Understanding Inventory Relief Options in Cetec ERP: Scale to Pick vs. Scale to BOM vs. Don’t Scale
When you ship a partial quantity of a work order in Cetec ERP, how you choose to relieve component inventory can significantly affect job costing and material control. Cetec ERP gives you three options for controlling this behavior: Scale to Pick, Scale to BOM, and Don’t Scale.
This guide explains how each option works, when to use it, and how it affects component relief on partial shipments.
Option 1: Scale to Pick
Scale to Pick calculates relief based on what’s already been picked and the amount being shipped. It’s useful when you’ve picked part of the material but aren’t shipping the full quantity yet.
Formula: Pick Qty x (Ship Qty ÷ Total Order Qty)
Example:
- You’ve picked 7 components for a 10-piece work order. The component has a Qty Per Top of 1 for each piece.
- You’re shipping 5 pieces.
- Cetec ERP calculates: 7 x (5 ÷ 10) = 3.5 components relieved
Use this when:
- You’ve only partially picked material.
- You want to relieve only a partial share of the picked components.
- Component usage should reflect available pick quantities, not full BOM requirements.
Option 2: Scale to BOM
Scale to BOM uses the BOM’s quantity-per-top to determine relief for the units shipped, regardless of how much has been picked. It assumes that full consumption occurs per unit shipped. This is most useful when you want to relieve only the component inventory for finished pieces, leaving the component inventory for partially picked pieces in your inventory, still picked to the open order line.
Formula: Qty Per Top x Ship Qty
Example:
- You’ve picked 7 components for a 10-piece work order. The component has a Qty Per Top of 1 for each piece.
- You’re shipping 7 pieces.
- Cetec ERP calculates: 1 x 7 = 7 components relieved
Even if you picked all 10 components for the full work order quantity, Cetec ERP will only relieve the 7 used for the partial shipment.
Use this when:
- Components are used in whole-number quantities.
- You’ve picked enough material to cover the shipment.
- You want inventory relief to match actual unit shipment quantities.
- Your production or MES system expects consistent per-unit consumption.
Option 3: Don’t Scale
Don’t Scale gives you manual control. Cetec ERP will relieve exactly what was picked - no scaling or adjustment based on what’s being shipped.
- You’ve picked 10 components for a 10-piece work order. The component has a Qty Per Top of 1 for each piece.
- You’re shipping 7 pieces.
- All 10 components that you have picked will be relieved.
This is useful in situations where:
- You’ve picked broken or scrap components but still want to account for them.
- You want to charge all picked inventory to the job, regardless of what’s shipped.
- You’re managing manual adjustments to inventory relief outside the BOM or picking logic.
Use this when:
- You need full manual control over component relief.
- You’re handling exceptions or nonstandard material usage.
- You want to include over-picked or damaged materials in job costing.
Choosing the Right Method
Choosing between Scale to Pick, Scale to BOM, and Don’t Scale depends on:
- Whether you’ve picked partial or full inventory
- Whether your components are consumed in fractional or whole-number quantities
- How you want to account for broken, scrap, or over-picked items
Each approach serves a real operational need, and Cetec ERP is designed to flex to meet those needs without complex customization.