Buy lines are used throughout the Purchasing program to help you keep track of and replenish your inventory. Buy lines are groups of products that you buy together to meet a vendor target. For example, you can create buy lines with fast moving or slow moving products.
The parameters you set are used to help you determine if you need to keep or procure stock for your company. These parameters also populate the Suggested Purchase Order Queue.
The Purchasing program uses different of buy line types: primary buy lines and super buy lines.
The primary buy line is the main buy line in which a product resides. A product can be in a primary buy line and have a secondary buy line attached to it. Secondary buy lines help you meet a vendor target more quickly. See Recalculating for Secondary Buy Lines or to assign a secondary buy line at the product level, see Assigning Secondary Buy Lines for Products.
A super buy line is a buy line made up of other buy lines. Super buy lines let you take advantage of specials provided by your vendors. A vendor can replenish items in multiple buy lines. Super buy lines are created and maintained just like primary buy lines.
If the Set Br/Tr "Suggest On All" Flag To "N" For Lines In Super Buy Line control maintenance record is set to Yes, then users cannot change the Suggest On All settings associated with the super buy line. If set to No, the system sets the Suggest On All field to No for all territories and null for all branches associated with the buy line, regardless of which ones are associated with the super buy line.
You can merge the buy lines into a super buy line with a new vendor target. The system recalculates the line buy days supply for all the items based on the new target. For example, a vendor may send you notice that if you buy $1000 of copper fixtures by the end of the week, there is a 10% discount. You can combine different copper fixture buy lines to meet that vendor target more quickly. See Creating Super Buy Lines.
The following are primary terms used in dealing with buy lines:
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Term |
Description |
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Buy lines |
Groups of products that you buy together to meet vendor targets. |
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Vendor target |
The amount of product the vendor identifies as the minimum amount you can buy. For example, Jones Plumbing may require you to buy $500 worth of product before shipping without freight fees. In contrast, Smith's Supply may require you to buy enough product to fill a truck based on load factor before providing a discount. The system provides several options to meet the vendor target. Vendor targets can be in dollars, pounds (weight), pieces, or load factor. |
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Projected inventory level |
The amount you physically have on hand, minus the amount committed to orders, plus the amount coming in on transfers and purchase orders (see the formula). Each product has its own projected inventory level (PIL). Note: The system maintains branch priorities when there are multiple parent branches whose PIL can meet the child's needs. |
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Order point |
The minimum quantity suggested that you stock, based on lead time, demand, and the addition of safety stock. Each product has its own order point. When the product drops below the order point, the buy line in which it resides is placed on the Suggested Purchase Order Queue. |
If one or more products' PIL in the buy line falls below the order point, the entire buy line is flagged for the Suggested P/O Queue program. The Suggested P/O Queue pulls all flagged buy lines to propose purchase quantities.
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