Distribution orders

This table contains the distribution orders of your supply chain, either proposed by frePPLe or confirmed. A distribution order is a transfer order of some material from one location of your supply chain to another location of your supply chain.

This table is populated with new proposed manufacturing orders when frePPLe generates a plan. It is also possible to load manufacturing orders that are already approved or confirmed in your ERP system.

A distribution order will be proposed by frePPLe for a given item if a record has been defined in the item distribution table for that item (or for one of its parents in the hierarchy) from the origin location to the destination location.

However note that there is a special type of distribution orders called rebalancing requests. Rebalancing requests are sending back some material from the destination location to the origin location based on some criteria. The idea behind rebalancing requests is to identify excess inventory and send it back to the source location to possibly make it available to other locations. The parameters driving the stock rebalancing requests generation are the following:

  • REBALANCING_PART_COST_THRESHOLD:
    The minimum part cost threshold used to trigger a rebalancing. Parts with cost below the threshold will not be rebalanced.
  • REBALANCING _TOTAL_COST_THRESHOLD:
    The minimum total cost threshold to trigger a rebalancing (equals to rebalanced qty multiplied by item price). Rebalancing requests with total cost below the threshold will not be created.
  • REBALANCING _BURNOUT_THRESHOLD:
    The minimum time to “burn up” excess inventory (compared to forecast) that can be rebalanced (in periods). If the “burn out” period (Excess Quantity/Forecast) is less than the threshold, the rebalancing will not occur. (E.g : If the rebalanced quantity corresponds to less than 3 months of forecast at the destination location, do not perform rebalancing).

Field

Type

Description

reference

string
Unique identifier for the distribution order.
For approved or confirmed distribution orders that are imported from your ERP system this field should be populated with the identifier the ERP generated.
For distribution orders newly proposed by frePPLe, a unique numeric identifier will automatically be generated.

item

item

The item being transferred.

origin

location
The model location where the item is transferred from.
When specified, the inventory at this origin location will be decremented with the specified quantity.
When left empty, the stock in the source location isn’t decremented. We assume that this has already been done and the material is currently in transit between the origin and destination locations.

destination

location
The model location where the item will be received.
When specified, the inventory at this destination location will be incremented with the specified quantity.
When left empty, the stock in the destionation location isn’t decremented. We assume that the material is being shipped outside of our supply chain.

quantity

number

The quantity delivered.

shipping date

dateTime

The date when the distribution order is leaving the origin location.

receipt date

dateTime

The date of the distribution order delivery.

start date

dateTime

Deprecated alias for the shipping date.

end date

datetime

Deprecated alias for the receipt date.

batch

string
Blank/unused for make-to-stock items.
Identification of the batch for make-to-order items.

status

string

This field should have one of the following keywords:

  • proposed:
    The distribution order is proposed by frePPLe to meet the demand (optimization output).
  • approved:
    The distribution order is present in the ERP system but can still be rescheduled by frePPLe (optimization input).
  • confirmed:
    The distribution order is confirmed, it has been populated in your ERP system (optimization input).
  • completed:
    The distribution order has been executed, but the stock hasn’t been increased yet (optimization input).
  • closed :
    The distribution order has been delivered and the stock has been increased.

demands

list
The demand(s) (and quantity) pegged to the distribution order.
This is a read-only computed field.

end items

list
The end item(s) (and quantity) pegged to the distirbution order.
This is a read-only computed field.

inventory status

number
The inventory status is a calculated field that highlights the urgency of the distribution order with a red/yellow/green visual indicator.
Sorting the distribution orders using the Inventory Status column (red ones first) allows the planner to immediately focus on the distribution orders that should be treated first.
More details can be found on Inventory status

feasible

boolean
Read-only boolean flag indicating whether the distribution order is violating any material, lead time or capacity constraints.
This is very handy in interpreting unconstrained plans.

criticality

number
The criticality is a read-only field, calculated by the planning engine.
It represents an indication of the slack time in the usage of the distribution order.
A criticality of 0 indicates that the distribution order is on the critical path of one or more demands.
Higher criticality values indicate a delay of the distribution order will not immediately impact the shipment of any demand.
A criticality of 999 indicates a distribution order that isn’t used at all to meet any demand.
Note that the criticality is independent of whether the customer demand will be shipped on time or not.

delay

duration
The delay is a read-only field, calculated by the planning engine.
It compares the end data of the distribution order with the latest possible end date to ship all demands it feeds on time.