The original guys behind the inventory transactionsystem (FSB – Flemming, Søren and Benny) is now out with a new module called Inventory II.  This module eliminates the need for large periodic inventory closing timeslots, and will also introduce some new technology called Watermark and SnapShot.  The module also clams to have fixed one of the major drawbacks in the current system, and that is the reservation mechanism.  In Inventory II It is possible to do a reservation on a higher dimensionlevel.  Here you can reserve against the total warehouse, and still be able to move the goods around within the Warehouse.  The exact location or serialnumber can be specified at a latertime, lets say when the items arrives in the pickingarea.  Today I will take a close look on this new module, that I know Microsoft also have evaluated.  My plan is to have this module as the Backbone in the E&E WMS module.  Here is some details that FSB has officially announsed:

Watermark technology

The architecture of Inventory II is based on the new revolutionary Watermark database technology. This technology ensures that even large and complex inquiries can be addressed by the database without performance slow down, even on growing databases.
All database inquiries will target a very small amount of data, as transactions are divided into relevant and non-relevant data in a very effi cient way without use of complex index keys, resulting in a second to none performance.

What is the impact of this technology?

Having the Inventory II architecture built on this technology gives significant advantages in the daily operation. These include:
Cost prices are calculated real-time
Master scheduling during daily operation
True 24/7 capabilities
No traditional inventory closing

Real-time reliable cost prices

The Inventory II module is monitoring all inventory movements,resulting in immediate action upon arrival of new or changed cost prices. Cost prices are real-time calculated, adjusted and updated throughout item transfers and bills of materials.

No inventory closing function

Adjustment of item consumption is calculated and posted immediately, whenever identifi ed, eliminating the traditional inventory closing function.

Cost price deviation monitor

Cost price deviations are identifi ed and presented real-time in the deviation monitor, giving the finance department a unique tool to act on. Cost price deviation alerts can be defi ned, reducing the risk for simple errors, like key-in errors in the purchase department or from suppliers that may reside in the system for a longer period, resulting in complicated cleanup tasks.

Physical cost valuation

Inventory valuation can be fi xed on packing slip prices instead of on delayed invoice prices. Upon receipt of invoices, deviations are posted on dedicated General ledger accounts.

New model for weighted average cost

A new simplifi ed periodic average cost price model is introduced.  Average cost prices are always calculated as clean weighted average prices for individual periods. Issues related to uncontrollable number of settlements are eliminated, as settlements are not created anymore.

Intelligent reservation

Rule based reservation levels

With the introduction of reservation levels a new degree of fl exibility is applied to the inventory. This will allow for reservation at less detailed levels, e.g. reservation at a warehouse without determination of location or batch at the time of order intake. Reservation levels can automatically be further specified prior to the time of picking to include e.g. what specific location to pick from. The process of picking is now a matter of reporting what specific items were picked: e.g. batch number, serial number, etc.

Transferring reserved items
Reserved inventory items can now be transferred. The warehouse staff is now free to manage the warehouse in an efficient way not having to struggle with restrictions on reserved items.

FIFO/LIFO reservation and picking order

Inventory II allows for controlling and optimizing the order in which items are reserved. A FIFO or LIFO reservation order can ensure that the oldest or newest items are picked fi rst, while a location reservation order can ensure that the physical process of picking is more optimal according to physical locations.

Lot reservation

Reservations directly on specifi c incoming lots leading to full traceability and transparency on reserved items.

24/7 capability

Run your Master scheduling any time
The Master scheduling can be executed at any time in daily operation and still delivers a consistent profi le even though new transactions are created concurrently.

Open slots for Inventory closing not necessary

The traditional Inventory closing function is not relevant any more as cost prices are calculated real- time. Because of that there are no needs for allocating exclusive time slots for this task during weekends or nights.

No worries regarding blocking locks

Neither Inventory closing (which is now just a matter of changing a date) nor Master scheduling causes blocking locks preventing daily operation to take place.
Simply run your operation 24/7 if you prefer

Performance and scalability

The foundation and architecture of the Inventory II solution has been designed with specifi c regards to high performance and scalability. The unique design patterns such as the Watermark and Snapshot technologies have been chosen out of performance reasons.

The result of this architecture is revolutionary:
Blocking lock issues in inventory are nonexistent. The improved concurrency will set new standards for scalability.

Inventory inquiries execute incredibly fast, independent of transaction volume, even on historical data.

Real cost prices

are calculated real-time, but the individual users are not affected by this processing since it is handled by a smart background process.