One of the features that can be a challenge as you work with different items and different vendors, is boxes. Some items are boxed in quantities of three, five or ten when they’re delivered. Seems pretty straightforward so far right? Here’s where it gets interesting. Vendors often assign a unique item number to the box that’s different than the item number on those items inside the box. One of the things AMS does is store information about items that come in boxes. Specifically, it tracks the unique item number of the box and the quantity of items the box contains. So when you scan a box, we check to see if we have that number associated to an item. If we do, great! That means we also know how many items are inside the box and the item numbers on those items.
Let’s say we scan a box with an item number of 1234 (item numbers are 14 characters, so we are shortening this for simplicity). If AMS knows this item number, that means it has been defined in our system and associated to the actual item inside. Let’s say the items themselves have an item number of 9876. If we have a box number we always have a box quantity. In this example, let’s say we have a box quantity of five.
So scanning the box number of 1234 triggers the system to know we’re dealing with a box of items 9876 in a quantity of five. But what does this mean to you as you’re working in AMS? Let’s look at a few scenarios:
Scenario 1 – Creating an Order
When you generate an order AMS adds the items necessary to return your inventory to your defined par levels. Here’s where a bit of magic happens for items in boxes. Continuing to use the example item above, we know that item 9876 comes in boxes of five. Let’s say you set your high par level to 5 and your low par level to 3. If you have two items on hand, AMS will automatically add this item to your order and recommend an order of 1 box, or 5 items. But, you say, you only need 3 items to return to your high par level. Well, AMS knows this item only comes in boxes of five, so it automatically tells you you need one box and indicates that five items will be ordered because of the box quantity. Now might be a good time to change your par levels to increments of 5!
Scenario 2 – Processing a Delivery
So now, let’s look at what happens when the box of 9876 items that was ordered in Scenario 1 arrives. You pull box 1234 (which we know contains 5 items) out of the delivery box and scan it. AMS knows that box 1234 contains five 9876 items, so scanning that one barcode on the box will automatically add five 9876 items to your inventory. So with one scan you get all of your items added and you can move on to your next item!
So that all sounds good, but what happens when you scan a box and AMS says item not found? Unfortunately, many vendors don’t provide the information about box numbers and quantities. That’s where you come in! We are asking all AMS users to help us complete the data about items in boxes by emailing info@archermedicalsystems.com any time they scan a box that isn’t found. Just send us the box number, the item number for the item inside, and the quantity that come in a box. To make it even easier, you can create an email and in the body, just scan the box barcode, then the item barcode, and then type in the quantity and hit send! We’ll update the global database and next time you get a box and scan it, you’ll see everything working.
Boxes and items, items and boxes. There are a number of benefits to help you save time and ensure clean orders are submitted, thanks to this concept. And with your help to continue to match the data, we’ll always be taking full advantage.