Differentiate between interchangeable items

Within the fresh produce sector, it is increasingly common for a customer to order a general item, regardless of which specific item is delivered. The specific items must fall within the specifications of the ordered item. New developments have been added within GreenCommerce and the WMS App, making it easy to distinguish between these 'exchangeable items'.

Create an overview in the item stock
Many frresh produce companies deliver to different (types of) customers. These customers can all have their own wishes and requirements with regard to the quality and quantity of a product. Where one customer attaches great importance to, for example, the size of a product, the other will attach more value to the quantity within a packaging unit. The same weight applies to both scenarios, but the implementation is definitely different. On the other hand, there are customers who order a general item and have no specific requirements. Using these items interchangeably is also referred to as "interchangeable inventory."

The same can be the case with a delivery of an item. A supplier can indicate that a general item has been sent, but the recipient wants it more specific in their system. This allows the specific items to be further processed in the system, for example to customers who do want specific items (will receive 'red grapes', but want to specify them in sizes M, L and XL).

To deal with this, a separate item is often created for each requirement/wish. However, this causes a proliferation of administrative items, which means that mistakes are made more and more quickly. The processing of generic items is often done by means of fictitious repacking orders so that the stock remains correct.

In order to make a good distinction between these items and to support the working method, new functionalities have been developed within GreenCommerce. The starting point was to design the available stock in a different way so that items can be used for different orders.

Developments in GreenCommerce

To use the new functionalities, 'exchangeable items' must first be created in the master data. An interchangeable item consists of a main item and items for which the main item can be exchanged. It is therefore not the case that all items in the group can be exchanged for each other. It is also possible to indicate that the main item can only be exchanged for certain relations by linking it to the interchangeable item. If no business partners are linked to an interchangeable item, then the interchangeable item applies to all business partners. If several interchangeable items exist, one of which applies to all relations and another to specific relations, then the one with specific relations will take precedence.

Please note: in order to be able to exchange items, you must use the functionality to record multiple parties to a purchase order line. When splitting the main batch or editing one of the batches, the item can be changed to one of the interchangeable items.

Sales
The same applies in principle to sales. If the item item is sold, assignments can be made to batches whose item is interchangeable with the main item. If there is a part that has not been assigned something, any pallet with an interchangeable item can be packed.

Questions or more information?
Do you have any questions or would you like to receive more information? Please contact us at:

info@greencommerce.nl
+31 174 - 642 622