Order Spreading
Business Need and Basic Functionality
Order spreading mitigates the effects of extended vendor shut-down periods. To avoid receiving orders all at once at the beginning of a shut-down period, they can be spread over a number of days.
Order spreading occurs while Order Plan generates future orders. It will spread the need of the occurring closure period across existing orders within a time frame starting from the beginning of the closure period back in time for a duration defined as the spread length. If there are no orders within the spread length period, a new order is generated with a receive date right before the closure period.
Configuring Order Spreading
Order spreading is configured by setting the order spreading parameters for vendor locations and/or vendor location SKU lead times.
To access the order spreading parameters,
create or modify a vendor location or
create or modify a vendor location SKU lead time. On the New/Edit Vendor Location page or the New/Edit Vendor Location SKU Lead Time page, set the following order spreading fields:
• Min Days Closed to Spread: Defines the vendor's shut-down period. It is the minimum number of days that either the stocking location or vendor location must be closed in order for spreading rules to go into effect.
• Spread Length: Sets the time length before the vendor shut-down period in which orders are spread. It is the number of days to spread orders backwards during a closed period.
Waterfall Logic
Order spreading parameters set at the vendor location level can be overridden for a specific SKU at the vendor location SKU lead time level.
Implementation Considerations
• Order spreading only applies to procurement. It can create inconsistent results if applied for repairs.
• Order spreading parameters need to be specified for the primary vendor.
• Schedule Change Suppression, Alternate Transport Modes, and other Order Plan constraints are not applied to orders generated by order spreading.
• ABR (Availability Based Replenishment) and order sizing parameters can create inconsistent results when applied with order spreading.