Need Good Solution for Stocking, Planning and Replenishment of Substitute Items

Hi All -

We have multiple items that can be used as direct substitutes on Work Orders in Manufacturing. Each item has a separate item number in the system.

We are well aware of the Substitute component feature on the Bill of Materials. But outside of the BOM Substitute component feature, has anyone developed a good solution on how to stock, plan and replenish substitute components in the supply chain.

For example, Item A and Item B are direct substitutes and both can be used in manufacturing interchangeably. All items are lot controlled.

For planning and replenishment purposes, we need to consider the on-hand qty of both Item A and Item B as one summarized total, e.g. we do not want a signal to buy Item A (when item A inventory is depleted) if there is adequate on-hand qty of Item B.