The material transfer operation enables material to be transferred between different inventory locations. Inventory locations are tied to partner addresses created in the Partners section. Even if there are different inventory locations in the same factory, it is necessary to create a separate address for them. However inventory locations will more commonly be between different geographical locations and in many cases will be at subcontractors or other partner locations.
Material transfer is designed also to enable international transfers. As such there is the facility to produce detailed shipping papers and Proforma invoices. The Proforma invoices can be based on a special transfer price list.
Licensing
The following optional extensions are related to this feature:
| Multi location inventory | Required |
|---|---|
| Multiple shipping units | For entering unit data for multipled shipping units |
| Serial numbers & Lot tracking | For items that use this feature |
Creating
In the Warehouse home page, press New material transfer. Or go to the Warehouse - Operations dashboard, click material transfers and then New.
Using
The principle is to select the two locations where material items are to be sent from and to, to select the items to be transferred together with any required serial or lot numbers.
Stock locations are created by going to the Partner section, creating a partner and marking it as a stock location on the Groupings tab. The short names of these partners are displayed here for selection.
The transfer can be of one of two types:
- Inventory to Inventory
- Inventory to inventory with shipping details
The second option allows for more data to be set and reports to be printed for international transfers. An extra tab will be displayed for entry of this data.
Inventory to inventory
For transfers where material is moved between two stock locations that are physically nearby, the simpler "Inventory to inventory" type can be used. In this case the transfer is directly completed, and stock is immediately increased in the To location.
Inventory to inventory with shipping details
For material transfers between stocks in physically different locations, use type "inventory to inventory with shipping details". In this case the transfer is not directly completed but instead goes through two additional statuses: Queued and In transit.
To use transfers with shipping details there must be at least one Transport company partner in the account. When the material is in transit, it will be recorded in this transport company location. Note: the "Is transport co." option will become visible only after "stock location" is checked.
Material transfer statuses:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Under construction | The transfer has not yet been activated. The user can still modifiy lines/header details. Click Activate to change the status to Queued. |
| Queued | The material is waiting to be shipped. The items are still in the From location stock. Click Send to change the status to In transit. |
| In Transit | The material has been sent. The line amount has been reduced from the From location stock and is temporarily recorded in the Transport co. stock. (The date of the stock change is the dispatch date of the transfer.) |
| Complete | The material has been received at the To location. Stock in To location is increased, and there is no longer a record of the transfer in the Transport co. location. (The date of the stock change is the arrival date of the transfer.) |
When the type of a transfer is inventory to inventory with shipping details, the Header tab will be visible. When the transfer is Sent (status changes to In transit) the Dispatch date is set as the current date unless it was previously selected by the user. SImilarly, when the transfer is completed, the Arrival date is set as the current date.
Serial numbers and lot tracking
If any of the items transferred have lot tracking or serial numbers, the Traceability tab is also visible. Serial numbers/lots will need to be recorded before the transfer can be completed. This applies to both types "inventory to inventory" and "inventory to inventory with shipping details".
Material transfers and subcontractors
If a subcontractor’s employee has a user ID, the subcontractor can create a material transfer with following limitations that the materials must be manufactured by the subcontractor in a work order and only your company can be the receiver.
If the materials are to be transferred from one manufacturer to another, the operation has to be created by a user from the principle company. A subcontractor (that has a user ID) can enter information if the company is either the sender or the receiver in the operation.