Reprocessed Item Management

1. We use two numbers. We have attributes identifying if the item is New, Reprocessed, and an attribute to indicate it's "pairing" the other Lawson number. This allows us to pull them into Excel and "line up" the new with the reprocessed.

2. It was two items because we're on Epic and Finance needed two unique EAPs (CDM) for patient billing and case costing. For the most part, that is all done in Corporate Finance and they just house the EAP on IC11 to go across to Optime, Cupid and Radiant.

3. Not with two numbers - they transmit however we have the vendor set up. We handle the issue on PO10.2 so if the reprocessing needs a form or some such buyer intervention, we have it emailed to a common buyer address to process out.

Hi Kat & thanks as always for responding. We're not using attributes at this time but our upgrade consultant highly recommended we look in to using them. Would you mind giving me a crash course & sharing screenshots of your set up for 1 of your new & reprocessed items? Being able to tie them together in Excel would be ideal.

I'll have to find my how to's on Attributes.  It was basically a ton of right click and Define trial and error.  Attribute setup added to the doc.  Once they are set up, they work like the attached shows.  We have our user fields stuffed so Attributes worked well for us, you can also restrict their values to force people to conform and make reporting easier.

I'm also attaching the sql we use to get the "what is matched to what" list.  You can use attributes on PO54 etc. This is just to show you how the tables join.

OK first question of probably several - In order to add a REPR-xxxxxx number, in IC00.1 I add to flip Automatic Item Numbering to N, Numeric Item Number to N & Vendor Agrmt Def Item Create Flag to 3 (was 1-Sequential). Any harm in flipping these back to our normal state once the IC11 is completed?

We have manual Lawson numbering (that predates me) I am actually not certain what flipping that on and off will do. You may want to open a webchat with Infor or find another way to flag the REPR on them?

If they are ordering via RQC - you can test to see if putting REPR in the Manufacturer number field shows for the user. It's not quite the same as mine, but it should be visible.

Hi Kat - We plan to have 2 Lawson numbers with just 1 bin with new & reprocessed product mixed. We're on average costing method. I'm assuming if they're in the same bin the inventory value will not be blended since each cost will "stay" with its Lawson number? I'm going to test all of this, just wondering if you had any insight.

Also in the case of patient billing/case costing, how is it known which was used, new or reprocessed? What is EAP? We have Optime & are meeting with Chargemaster soon.

Oh & Infor said OK to switch back & forth from system assigned to manual in IC00.1, just watch your P's & Q's as you do so. Thanks.

The blended bin is what the OR here does. If the item is on a tray - central sterile can mark them as New or Reprocessed, but for the most part, the ORs were not able to find a consistent way for the nurse in the room to know which was which.

Accordingly, Corporate Finance gave them one EAP for both new and reprocessed and priced it off the reprocessed item pricing. The OR eats the expense instead of potentially explaining to Medicare why two patients on the same day have a different price.

SCM saw a dramatic increase in program compliance after that.

Folks,
We also use two discrete numbers. Rather than attributes, the combination of the Manufacturer Code/Division/Part Number helps to tie the items together. For the OEM item it would look something like 0OEM-0DIV-PARTNUMBERX and the reprocessed item would be REPR-1DIV-PARTNUMBERX. (We also put "REPR" in the description of the reprocessed item.) As you mentioned, even if you assign them to the same bin, Lawson maintains separate perpetual SOH values based on the discrete Item numbers. This can create issues related to the case/preference cards.

I like Kat's idea of assigning both part numbers the same charge value for two reasons. The first is that, financially, it would make the reprocessed items preferable to the OEM items (more profit/less loss). The second is that this makes the items [nearly] fully equivalent. By that I mean, it would not matter if the staff pulling for the case pulled the reprocessed or the OEM item, and it would not matter which product was used to replenish the bin. It still would require a little bit of effort to get the aggregate replenishment value: but if you were able to do this and send that off as PO for the reprocessed item, you could allow your source to "auto-substitute" the OEM product when they ran out of the reprocessed stock.

Not sure that helps much,
Red

Folks,
I have another thought, but this is theoretical, so I wanted to call it out separately...and this tails off on Kat's blended/single charge for the OEM and reprocessed item.

What if?...
You assigned a single Lawson Item Number for the product, regardless of whether it is OEM or reprocessed, but you differentiated by the Vendor Part Number. So, if you buy the OEM item and the reprocessed item from different Vendors, no problem because they are on completely different PO13 records. But my experience with both O&M and Medline is that the reprocessed item will have a completely different SKU from the OEM item (based on the distributor's source of the items).

What this accomplishes…(maybe, I hope)
This closes the loop on the inventory side-there is only a single Lawson Item in the bin and in the SOH records. The separate SKUs on the Vendor Agreement Lines means that you can still maintain the cost-integrity in either case. On the agreement, you can set the reprocessed lines to be a higher priority than the OEM lines, ensuring that you drive to the lower-cost option first. The supplier can more easily “auto-substitute” the item (since nearly all item attributes are identical). I think (in theory) the substitution process should be easier for Purchasing, as you would only need to update the vendor part number and the pricing information on the existing PO line (this seems like it could be easily automated via ProcessFlow/IPA, from an 856 discrepancy). Lastly, you could (if desired) more accurately determine a blended cost (for charging or case-costing) based on the proportion of OEM SKUs purchased against the reprocessed SKUs.

Again, this is theoretical, not practical, but it seems like it makes sense to me.
Red

Very helpful - thanks to you both!