Issue regarding the use of Fixtures in the System

[Chris Kelleher]

Can anybody help us with this problem???

When creating a new Fixture in the system, a Job is created for it to
complete the operations necessary to have the fixture made.

When this Job is completed, it establishes a Unit Cost and a Current Unit
Cost on the Item Master for that fixture. (Using Actual Costing)

The Fixture is then assigned as a Material on a part which it is to be used
on.

When this part has a Job run on it, the cost of that fixture shows up as
being a Planned Cost for that part. Regardless if it is by Lot or by Unit,
the total cost of that fixture is assigned to that new Job.

How can this be set up so costs do not go against each Job it is used on?

Example:

Fixture XYZ is created and a Job is made to create the fixture.

After Job is complete, cost of $100 is established for this fixture.

Fixture XYZ is added as Material (per Lot) to Manufactured part ABC.

A Job to run 10 pieces of ABC is made.

It plans for $10 for each part for the cost of that fixture.

It will repeat this every time a new Job is generated.

It is as if the Fixture identification tag does nothing to resolve any
costing issues associated with any parts. It appears that Fixtures are
treated no differently than Manufactured parts.

 

[Chris Kelleher]

Diane,
If I understand your problem, the fixture is like a tool or mold, that is
reused over and over again on various jobs until it is no longer useful.
There are 2 solutions to this in the Symix world that can be used.

The key is to determine the useful life (if possible) of the fixture. If the
fixture can be used 1000 times before it is no longer usable and it takes
$100 to make it then each use is worth $.10. For you to be able to determine
how much of the cost of the fixture is to go against the cost of each item,
this needs to be done for the fixture.

1 - the fixture is treated as any other material. If you wish you can
actually inventory it (so you can see the usage against it and know when it
no longer has a useful life). When you created the job for the fixture, you
could have created a job for "1000 uses" of the fixture, worth a total of
$100. You could inventory this as 1000 uses of Fixture at $.10 per use or as
1 fixture worth $100.

2 - On the jobmaterial screen, you enter the fixture. The quantity, U/M and
whether per unit/lot is determined by how you want to take it out of
inventory. If it is 1 Fixture in inventory, and each use is 1/1000th of the
life, you would enter 0.001 Fixtures. If it is to be considered on a per use
bases, enter 1 use. Both give a $.10 value for the material.

Hopefully the above isn't too cryptic, but I have had to resort to this now
and in the past and it works well after everyone understands the logic
behind it.

HTH
Marty Sosso

 

[Chris Kelleher]

You're correct - the cost of the fixture is no different than the cost of
any tool or material used in the job. To get the cost out of the job,
you'll need to either update the cost in the Item Master to zero or update
the cost in the Job Material record to zero. The reason for including the
cost of the fixture is to provide the user with the "total" cost of the job
- labor, overhead, materials, tools, fixtures and outside costs.

Bill Foy
Senior Consultant
Northeast District
215-996-1476 (voice mail & fax)
614-818-7495 X-8542
bilfoy@symix.com