Packing

The Packing functionality supports the packing of products during manufacturing and shipping. It covers two options:

• Product packing during manufacturing. 
  • Records bulk packages (two or more units per package), when packed products are still tracked individually (piece-wise) in stock.
  • The packaging material and quantity per package are defined in the product BOM, and packing is reported in the manufacturing order.
  • Packages can only contain units of the same product.
  • These packages can be shipped as is or repacked during shipment packing.
• Shipment packing during shipment.
  • Records how products are grouped into packages for shipping.
  • After creating a shipment, products can be assigned to packages in the Shipment packing section.
  • Mixed packages are possible, where there are different products.

The Packing functionality enables:

• Calculating the net and gross weight of shipments
• Planning and consuming packaging material
• Printing labels
• Accounting for packaging costs

Jump to:

1. Demo video: Packing.
2. Enabling the Packing functionality.
3. Setting up packaging materials.
4. Product packing.
   1. Adding packaging to a BOM.
   2. Using packaging in Manufacturing Orders.
      1. Reporting in My production plan.
      2. Reporting in Internet kiosk.
5. Shipment packing.
   1. Adding packaging during shipment preparation.
   2. Reporting picking.
6. Printing package labels.
7. Weight calculation.
   1. Estimated item weight.
   2. Shipment net and gross weight.

Enabling the Packing functionality

The functionality can be switched On in Settings -> System settings -> Enterprise settings -> Packing.

Enabling the Packing functionality activates several new fields, sections, and actions across the system. These are described below by area:

1. Item details
   • Weight field: Allows defining the weight of a single product unit (used for calculating shipment weight).
2. Shipment details
   • Shipment packing section: Enables adding and managing packaging directly on the Shipment details page.
   • Stock items section:
     • Weight column: Displays the net weight per line.
     • Product packages column: Shows the number of packages (from product packaging defined in BOMs).
   • Buttons for printing package labels that are customizable in the Label Editor:
     • Print product package labels: For labels based on product packaging.
     • Print shipment package labels: For labels based on shipment packaging.
3. Shipping documents
   • Waybill, Packing list, and Picking list: Ability to include shipment weight and number of packages using the PDF Editor.
4. BOM details
   • Packing section: Allows specifying how products are grouped into packages as part of production.
5. Stock pages
   • Packaged column on Stock -> Items and Stock -> Stock lots pages: Shows the number of products that have been packaged into the product packaging.

Setting up packaging materials

A packaging item is created as a usual stock item. It:

• Must be an inventory item,
• and can be either procured or manufactured.

To use the item as a shipment package, it must not have serial numbers enabled. 

Product packing

Product packaging refers to the packaging defined in the Bill of Materials (BOM) and used during Manufacturing Orders (MO). This type is commonly used to define how products are packed during production.

Adding packing information to the BOM

In the Packing section of the BOM:

1. Select an item as the packaging material.
2. Enter a quantity of ready products that fit into the package.

To disable packaging for a product, clear the “Product group” and “Packaging” fields in the BOM.

Please note:

• The Packing function is not required if each item is packaged individually. In this case, the packaging material is a usual raw material, and the packaging operation must be included in the routing.

Using packaging in Manufacturing Orders

When an MO is created, the quantity of necessary packaging is calculated.

• The quantity of packaging is rounded up to a full number.

Packaging material is presented in the last row of the list of materials.

If the packaging material is a manufactured item with a bill of materials:

• Its parts (and operations) are not included in this MO. It will not be considered as a nested sub-assembly, which will be assembled in the same MO.
• A separate MO must be created to manufacture the packaging material.

Reporting packing in My production plan

The packaging is not consumed automatically when using the “Consume parts for end-products” button.

The packaging must be consumed explicitly:

1. Find the packaging material. It is the last row in the list of parts.
2. Click the Consume button.
3. Enter the quantity that is consumed.
4. As the packaging is consumed, the quantity of Packaged products increases immediately (in Stock -> Items and Stock -> Stock lots).

Reporting packing in Internet-kiosk

When a worker reports the finish of the last operation of the MO, then:

• All booked packaging will be automatically consumed.
• The MO will be marked finished.
• Packaged products are counted to stock.

Shipment packing

Shipment packing allows the warehouse team to define how goods are packed into shipping units (e.g., boxes, pallets) during shipment preparation.

Adding packaging during shipment preparation

To add packaging to a shipment, click the + icon in the Shipment packing section. A pop-up window appears where you can select the packaging material and assign the contents.

Packaging material must be a stock item without serial numbers.

When selecting the contents:

• Define the quantity of the product per package.
• Specify the total quantity to be packed using this packaging.

After confirming the selection, a new row will be added to the Shipment packing table.

Picking packaged goods

Products that were packaged in the shipment can only be picked from the Shipment packing table or using the Pick all items button.

If the contents of a shipment package include items with serial numbers:

• The user will be prompted to select all serial numbers on the picking screen.
• Partial picking or unpicking is not allowed; all packages in the packing entry have to be picked or returned to stock simultaneously. 

Printing package labels

Package labels can be printed for both product and shipment packaging using the buttons Print product package labels and Print shipment package labels on the Shipment details page.

The layout and content of these labels can be customized in the Label Editor.

Use the following layout templates:

• Package label - for product packaging (defined in BOMs and Manufacturing Orders)
• Shipment package label - for shipment packaging (defined during shipment preparation)

The labels can include the weight information if the weights of the products and packaging materials are defined in the Item details.

Weight calculation

When Packing is enabled, the weight of each product can be defined in the Item details.

MRPeasy uses this information to calculate:

• Estimated weight of an item - the expected weight of a finished product based on the weights of its BOM components.
• Net weight - the total weight of the products, including product packaging, but excluding shipment packaging.
• Gross weight - the net weight plus the weight of all shipment packages.

Please note that MRPeasy does not automatically calculate or store the final product’s weight during manufacturing. The estimated weight is calculated on demand and is intended for planning and informational purposes.

Obtaining the estimated weight of items

The estimated weight can be calculated for items that have a BOM and is available in the following places:

• Item details - clicking the Estimated weight button calculates the estimated weight and allows viewing a detailed breakdown of the calculation.
• Stock → Items - an Estimated weight column can be added to the items table. Clicking the Estimated weight icon calculates the value. Clicking on the calculated value opens the calculation details.

If an item has multiple BOMs, the BOM with the lowest alphanumeric BOM number is used for the calculation.

If one or more components do not have a defined weight, the estimated weight is still calculated. In this case, the list of components with missing weights is available in the calculation details.

Estimated weight does not affect shipment documents, inventory valuation, or production reporting.

Weights in shipment

Shipment weights are displayed:

• In Shipment details:
  • Stock items section - shows the net weight for each line and the total.
  • Shipment packing section - shows the gross weight of each shipment package.
• On shipment documents, if configured in the PDF Editor:
  • Waybill - the Weight column in the main table displays the net weight, while the Weight field in the header shows the gross weight.
  • Packing list - fields Net weight and Gross weight show the corresponding weight in the header section.
  • Picking list - both the Weight field and column display the net weight of the products.