Assembly Library

Assembly Definition

As with most Merlin screens, to locate an existing assembly record, locate it in the Assemblies list, and click on it.

An Assembly Definition (AD) is a simple header record which contains the Assembly No. (which must exist on the Resources File), Assembly Name (or description - automatically taken from the Resources File), the Build Time in days and optionally, the Next Serial Number (see notes below) to be used.  Use the Add Record or Edit Record buttons to create or amend ADs.

The Assembly Definition tab also show the number of jobs running (if any) for this assembly, and the number of Parents or Children it might have.  Parent assemblies are higher level assemblies in which the displayed assembly is used as a subassembly.  Child assemblies are subassemblies within this assembly.

The %Wastage box is used where an element of wastage is associated with the production process, for example where solutions or mixtures are manufactured and a residual amount will be lost in the production or packaging processes.

Any percentage figure entered here will be flagged in the Resource Record Card entry, and also when Assembly Costing is run.  Additionally, when sales orders (jobs) are entered in 
Manager / Sales Orders & Jobs, you will be prompted with the wastage figure and asked if you wish Merlin to increase the production run to take this into account.

The Routes dropdown enables you to select the default manufacturing route or production line for this assembly.  This can be changed at job level in Admin -> Sales Orders and Job Record Cards.

Your production routes are defined and maintained in Manufacturing -> Shop Floor Routes, and the appropriate route should be defined in that way before the Assembly Definition is created.

The Parents and Children tabs provide detailed listings of these (if they exist), and the Library tab provides a full list of all the assemblies in the Assembly Library.

You can print a detailed BoM by clicking the Print button on the Merlin Navigator panel.

To create or edit the bill of materials for this assembly, click the EDIT BoM button. (See BoM Editor below.)

The Export BoM button will export the BoM for the currently viewed assembly to a Microsoft Excel® table called last_bom.xls in your \merwin\export subdirectory.  Any existing Excel® table with this name will be overwritten, so rename it if you wish to keep it.

The structure of this table is:-

Field A:  prodno [Assembly Number], Field B: partno [Part Number], Field C: desc [Part Description], 
Field D: instruct [Build Instructions for part],  Field E: qy [Quantity of part per], 
Field F: exp_7 [Item Notes].

Deleting Assembly Definitions

You can delete Assembly Definitions and their associated BoMs by clicking the Delete button in Merlin Navigator.

Please note, however, that the ID of any deleted assembly cannot be reused until the assembly file has been purged.  This action requires exclusive use of the system, which would not be convenient in a multi-user environment.

To purge the file you must close the Merlin program and say YES to Data Validation.

Next Serial No. Considerations

From Shop Floor Controller you can generate Serial Number Labels for affixing to your assemblies.  For the purpose of traceability, the label includes the assembly number, date and serial number in the format JOB NO._SEQUENCE NO. (xxxx_1, xxxx_2, etc.).

Artificial Intelligence is used to determine the start sequence number for any production run.  If the Next Serial Number on the Assembly Library Record Card is set to zero, the sequence numbers will start from 1 for each job (production run).

If the Next Serial Number is set to 1 or higher, the next production run will commence the sequence with this number, and augment it according to the number of items in the run.

It follows from this that if you require the sequence to update in perpetuity you should start out with a Next Serial Number of 1, or whatever other number you wish to start from.  Unless and until you amend that number on the Assembly Library Record Card, it will continue to augment according to the number of items in the run for each job, provided that the labels are generated.

Equally, if you wish each sequence to start from 1, leave the Next Serial Number set to zero.

Labels can be re-printed without upsetting the sequence.

Buy Kit

Click the BUY KIT button and the dialgue box shown above will appear.  Select Shortages or Full Kit, enter the Run Quantity and click PROCEED.  This procedure will enable you to purchase materials to build a given number of this assembly without, at this stage, having to set-up a job.

The system will drill down and create Works Orders for any subassemblies, and Purchase Orders for raw materials.  Don't worry, you are guided all the way and there are several reports to view on-screen or print (at your discretion), and the opportunity to change your mind at the last moment.

Please Note: since there is no active job against which to allocate materials and subassemblies ordered and built or received in this way, these will appear to be "free" for use elsewhere.  This routine is provided as yet another weapon in your armoury, to give you the flexibility to work as you wish, and to account for any situation that might arise.

However, it is generally better to provide for active jobs  through the MRP Process (see Shop Floor/Commander and Buying Office/Run MRP).

BoM Editor

Before you can create or edit a BoM, you must have created the Assembly Definition in Assembly Library as above.

To create or edit a BoM you must first locate the assembly you wish to work on by using the Find Record button on Merlin Navigator.  Please note that the forwards and backwards buttons in this work area move you between items on the same BoM, and NOT between different BoMs!  To work on a different BoM, you must use the Find Record button again.

If any jobs are currently running for this assembly, a warning will appear in the lower panel and you will not be permitted to amend the BoM  (You can Replicate the BoM to a new assembly number and edit the new version.).  You can see a detailed list of the active jobs on the Active Jobs tab.

To add a new material item to the BoM, click the Add Record button.  To edit an existing item, use the arrow buttons or the BoM List tab to locate it, then click the Edit Record button.  You can rapidly create or edit long kit lists in this work area.

Enter the Part No., or select it from the drop-down list.  The Unit of Measure in Use for this item will be displayed adjacent to the Part No. and the description of the item will appear in the Materials field.  You can enter only items which exist on the stock file.  Enter a quantity per assembly or use the spinner.  You can enter quantities using up to 5 decimal places, but the decimal portion must be typed in.  The spinner increments only the integer part of the number.

So in the example shown above, the item being added to the BoM is cable, and the Unit of Measure in Use set on the Resources (Stock) File is METRE.  500mm of cable is required for each assembly, but because the unit of measure in use is 1 metre, the quantity is entered is 0.50000 - half a metre which is 500mm.

You can optionally enter short instructions in the Instructions field, or fully comprehensive Build Instructions  by clicking the Item Notes tab.  This information relates only to this Part No. on this BoM.

If you have a number of BoMs based on similar kit lists, you can use the
Replicate This button to create a new Assembly Definition and BoM based on a copy of the current item.  This can then be opened and edited to customise it.

The Bill of Materials tab shows you a scrollable list of every item on this BoM  
The BoM Revisions tab logs additions and amendments to the BoM.
The Active Jobs tab shows a detailed list of all running jobs (if any) for this assembly.

Production Sequence

You will notice that your production processes (LABOUR items) for this assembly are shown on the list.  The ShopFloor Seq. button enables you to sequence these items logically according to the layout of your production area.  Click the button and you will see the following screen:

Click the Edit button, then click in the ShopFloor Seq. column to amend the running-order sequence number for each item, using the up/down arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate between items.  When you have finished click the Save button, and the list will be re-ordered according to the sequence numbers you entered.  Check for errors or duplications.

Please note that you can enter a sequence number with up to 3 decimal places, which allows for great flexibility in how you use this sequencer.  For example, instead of using a simple 1, 2, 3 sequence as shown, you can group processes using 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 or 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, and so on.

Alternatively, you could use 10, 20, 30 and so on, or 100, 200, 300 so that you can interleave and items added at a later date without having to re-order the entire sequence.

Each time you Authorise a new job for an assembly which has a production sequence set in this way, the sequence set here will be taken as the default for the job (please see MANAGER/JOB MANAGEMENT.).  However, you can re-sequence the process at job level, without changing the default sequence set above, for any jobs where this may be necessary.

BoM Cleanup

You cannot delete items directly from the BoM list.  If you wish to remove items from the BoM, first Edit the BoM, setting to zero the quantity for each item that you want to remove.

Then use the BoM CLEANUP button in DESIGN OFFICE to select the BoM and purge all the zero quantity items.

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