Container Sizes & Primary & Secondary Counts

** Pre-Requisite Read - Supplier Product and Ingredient Relationship

In a previous article, we ran through creating both:

• A New Ingredient & Corresponding Supplier Product
• A New Supplier product to an existing ingredient

During both of these processes, you are required to create an "Order Size" (Step 2 of the wizard).  This Supplier Product Order Size is automagically (Yes, that's a word.....), applied to the corresponding Ingredient, meaning that you have the option to count it, any way in which you buy it (Step 4 of the Wizard).   

Additionally - If you add a new Order Size to an existing Supplier Product, or even just add a whole new Supplier Product to an Existing Ingredient, that ingredient will inherit the new order sizes, and you will be able to select these as either your Primary or Secondary Count Options on stocktakes.  This means that when doing your stocktake these will be the default way you will be asked to count, and view stock within your organization.

You can see the existing Ingredient Container Sizes by opening up the ingredient, and scrolling down the page to "How You Count It".  

Note - The Source Column refers to where the Ingredient Container Size came from:

System - The Ingredient, as it was configured as either Weight / Volume / Unit

Inherited - Derived from the Supplier Product Order Size

Custom - Yeah, that's right - you can create your own way to view & count your ingredients!  The custom count measure doesn't have to be related to how you buy the item, and can be something really unique in your organization, using a decanted container for storage - IE; a "Large Tub" of 35kg of chicken.

The Primary Count

The primary count covers a few functions:

1. It's how you ideally want to count this ingredient on stocktake
2. It's also the way you wish to view the stock items inventory totals (We call this total the Primary Count Measure - PCM) on the inventory page
3. It's also used within the Variance & Operational Stocktake reports - making it easier for chefs and kitchen staff to understand the numbers

All of the above is best described using an example:

Here I create a New Ingredient / Supplier Product, and set both the Order Size and Count Options (Steps 2 & 4 shown below).

Step 2 - Order Size:

Step 4 - Count Options

However, I realize that for this stock item, we actually keep it in larger boxes of 12 (Rather than the 6 in which we buy it), and it would be far easier for our staff to count it in the boxes of 12.   So from the ingredient screen, I add a new Ingredient Container, and create it with the relevant size, and set it as the Primary Count. 

Moving forward, I primarily count it in these new boxes, and have the option of viewing the Inventory / Operational and Stock Variance reports as such. 

This ultimately:

1. Saves staff time reviewing inventory
2. Reduces over ordering occurrences, as the stock numbers are in a format that is easily understood
3. Saves time during stocktake, and reduces errors on manual calculations
4. Delivers quicker troubleshooting on stocktakes, as they can see the items as per their custom ingredient size.