[RBM]

Considering a project to put in a spreadsheet program. It's application is inventory of a manufacturing process. So, I'm wondering how hard would this be to do ?

Example; five raw parts received to make one finished product (fp) shipped.

Part 1 - 2 per fp.
Part 2 - 2 per fp.
Part 3 - 8 per fp.
Part 4 - 3 per fp.
Part 5 - 3 per fp.

My classroom spreadsheet time was in '90. Never used it in the field. Took a day's-worth lecture this year to brush up.

I know there are programs for this, but I'm curious as to the learning curve to implement, given my lack of field experience.

I'll be using Open Office, by the way.

[HackerX]

Presumably, though you're not quite clear on what you're attempting to achieve.

Given a random number of parts, what output can I achieve?:

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[thesorehead]

What exactly are you trying to achieve, OP?

Do you mean that each fp (in your example) has 5 unique parts, totalling 18 individual components per fp? Are you trying to track costs or inventory levels? Inform decisions on ordering?

[RBM]

	Originally Posted by HackerX To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Presumably, though you're not quite clear on what you're attempting to achieve. Given a random number of parts, what output can I achieve?: To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

What does 'normalized' mean in this context ?

I take it, neither of you have coded or used manufacturing inventory management software, eh ?

Example - Customer says he projects an order of 400 units next month and there are 10 available for shipping to him.

Goal to know: How many shipped-ready units are required and how many raw parts are required to meet demand ?

I guess I just need to jump in, and see what happens.

Thanks folks.

[newtome]

Originally Posted by RBM To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

What does 'normalized' mean in this context ? I take it, neither of you have coded or used manufacturing inventory management software, eh ? Example - Customer says he projects an order of 400 units next month and there are 10 available for shipping to him. Goal to know: How many shipped-ready units are required and how many raw parts are required to meet demand ? I guess I just need to jump in, and see what happens. Thanks folks.

Are you really serious??

400 - 10 = 390 units required

If you have nill inventory of the parts
Part 1 - 2 per fp.
Part 2 - 2 per fp.
Part 3 - 8 per fp.
Part 4 - 3 per fp.
Part 5 - 3 per fp.

Then you multiply each part by 390
If you have inventory you take the inventory way from the numbers you calculated by X390 above to determine the minimum qty you need to source or purchase to complete the required number of fp's.

The spreadsheet question is simply to use some cells in the spreadsheet to list all the components and do the workings so that they can be seen by whoever is doing the marking.

An hour of spreadsheeting experience is plenty to do that.

Any other homework you want someone else to do for you????????????????????

[RBM]

Hahah, newtome, how much coding do you do ?

That will give me an idea of how accurate this is >

	An hour of spreadsheeting experience is plenty to do that.

	Are you really serious??

And oh, your condescension is really (*Irony alert, Note 3 nested HTML tags*) funny. I guess you've never heard of
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, eh ?

You see, anyone who doesn't get the intentional simplicity of the OP example and replies with the dripping condescension that you did, I think might very well suck at guessing at how much time it might take me ;-)

[newtome]

	Originally Posted by RBM To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Hahah, newtome, how much coding do you do ? That will give me an idea of how accurate this is >

I regularly build 10,000 line spreadsheets for business valuations, project assessments and a bunch of analytical work. For what it's worth I'm also a CPA so I know what you are trying to do, just not the complexity you are trying to deal with.

	Originally Posted by RBM To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	You see, anyone who doesn't get the intentional simplicity of the OP example and replies with the dripping condescension that you did, I think might very well suck at guessing at how much time it might take me ;-)

I don't know how much more difficult the real problem is to what you posted but I could probably solve the problem you posted in 10 minutes with pen and paper and 20 minutes to build the spreadsheet. It only needs very very basic spreadsheeting skills.

[RBM]

Originally Posted by newtome To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I regularly build 10,000 line spreadsheets for business valuations, project assessments and a bunch of analytical work. For what it's worth I'm also a CPA so I know what you are trying to do, just not the complexity you are trying to deal with. I don't know how much more difficult the real problem is to what you posted but I could probably solve the problem you posted in 10 minutes with pen and paper and 20 minutes to build the spreadsheet. It only needs very very basic spreadsheeting skills.

Assuming you really are who you claim - and not a 'dog in your pajamas' (internet jokes) - why would you ask

	Are you really serious??

???

Anyway, back to the OP.

RE: complexity

I didn't figure it was complex technically speaking, as my 2 decades-old classroom instruction includes basic A, basic, COBOL and VB 6.0.

The OP is a matter of functionally providing service to the employing company and ideally opening a new vocational door for me.

RE: the real problem

Is a people problem who are marginally computer literate.

Thanks for a more 'down to earth' reply.

[thesorehead]

Originally Posted by RBM To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

What does 'normalized' mean in this context ? I take it, neither of you have coded or used manufacturing inventory management software, eh ? Example - Customer says he projects an order of 400 units next month and there are 10 available for shipping to him. Goal to know: How many shipped-ready units are required and how many raw parts are required to meet demand ? I guess I just need to jump in, and see what happens. Thanks folks.

OK I've drafted up a simple spreadsheet that only requires two pieces of information to be entered from time to time (after initial setup) - the number of Units in inventory; and the number of Units (total) that need to be shipped.

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Is this the sort of thing you're after?

FTR I've never coded inventory management software or anything like that, but the requirements you've described do sound fairly simple. Is it actually more complicated?

[RBM]

Originally Posted by thesorehead To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

OK I've drafted up a simple spreadsheet that only requires two pieces of information to be entered from time to time (after initial setup) - the number of Units in inventory; and the number of Units (total) that need to be shipped. To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Is this the sort of thing you're after? FTR I've never coded inventory management software or anything like that, but the requirements you've described do sound fairly simple. Is it actually more complicated?

Shucks, you even went 'above and beyond' with your example since you included unit price :-)

But yeah, that's the gist.

I won't know if this sort of thing - or any thing that could be done on a spreadsheet - would be of actual value to the company until I speak some more with the girl-friday of the office.

This thread was inspired by a conversation I had with her in which she expressed dissatisfaction with the 'pen and paper' method. At that time she told me her background was in finance using Excel, so I knew she would appreciate a technology-driven solution compared to the branch manager, who is at the same command structure reporting level as she is.

[newtome]

	Originally Posted by newtome To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I don't know how much more difficult the real problem is to what you posted but I could probably solve the problem you posted in 10 minutes with pen and paper and 20 minutes to build the spreadsheet. It only needs very very basic spreadsheeting skills.

If what "thesorehead" did meets your needs then I stand by what I said above, for what its worth.

[thesorehead]

Originally Posted by RBM To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Shucks, you even went 'above and beyond' with your example since you included unit price :-) But yeah, that's the gist. I won't know if this sort of thing - or any thing that could be done on a spreadsheet - would be of actual value to the company until I speak some more with the girl-friday of the office. This thread was inspired by a conversation I had with her in which she expressed dissatisfaction with the 'pen and paper' method. At that time she told me her background was in finance using Excel, so I knew she would appreciate a technology-driven solution compared to the branch manager, who is at the same command structure reporting level as she is.

Ah yes. I'm a big believer in automation, as far as it can realistically be taken. Naturally it's all case-by-case, but conceptually simple processes such as inventory, ordering and budgeting can really eat up a person's time if done by hand. But this very fact makes them ideal for spreadsheet/database automation because taking human error (and effort) out of conceptually simple processes is basically a computer's reason-for-living!

Are you any good at database design? It would be fairly easy to transfer the concepts of the Excel spreadsheet I drew up into a relatively simple database which could combine the mundane calculations of inventory and price with historical tracking of orders, clients and suppliers. The amount of data you'd have access to, the ease with which it can be collected and the speed with which it can be turned into information really makes the time spent creating, populating, testing and customising such a database worthwhile.

My employers seem to appreciate it anyway!

[RBM]

	Originally Posted by newtome To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	If what "thesorehead" did meets your needs then I stand by what I said above, for what its worth.

Yup, I'm getting consistent time approximations.

---------- Post added 06-26-2012 at 05:28 PM ----------

	Originally Posted by thesorehead
	Are you any good at database design?

Never done any, just know it has additional power.