What you’ll learn
What an assembly is in CRIBWISE, how it differs from an ordinary durable item, and what operators can do with assemblies on the Shop Floor Interface.
An item set as an assembly contains one or more items that compose it. It otherwise behaves as a durable item: it can be assigned to a device and a location, picked and returned.
Assembly versus durable item
| Durable item | Assembly | |
| Vendor information | Yes | None |
| Purchase order | Can be added manually or by script | Cannot be added. It can still go on a transfer list, manually or by script. |
| Standard cost | From acquisition or purchase price | Derived from the durable items it is composed of and their required quantities, so it changes when theirs does. |
| Restock | Yes, with or without an order | Cannot be restocked at all. |
| Spare parts | Its own | All spare parts of the items it is composed of. |
Assemblies on the Shop Floor Interface
- They are managed and used like durable items – assigned to a location with specific rules, picked, returned, inventoried.
- When enough of the composing items are available, a new assembly can be composed from them. The SFI dispenses all required items in the required quantities and creates a single piece of the assembly, which can later be returned to the device as a complete assembly.
Important: The SFI treats only the durable items as mandatory for creating an assembly. Every dispensed durable item is marked as used in the assembly afterwards and cannot be returned separately. Consumable items are picked in the regular way, and the assembly can be composed without them.
Common confusion
| People often think… | But actually… |
| An assembly can be ordered from a vendor. | It has no vendor and cannot go on a purchase order. Use a transfer list, or compose it on the SFI. |
| A component can be taken back out of an assembly. | Durable items used in an assembly are marked as used in it and cannot be returned separately. |
| The standard cost of an assembly is fixed. | It follows the standard cost of the durable items it contains. |
| All components must be present to compose an assembly. | Only the durable ones. Consumables are picked normally and can be left out. |
Take action
Ready to build one? See How to create and stock a new assembly in SFI, and define the components under item relations.
Related articles
- How to create and stock a new assembly in SFI – compose and stock an assembly on the shop floor.
- Item relations: alternatives, substitutes, and assemblies – where the composing items are defined.
- Understanding item costs: standard cost and usage cost – how an assembly’s cost is derived.
- How to set up tool life tracking and automatic service triggers – target tool life on serialized assemblies.