Phasing in ECN for Bill of Material Changes in Microsoft Dynamics NAV

As with most if not all manufacturing companies, product engineers will make changes to the product Bills of Material (BOM).

One possible reason for an Engineering Change Notice (ECN) change is to use up the existing inventory of component parts before switching to the new component part. Another possibility would be the introduction of new packaging at the beginning of a new model year.

In Dynamics NAV we have two possible ways to handle this:

• Using Starting and Ending dates in the BOM line itself
• Using Starting dates in BOM Versions

If I look at a Production BOM in Dynamics NAV 2013, I can see that there are columns for Ending Date and Starting Date:

Figure 1 – Production BOM showing Starting and Ending Dates

Selecting and Ending Date of 12/31/2014 for Item 1400 and a Starting Date of 1/1/2015 means that when MRP is planning, it will use item 1400 up to 12/31 and will begin using Item 1450 on 1/1.  It also means that if you create Production Orders on or before 12/31, the system will use Item 1400 and Item 1450 after that.

Figure 2 – Production BOM with Starting and Ending Dates populated

Another way to accomplish this ECN Phase In is to use Dynamics NAV Production BOM Versions.

I have created two Production BOM Versions.

In Version 1, I have set the Starting Date to 1/1/14:

Figure 3 – Production BOM, Version 1

In Version 2, I have set the Starting Date to 1/1/15:

Figure 4 – Production BOM, Version 2 with a later Starting Date

What this means is that when MRP is planning, it will use item 1400 up to 12/31/14 and will begin using Item 1450 on 1/1/15. It also means that if you create Production Orders on or before 12/31, the system will use Item 1400 and Item 1450 after that.

If you would like more information on this subject or another Dynamics NAV subject, please contact ArcherPoint.

Read more blogs by Bob Bergman for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.