Infor LN & Baan Tip: Navigating the Complexities of Surcharges on Phantom Items in Manufacturing
Is it ok to define surcharges on phantom items?
It is advised not to use surcharges on phantom items for the following reasons:
- The usage of phantom surcharges makes it, in general, more difficult to understand, verify, and explain the result of the cost price calculation.
- Real phantom items do not exist in real life. It is only an efficient way to specify the BOM. It is therefore questionable if surcharges should be defined for these non-existing phantom items.
- The usage of phantom surcharges can lead to variances in production orders, depending on the actual usage of the phantom.
- When surcharges based on added costs are defined for both the main item and the phantom item, then the surcharge will be applied twice.
Alternatives are:
- Define the required surcharges on the main item of the phantom.
- Define the required surcharges on the sub-item of the phantom.
- Define a (backflush) operation on the phantom to cover the handling costs (if any) of a phantom item.