About Backflushing Materials

You can designate multiple backflush locations for the same material. You specify the backflush location at the material level. With this method, you can manufacture one item on two production lines, each of which has different backflush locations specified.

Note:

Backflushed lot/serial tracked materials always use the default warehouse.
You cannot backflush recursive materials on a job or estimate job BOM (that is, if they are the end item and a material component on the same BOM). An item is recursive if the job or estimate job is a rework order.

Hierarchy of Backflush Locations

There are four levels of backflush locations. You do not have to use all four levels, but you must designate at least one backflush location if you plan to backflush the material. The system checks each level in a particular sequence; if the first level is blank, it moves on to the next level, and so on:

The first level the system checks is the Backflush Location field on the Materials record. If the specified location does not exist for the item, the system creates the location record automatically and then backflushes from it.
If the material's Backflush Location field is blank, the system searches for an item location that references the operation's Work Center. If the specified location does not exist for the item, the system creates the location record automatically, then backflushes from it.
If there is no location associated with the operation's work center, the system checks the Backflush Location field on the Controls tab of the Items form.
If the Backflush Location field on the Items form is blank, the system uses the Backflush Location specified on the Inventory Parameters form.

At any point in this validation process, once you specify a backflush, the system uses that location to backflush from, regardless of what locations might be set up at a higher level. For example, if the material/operation level has a specified backflush location, the system uses that location during backflushing, regardless of what you set up for the material at the item location/work center, Items - Controls, or Inventory Parameters levels.

Note: The system also uses a hierarchy for estimated and current materials. It uses the same logic detailed above for a job material or a production schedule material.

Inventory Parameters

If you leave backflush locations at all four levels blank, you cannot perform backflushing. The system displays an error message when the On Hand Neg check box is selected on the Inventory Parameters form and you did not indicate a backflush location. In this situation, you must specify a backflush location at some level in the hierarchy in order to backflush.

Items - Controls

You can set up materials to be backflushed by selecting the Backflush field on the Controls tab of the Items form. You can override this setting for each material on the BOM.

Note: The backflush item and control point settings from the work center display default values from one of the operations form (Current Operations, Job Operations, Production Schedule Item Operations, Production Schedule Release Operations, and Estimate Operations) that specifies that work center. However, on the operations form, you can override the default values for the backflush item and backflush location.

Item Location/Work Center Floor Stock Location

A floor stock location is associated with a work center on the Location form. The Floor Stock Replenishment Report uses only this relationship when it calculates what is needed to fill floor stock locations for production.

Material/Operation

You must establish a routing, comprised of operations, before you can attach materials to it. On the Operations form, you indicate what is backflushed: labor hours, machine hours, or both. You can also specify whether the operation is a control point. On the Materials form, you can define whether an item is backflushed and a location from which to backflush it.

Backflush Default Hierarchy Example

EXAMPLE: Click here for an example that demonstrates the source of default backflush locations for a job based on this setup.

Performing Backflushing of Materials

The BOM and the location hierarchy, which you set up, control the materials to be backflushed and the backflushing location used for each material.

When you post quantities for completed transactions or report scrap, backflushing occurs automatically. The quantity of components backflushed is based on the quantity complete or scrapped quantities, multiplied by the quantity per defined on the BOM. Components you have previously backflushed or manually issued are not considered for the current transaction.

The manufacturing type determines the BOM the system uses for backflushing, as indicated by the following chart:

Manufacturing Type	BOM Used in Backflushing
Job	Job BOM
Production Schedule	Production Schedule release BOM
JIT Production	Current BOM

EXAMPLE: In this example, item XYZ has been set up to backflush materials. Job 100 for item XYZ requires two pounds of material A for each completed unit. You manually issue two pounds of material A to Job 100. Later, you enter a transaction for five complete units. The backflushing process automatically issues 10 pounds (two pounds x five completed units). This is in addition to the two pounds that were manually issued, for a total of 12 pounds.