Step 7. Define Item Types: PRT Planning

Item types are a logical way to identify items with similar characteristics. You must decide what kinds of items you are tracking through production and define item types that will identify them together into logical subsets.

Keep in mind all of the following when determining categories for your items.

The level of detail in terms of parts/assemblies that you plan to track.

The parts/assemblies that must be serialized to support positive identification.

The parts/assemblies that will be non-serialized items.

A standardized naming convention that is consistent for your organization.

Example

An appliance factory manufactures refrigerators, washers and dryers. The categories are very broad because many of the parts, such as nuts and bolts, are used in all three of the main products. The following chart illustrates the item type definitions.

1

Item types for the refrigerator

2

Item types for the dryer

3

Item types for the washing machine

4

Item types used for all three products and for articles that are reused during production.

More information

Production Tracking Model layout plans.