This article is relevant if you’re seeking to ascertain the current quantity of base inventory incorporated into your NetSuite assembly items.
Background
NetSuite Assemblies are essentially inventory items that can be manufactured during production. They can be multi-level, where components can be assembled using other components. This hierarchical structure is often depicted as a tree, allowing for the construction of complex products in layers.
Ultimately, we arrive at base components, typically considered raw material inventory. One of our clients, who sells both raw materials and assembly items, needed to determine the potential quantity of raw materials available if they were to disassemble assembly items into their base components.
Note: This challenge closely resembles the discussion in my 2023 article on how to Determine Potential Buildable NetSuite Assemblies.
Exploding NetSuite Assemblies into their Base Components
Determining the potential base components within assemblies relies on the definitions in the bill of materials. Assuming that an assembly can actually be taken apart without having negative impacts, it’s conceivable to calculate the number of base inventory items that would become available.
This process involves breaking down each assembly item into its components. These components may themselves have assembly definitions that require further breakdown. The task involves tracking the quantities of base inventory items that would be generated if this process were undertaken.
Considering the potential base inventory items alongside the existing on-hand available inventory can help evaluate courses of action. Should we procure more base inventory or dismantle existing assemblies to yield base inventory? What would be the potential base inventory items if we disassembled slow-moving finished goods assembly inventory? Until now, these questions are natural to planners and often are not seriously considered simply due to the daunting exercise of exploding finished goods into their respective components.
Watch Video on Potential Disassembled Component Inventory (3:04)
The following short video (3:04) illustrates the tool we have created to answer the potential inventory question. The information can be downloaded and used for other analyses. It would be straightforward to include this information in other reports and other situations.
I would like to thank Boban D., Senior Technical Analyst, for his leadership on this initiative.
Get the Potential Disassemble Component Inventory Tool
This tool is an easy-to-understand example of our LABS initiative. All of our intellectual property is free of license charge for our clients. The idea is that we should bring the best minds to real business challenges to adapt the NetSuite system through modeling, configuration, or enhancement to drive real competitive capacities.
If you found this article relevant, feel free to sign up for notifications to new articles as I post them. If you need to determine the possible raw material inventory currently locked into your NetSuite assemblies, let’s have a conversation.
Marty Zigman
Holding all three official certifications, Marty is regarded as the top NetSuite expert and leads a team of senior professionals at Prolecto Resources, Inc. He is a former Deloitte & Touche CPA and has held CTO roles. For over 30 years, Marty has produced leadership in ERP, CRM and eCommerce business systems. Contact Marty to set up a conversation.
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