Limit Inventory - General Index Factor - Weights & Labor

[David]

1.Can C.P. be set to only pull mat that I show in inventory?
2.What is the general index factor and how is it used?
3. In the Design:
A. In the weight box is that product weight, crate weight or product & weight?
B. Under Reg$/hr how do I change the default?

[Support]

Crate Pro 5 comes pre-filled in with a large number of materials used in the construction of crates. As part of your companies initial set-up, we recommend that you click on the Inventory module then click on Fast Edit at the top of the page.

You should now have a spreadsheet type list of all the materials in Inventory. Line items grayed out are not active and don't show up as possible substitutions for materials when you're in Designs and Jobs. Check all inactive materials your company uses and uncheck all materials you will not use. This has 2 benefits.

1. Only the items your company uses to construct crates will appear as options when you're designing crates
2. While in Fast Edit you can click on the header 'Active' and all the active materials will appear at the top of the list for quick pricing updates

Make sure that if you make an item inactive that its not one of the default materials used in the Set-up > Construction tab

[Support]

General Index Factor – When based on the amount of material used, the time it takes to build a large crate is typically greater than the time it takes to make a smaller one.

For example; it may take 10 seconds to install a 1 linear foot cleat, but will take 115 seconds to install 10 linear feet. The time per unit of material is greater as the size of
the container increases. This variation is manufacturing time is not directly associated with the surface area nor is it directly associated with the cubic capacity of the crate.

The General Index Factor is a value that Crate Pro applies to SOME of the times associated with the manufacturing process. After building your Setup Crate and applying the times, you can now consider this value. If while building larger crates, the resulting price is too high, reduce this value slightly.

Adversely, if the resulting price is too low, adjust this value up slightly. The General Index Factor is relative only to the size of the crate. There are separate index factors
that apply to various styles.

[Crystal]

David -

On the main design screen the weight field is for the product or content.

Once you've designed the crate you have a Wts & Dims tab which shows you the product weight as you entered its value, the Tare weight of the crate and the total of the two.

The Tare weight field is the combined weight of all the materials used in the construction of the crate including the staples and nails, as long as you have a weight value entered for the items used in the Inventory module. A default weight is already entered for the items in the Inventory which can be changed if needed.

Should you find the product weight was incorrect you can adjust in in the Wts & Dims screen and have Crate Pro 5 recalculate so your reports are correct.

[Crystal]

Changing the default labor rates is located in the Set-up module > Billing.

Note that labor is broken out between Pallet construction and Crate Construction. Three different hourly rates can be applied for crate design.Additional mark-ups can be added to the labor rate by default on this screen.

In the individual customer records located in the Contacts module, you can also add markups which are on top of your company defaults which Crate Pro 5 will apply whenever you select that customer for a design or job.

In each specific design, in the Packing >Other tab there is a red outlined box that allows you to add additional packing time. The labor rate used is your labor rate you selected for the crate construction. See the neat trick if you want to charge a different labor rate.

>>Neat trick: If you provide services that you wish to charge a different labor rate for; such as wrapping individual products to go into the crate, or provide special loading labor, rigging, etc. Add that service, your hourly cost and what you want to charge into the Inventory module > Services tab. You can now add any of these extra services with their own billing rate to your jobs. Creating a Job first and adding your design or designs to it will give you the benefit of an extra line item on the prices tab to see the extras.