Defining Substeps

If the Bill of Materials module is installed, a work order can be created for a bill that contains option bills or phantom bills. Each option bill and phantom bill can be assigned a routing number using Bill of Materials Maintenance. The inclusion of these option or phantom bills in a product may require additional assembly steps with additional routings that must be merged into the standard routing of a product.

Each component in a bill can indicate the step number where the component is required. If a component is a phantom bill with its own routing requiring additional assembly steps, or if the components are part of an option bill with its own routing requiring additional assembly steps, those steps are merged into the standard routing as a subrouting.

The subrouting is identified by a one-character prefix assigned by the system automatically. Each subrouting for a main step number is assigned a different substep prefix starting with "A." You can assign up to 26 phantom or option bills to each routing step, each with its own additional routing steps. The step numbers from the routing assigned to the phantom bill or option bill are assigned as substep numbers following the prefix character.

Note All component items associated with a phantom bill or option bill are assigned to the step number of the main routing. No material can be assigned to a substep number.

Assume that the routing for a product contains steps 0000, 0010, 0020, 0030, and 0040. The product is made from a bill of materials containing two components, one of which is a phantom assembly. Because a phantom assembly is not pulled from inventory, but rather is assembled during the manufacturing process from its component parts, there can be additional steps required to assemble this phantom. The phantom assembly identifies step 0020 as the step where it is attached, so its own subrouting (identified on the phantom bill header) is merged into the normal routing just after step 0020.

The following is an example of how the routing would look without the phantom.

Step	Work Center	Operation
0000	Warehouse	Issue Material
0010	Assembly	Glue
0020	Assembly	Next Oper
0030	Inspection	Check It Out
0040	Packaging	Box and Wrap

The following is an example of how the routing would look with the phantom and substeps.

Step/Substep	Work Center	Operation
0000	Warehouse	Issue Material
0010	Assembly	Glue
0020	Assembly	Next Oper
0020-A-0010	Assembly	Solder Phantom Wire
0020-A-0020	Crimping	Crimp Connector
0020-A-0030	Painting	Paint Phantom Blue
0030	Inspection	Check It Out
0040	Packaging	Box and Wrap

The substeps were merged from the routing assigned to the phantom. They describe the additional manufacturing steps necessary to accommodate the addition of the phantom. The use of this feature can result in far less maintenance of routings because every time you use the phantom, the extra steps are assigned by the option automatically. The "A" prefix to the substeps is assigned automatically.

Note You cannot create substeps manually; they must be merged automatically using Work Order Entry based on phantom or option bills included on the bill of materials. After they are merged, you can delete or modify them.