🎓 What can I do here?
Learn more about what the demand analysis tool is and why it is useful.
Learn how to use the demand analysis tool to visualize dynamic inventory allocation due to StartProto’s scheduling system.
What is the Demand Analysis Tool?
The demand analysis tool is a tab that exists for both Make and Buy Items in StartProto. It tells you two things:
What other items does this item feed into?
What demand sources (jobs, orders, etc.) require inventory of this part?
The demand analysis tool is useful for seeing how the Work Generation system has allocated inventory.
(Read more on the Work Generation system here: How Work Is Generated )
Why should I use the demand analysis tool?
Due to the dynamic work generation system, inventory is allocated based on highest priority. Using the tool, you can clearly see where current inventory falls short for a specific demand source. This can help in a variety of cases:
For sellable make items- which orders will we be able to fill with existing inventory?
For intermediate make items & routings- which orders still require parts from this step in a process / assembly?
For buy items- what orders do we still need to purchase inventory for?
Where can I access the demand analysis tool?
This can be accessed by navigating to the make / buy item page and then clicking on the Demand Analysis tab:
Additionally, you can access it from most tables that show a demand column:
How do I understand what the tool is telling me?
Make Items
For the make item portion, it’s pretty simple- any items listed there have the item whose page you are currently visiting as input parts.
Example:
In this case, the Aluminum 6061 - Rod - 4.75 OD is an input part to these items:
Mandel
Blow Mold
Bolt X
You can also expand down each item to view the WIP pills and adjust inventory on these items by expanding the accordion:
Demand
The demand part gets a bit more complex. At the top, you get a high level view of what needs to be made or bought, as well as total demand for that item:
In the table, each demand source is listed out.
The columns have specific information relevant to this:
Sales Order | A link to the order. |
Order Item | What item is being demand. Can be something that consumes the item (in some cases, many levels up) |
Stock | Current stock information for the Order Item. |
Due Date | If the demand comes from an order, the due date for the line item. |
Order Qty | The demand quantity for the Order Item |
Demand | The current demand for the item. If this is at 0, the demand source is still in the system but don’t demand any more of the parts at this step. |
Claimed | If there’s available inventory for this part AND there is demand for it, the amount that the system allocated for this specific demand source. |
Needed | Demand - Claimed. If greater than 0, work or purchasing needs to be done to fulfill this portion of the demand. |