a catalog part number for each service level.  You may also have part numbers for your auxiliary stuff, pallets, tape, wrap, assets (forklifts, trailers, etc for asset tracking purposes).
 

 
--P
On May 31, 2014, at 11:50 AM, Jim S <[e-mail]> wrote:

> Okay ... but we just receive the packages and don't pick and pack items of
> our own. We only need to transfer the packages received from a client to
> the customer.
>
> Even the shipping logistics like UPS when they ship a package to a customer
> they only have information about the shipping party (client), ship to party
> (customer), number of packages, type of package, weight, dimension of the
> package. In turn UPS provide a unique shipping digest and tracking number
> for the package so that client/customer can track the shipment.
>
> Certainly as a logistics we don't need to know the part number of the items
> in the package and this information is only internal to the client. I think
> the way ofbiz works is when you receive a package or inventory you must
> have the product ID for the item in the system, right? so I guess the
> process you described won't work.
>
> Thanks,
> Jim

[Adrian Crum-3]

You do not need to create a purchase order. I recommend you start with
the existing artifacts that map directly to your business, identify
missing bits (gaps), and then build out the missing bits.

What OFBiz has:

1. A good data model for creating and tracking shipments.
2. The data model includes the means to associate a shipment to a
shipping cost.
3. Sales order and invoice functionality.

What is missing:

1. Generate a sales order from a shipment or group of shipments (OOTB,
shipments are generated from a sales order, but you need it to go the
opposite way).
2. A means to include fixed assets (delivery vehicles) in the shipment
route.
3. A means to track/approve package movement along the shipment route.

If your project has provided for some consulting fees, then I would be
happy to assist you with modeling your business.

Adrian Crum
Sandglass Software
www.sandglass-software.com

On 5/31/2014 3:33 AM, Jim S wrote:

> Adrian, Pierre, thanks for your feedback.
>
> Pierre I may not have been through in my analysis but I would like to
> mention few points. The shipment logistics provider basically comes under
> the distribution logistics which involves
> 1. Receiving the packages from client.
> 2. Storing the packages in the warehouse at a certain location, we call it
> a distribution centre. This is need for picking later.
> 3. Picking the packages and deliver to the customer.
>
> The shipment or packages from the client is an incoming shipment to the
> logistics so I think best way would be to associate the incoming shipment
> to a purchase order in ofbiz. Receiving the shipment will create necessary
> information in the ofbiz. There is an interesting shipment type available
> in ofbiz i.e. transfer I think it can be used since the shipment is really
> transferred from the client to the logistics and from logistics to the
> customer?
>
> The next step is to pick the packages, lade vehicle & provide a detail of
> the packages (address information, packages information) on a sheet to the
> driver. We can utilize the pick sheet to create the picking and delivery
> information. I think we may need to rewrite code for certain part of the
> order picking in ofbiz to model it for logistics. Once the packages are
> delivered, the shipment status can be updated in ofbiz.
>
>

[james_sg]

Jim S wrote

Okay ... but we just receive the packages and don't pick and pack items of
our own. We only need to transfer the packages received from a client to
the customer.

If you don't cater for the picking process, won't the wrong package gets delivered?
The packing process is meant for repackaging for delivery. That could mean putting smaller packages into 1 box to easier delivery, or not at all.

Jim S wrote

Even the shipping logistics like UPS when they ship a package to a customer
they only have information about the shipping party (client), ship to party
(customer), number of packages, type of package, weight, dimension of the
package. In turn UPS provide a unique shipping digest and tracking number
for the package so that client/customer can track the shipment.

This is the reason why i mentioned about adding functions for OFBiz to support serialised products. You need some unique numbers to track each package, don't you?

Jim S wrote

Certainly as a logistics we don't need to know the part number of the items
in the package and this information is only internal to the client. I think
the way ofbiz works is when you receive a package or inventory you must
have the product ID for the item in the system, right? so I guess the
process you described won't work.

Paul has mentioned that you can have a standard part number called PACKAGE, that is a product called PACKAGE. You could also sub-categorize the PACKAGE accordingly to your requirement. No one is asking you to map every package contents into your own inventory. It is also why I mentioned about adding functions to edit Product description in the sales order line items.