Set up replenishment

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

This topic describes how to set up replenishment for locations in a warehouse. You can set up the following replenishment strategies:

• Replenishment based on demand – This strategy creates replenishment work for outbound orders or loads if inventory is not available when the work is created by the wave. For example, if the quantity that is required for a sales order is not available when a wave is processed, replenishment work can be created.

  Note

  If you have Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 9 and KB3068847 installed, when wave demand replenishment is triggered in the warehouse, it will first try to find existing demand replenishment work for items with same dimensions and location area, where the work is either open or in progress and has unreserved quantities. It will then deduct the demanded quantity from the existing demand replenishment fulfilling these criteria. If the unreserved quantities on an existing demand replenishment work item are not enough to satisfy the new demand, new demand replenishment work will be created.

• Replenishment based on minimum and maximum quantities – This strategy uses minimum and maximum stocking limits to determine when to replenish locations. The item and location criteria define the inventory that is evaluated for replenishment.

You define replenishment strategies by setting up replenishment templates. A replenishment template is a set of rules that control when and how inventory is replenished. If you create multiple replenishment templates, you can select when and how often groups of items and locations are evaluated for replenishment.

Depending on the strategy that you want to use, you can set up replenishment to be run manually, or as a batch job that can be scheduled.

Prerequisites

The following table shows the prerequisites that must be in place before you start.

Define how to create the work to replenish a location

You can set up one or more work templates to specify how to create the work to replenish a location. After you set up the work template, you can assign it to the replenishment template. You can use the same work template for replenishment based on minimum and maximum values and demand-based replenishment.

To set up a work template to create work for replenishment, follow these steps:

1. Click Warehouse management > Setup > Work > Work templates.

2. In the Work order type field, select Replenishment.

3. The remaining steps for this procedure also apply to other work templates. For more information, see Create a work template.

Specify the location to pick the items to replenish with, and where to put them

You must set up location directives to specify the locations from which to pick the items to replenish with, and where to put them.

To specify locations for picking replenishment items and putting them in the specified locations, follow these steps:

1. Click Warehouse management > Setup > Location directives.

2. In the Work order type field, select Replenishment.

3. The remaining steps for this procedure also apply to other location directives. For more information, see Create a location directive.

Set up a wave template for replenishment

If you want to automatically create replenishment work for a wave demand replenishment strategy, you must set up a wave template for replenishment. The wave template must include the replenish wave method in the sequence of steps. If you want to automatically release the replenishment wave to create replenishment work, select the Automate replenishment work check box.

To set up a wave template for replenishment, follow these steps:

1. Click Warehouse management > Setup > Waves > Wave templates.

2. Click New to create a new wave template.

3. In the Wave template type field, select Shipping.

4. The remaining steps for this procedure also apply to other wave templates. For more information, see Create a wave template.

Set up a replenishment template to replenish based on demand

You can set up a replenishment template so that replenishment work is created if a quantity in a location cannot meet the demand for a wave or load. The quantities are evaluated for the item and location when the work for the wave or load is created.

The key difference between wave demand and load demand is that load demand replenishment cannot be automated. Wave demand can be run by using a batch job, but it can also be automated through the wave template. For more information, see Create a wave template.

To set up a replenishment template for wave demand or load demand, follow these steps:

1. Click Warehouse management > Setup > Replenishment > Replenishment templates.

2. Click New to create a new template.

3. On the Replenishment Template Details FastTab, in the Replenish template and Description fields, enter a name and a description for the template.

4. In the Replenishment type field, select Wave demand or Load demand.

5. To use a specific wave template to create the replenishment work, in the Wave step code field, enter a code for the wave method that will be included in the wave template. If you specify a wave step code, only the related wave template is used.

6. On the Replenishment Template Lines FastTab, click New.

7. In the Sequence number field, enter a number to define the position of the line in the sequence of lines.

8. In the Description field, enter a description of the criteria represented in the line.

9. In the Request type field, select the request type to connect the replenishment template to the location directive that you want to use.

10. In the Replenishment unit field, select the unit of measure to use for the replenishment.

11. If you are setting up a template for a load demand, in the Applicable demand field, select one of the following options.

    Option	Description
    Full quantity	Add the full quantity of the load line to the demand.
    Loose quantity	Add any quantity that is not evenly divisible by the load line’s packing quantity to the demand. For example, if the quantity on the load line is 125, and the packing quantity is 50, the quantity of 25 is added to the demand.

    Note

    The Applicable demand field is used only for replenishment templates for load demand. For wave demand templates, the full quantity of the load line is always added to the demand.

12. Optional: If you want to use a specific work template to create the work, in the Work template code field, select the work template.

13. Optional: To use a specific location directive to determine the location to replenish and where to pick the replenishment items, in the Directive code field, select the directive code that is associated with the location directive.

    Note

    The Select locations query is not used for replenishment for wave demand or load demand.

14. Optional: To apply this replenishment to one or more selected items, click Item selection, and then specify the items in the query criteria.

    Note

    If you have Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 8 installed, the Item selection button has been renamed to Select products. Additionally, a Select product variants query is available, which functions like the Item selection query. These queries allow you to apply the replenishment template to one or more selected products or product variants. You cannot apply the same replenishment template line to both products and product variants. Therefore, in the Product query mode field, you must select the query mode that you want to use. When you select a query mode, the button for the corresponding query is available. All other aspects of replenishment are the same.

15. Optional: For load demand and minimum and maximum value replenishment, you can apply this replenishment template to one or more selected warehouses and locations by clicking Select locations to set up the Location %1 query.

Set up a replenishment template to replenish based on minimum and maximum stock limits

You can set up a replenishment template that will replenish stock when the quantity in the location is less than the minimum amount. You can also specify the maximum value to replenish in the location. In the template, create one line for each item and location. When you run replenishment by using the batch job, Microsoft Dynamics AX will evaluate whether replenishment is required in the sequence in which the lines are organized. For more information, see Run replenishment manually.

To set up replenishment based on minimum and maximum stock limits, follow these steps:

1. Click Warehouse management > Setup > Replenishment > Replenishment templates.

2. Click New to create a new template.

3. On the Replenishment Template Details FastTab, in the Replenish template and Description fields, enter a name and a description for the template.

4. In the Replenishment type field, select Minimum or maximum.

5. On the Replenishment Template Lines FastTab, click New.

6. In the Sequence number field, enter a number to define the position of the line in the sequence. The number must be larger than zero.

7. In the Description field, enter a description of the criteria in the line.

8. In the Minimum quantity and Maximum quantity fields, specify a range of quantities to replenish.

9. In the Unit field, select the unit of measure for the item.

10. In the Request type field, select the request type to connect the replenishment template to the location directive that you want to use.

11. In the Replenishment unit field, select the unit of measure to use for the replenishment.

12. In the Demand increment field, select the principle to use when rounding quantities. The replenishment quantity will be rounded up or down to the nearest increment based on the selection in the Replenishment unit field.

    Note

    If you round up, and the replenishment unit is larger than the item’s unit of measure, the quantity added to the demand can exceed the maximum. For example, an item is packaged as 10 per case, there are 8 in a location, and the maximum stocking limit is 100. The item will be replenished with 10 cases, for a total quantity of 108 in the location.

13. Optional: If you want to use a specific work template to create the work, in the Work template code field, select the work template.

14. In the Directive code field, select the directive code that is associated with the location directive that will determine where to pick the replenishment items from.

15. To set up queries that will determine the item and location to replenish, do the following:

    1. Click Item selection, and then set up the Item %1 query.

    2. Click Select locations, and then set up the Location %1 query.

16. Optional: If you have specified fixed locations for the items, you can use the following options:

    • Evaluate empty fixed locations – Select this check box to replenish fixed locations for items when they are empty. Otherwise, only the locations where there is a quantity on hand will be replenished.

    • Replenish only fixed locations – Select this check box to replenish only fixed locations for items. Locations that are not specified as fixed locations for the items will not be replenished.

      Example

      The following example shows fixed locations and non-fixed locations for items in a warehouse. The locations are either empty or contain a quantity.

      

      The following table shows the locations that will be replenished, depending on whether the Evaluate empty fixed locations and Replenish only fixed locations check boxes are selected.

      		Replenish only fixed locations
      Evaluate empty fixed locations		Not selected	Selected
      	Not selected	Location 2, Location 3	Location 3
      	Selected	Location 1, Location 2, Location 3	Location 1, Location 3

      Related tasks

      Create a work template

      Create a location directive

      Create a wave template

      Technical information for system administrators

      If you don't have access to the pages that are used to complete this task, contact your system administrator and provide the information that is shown in the following table.

      Category	Prerequisite
      Configuration keys	Click System administration > Setup > Licensing > License configuration. Expand the Trade license key, and select the Warehouse and Transportation management configuration key.

      See also

      Run replenishment manually