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Packaging Operations (Bottling and Labelling)

Overview

Packaging Operations should be used when you want to transfer your finished blends to finished inventory or add items to finished inventory.  They are used to record the transfer from bulk product into bottle and record any additives or packaging items used,  such as bottles, caps, labels and cartons. The packaging operations also allow you to track lot code information.

In this document:

 

Listing and Searching Packaging Operations

 

The Packaging Operations list works in the same way as all the other major lists in Vinsight.   You can search for particular packaging operations by using the search box located next to the ‘New’ button near the top of the screen or the advanced search button directly below that.

Planning Packaging Operations

Packaging Operations can be planned in advance to create a schedule for you or your staff to follow and implement.  Simply create a packaging operation using the instructions detailed below, but ensure you put the date you are scheduling the operation for, in the Date field.  The operation should be ‘saved’ but not ‘completed’.

A quick look at the ‘Agenda’ tab will detail all the packaging work scheduled for a particular time period.

You can also adjust the schedule from this view.   You can drag and drop the operations to move something forward or backwards.

 

The date would automatically change to reflect the day, week or month it has been dragged to.  Alternatively, you can edit the planned date directly by clicking on the ‘Planned For’ date and selecting a new date from the drop down calendar.  The operation will then move to the column that reflects the new date.

 

 

Once the planned work has been completed. remember to ‘complete’ the operation.  This will execute any movements of stock and mark the operation as completed.  To view both planned and completed operations within a time period, simply select ‘All’ on the ‘Agenda’ view.  Here we have Completed Op Num 83 (Label Shiraz) and it is now shown as ‘completed’ on the ‘Agenda’ view.

 

Creating New Operations

To create a new Packaging Operation, click on the “New” button at the top of the Packaging Operation List. You will be taken to an empty Packaging Operation page.

Bulk to Pack (Bottling)

Overview

The ‘Bulk to Pack’ is used when you are transforming bulk product into packaged product, for example bottling or, if completed together, bottling and labelling.

In this section:

Operation Details

Select Op Type ‘Bulk To Pack’, add a description and stock location.  You can also change the date here if you need to:

 Bulk Used

This section describes the product coming out of vessels.  It works in exactly the same way as the Source Vessels section of a Winery Operation.

Just pick a vessel from the drop down list, enter the transfer amount and the final volume will be calculated automatically.

To save the line, simply move off that line by clicking outside it, or on a mobile device, by hiding the on screen keyboard.

Finished Items Produced

This section describes the Finished Wine Stock Items that are being created by the Operation.  Choose an item from the drop down list  and then enter a “creating” amount.  The units you are working in for each item will be the default Units In Stock unit of measure. Here you can also split items out by Lot Code.

Bulk Additions

You are unlikely to need this section when doing a ‘Bulk to Pack’ as any ‘non-packaging’ additions (such as yeast or PMS) should have been added using a winery operation while in tank.  See Transfers, Adjustments & Additons.

Packaging Used

This section works in a similar way to the additives area of a Winery Operation.

Any items you have detailed in the Default Components section of the stock item, such as bottles, caps and cartons will automatically appear here.   (See Stock Items/Bill of Materials).

You can edit or add to this list as required.

PackagingOp-PackagingUsed

Operation Summary

Once you have completed the ‘Bulk Used’ and ‘Finished Items Produced’ areas,  you will see an “Operation Summary” towards the top of the page, that looks like this:

PackagingOp-OperationSummary

Or it might look like this:

PackagingOp-OpSummaryLosing

If this box is red, that indicates that the percentage gain or loss is outside of what is defined as “normal” by the Operation Code. “Vessel To Pack” has a variance of +/- 2%. This means that if you are gaining or losing more than 2% of the wine, you will see this box. This will also mean you will need to supply a Variance Reason when you try to complete the operation.

Pack to Pack (Labelling)

Overview

The ‘Pack to Pack’ operation transforms a packaged stock item into a new packaged stock item.  You would use this if you are, for example, starting with an unlabelled bottled product and transforming it into labelled bottled product.

A Pack to Pack (Labelling) operation should be completed in much the same way as a Bulk to Pack.  Areas of difference are set out below.

In this Section:

Operation Details

Select the ‘Pack to Pack’ Op Type, complete the description and change the date if you need to.

Finished Items Used/Finished Items Produced

Choose the packaged item you are dealing with from the Stock Item drop down list provided and, if necessary edit the initial and final units.  Then select the Finished Items Produced and again edit units as required.

In the following example, we are using the 492 cartons of unlabelled PT17 Chardonnay (that we bottled in Packaging Operation 3) and transforming it into 100 cartons labelled for the UK market and 392 cartons labelled for the US market.

Using Lot Codes for Finished Items

On subscriptions that support Parent and Child Stock Items, if you do multiple bottlings of the same product, you should use our Parent/Child feature to manage Lot Code (read more here: https://docs.vinsight.net/count/stock-items#lotcodes).
Vinsight makes this easy to do when you are bottling, because you can write the packaging operation using the parent item before you know the lot code of the child item that you will be producing (eg if the lot code would contain the date of the bottling but you haven’t completed the bottling yet).
So begin by saving the operation as a draft using the parent code, and you don’t have to supply a lot code yet.

Once you are ready, put the Lot Code into the lot code field, and the system will see if the parent already has children, it will add a link to add a new child, or if the parent has no children yet it will add a link to setup the parent to have new children.

Either add a new child:

Or split the existing parent to have a new child:

Bulk Additions

You probably wont use this section during labelling.  However, if using a ‘Pack to Pack’ operation to, for example, add dosage ingredients to bottled sparkling wine, this is where the ingredients would go.  See Pack to Pack (Disgorging) .

Packaging Used

As with ‘Bulk to Pack’, if you have detailed default items used in the Default Components area of the Stock Item, such as front and back labels, these will automatically appear here.   (See Stock Items /Bill of Materials).   You can edit or add to this list as necessary.  If no default items appear, simply use the drop down menus to add the packaging items being used.

PackagingUsed-Labelling

Pack To Pack – (Disgorging)

If you are adding a non-packaging item, (such as your dosage ingredients for sparkling wine) to a packed item, you would add this product in the Bulk Additions area of the  Pack to Pack operation.  An example operation is set out below:

 

Pack Addition

A Pack Addition operation is used to add any further items to an existing stock item.  For example, adding a medal sticker after bottling and labelling.   The operation is completed in the same way as a ‘Bulk to Pack‘ or ‘Pack to Pack‘ operation with the following minor differences:

Operation Details

Here you would select a ‘Pack Addition’ as the Op Type.

Finished Items Used

Choose an item from the drop down list.   There will be no  ‘Finished Items Produced’  section to complete as you are simply making an addition to an existing Stock Item, not creating a new one.

Bulk Additions

You will not need to complete this section.

Packaging Used

Select the item you are adding and the stock item you are adding it to from the drop down lists provided.

PackagingUsed-Award

Allocating Packaging Used from Purchase Orders

When selecting Packaging Used for any of the Packaging Operation Types (Bulk to Pack, Pack to Pack or Pack Addition) instead of manually selecting the packaging used, you can ‘allocate’ the packaging used items from a purchase order. The main advantage of doing it this way is that we will bring purchased quantity and purchased unit cost into Packaging Used.

Select what Finished Item to allocate the Packaging Used to.

Select the Packaging Used items and allocate to selected rows.

Once selected you can see that the quantity and unit price from the Purchase Order is brought over and into Packaging Used. You can also see that there is a link at the end of each row that will direct you to the Purchase Order each Packaging Used was allocated from.

Partially Allocating from Purchase Order

You can also allocate a partial amount of Purchased Quantity to Packaging Used. Here I am about to allocate bottle caps and glass bottles to the finished item. In this case I have purchased more than what is needed for this Packaging Operation

To fix this you can either change the Rate or the Quantity to the correct values

Adding External Packaging Costs to Operation

If you have costs related to contract bottling or labelling, you can add these costs into your Packaging Operation to ensure the product created includes these costs.   To do this, take the following steps.

First, if you don’t already have one,  add a ‘dollar’ unit of measure at Settings > Units of Measure.  It should have a conversion rate of 1.    This will enable you to add the costs to the operation in dollar units, which will likely make the most sense.

 

Next create a Stock Item called “Bottling Costs” or similar.   Setting the ‘Packaging” attribute to ‘Yes’ will make this item available in the ‘Packaging Used’ area of a packaging operation, enabling it to be recorded as a ‘packaging cost’.    If you would rather it be recorded as an addition (and appear in the ‘Bulk Additions’ area of a packaging operation, you could set the ‘Bulk Additive’ attribute instead.    Use the ‘dollar’ unit of measure where-ever a unit is required in the Stock Item and set the Standard Costs to $1.

 

Note: You can optionally set ‘Track Inventory” to ‘yes’.   While this may not be an instinctive choice, it can be quite useful if you are creating Purchase Orders for the Bottling Costs.    If ‘Track Inventory’ is set,  ‘receiving’ the purchase order will bring units of Bottling Costs into stock.   This stock will remain above zero, until you ‘apply’ the costs (in an operation) to remove them from stock.    This makes it easy to see if you have purchase-ordered the cost but not yet applied it.

 

 

If you set the Stock Item up like this, you can add it to a packaging operation in the same way that you add other packaging items.

 

 

 

Deleting Lines

There are two ways to delete line items from tables in Packaging Operations.

The first method is the same as in Winery Operations, you click the gear icon to the right side of the row and select “Delete”:

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The second method allows you to bulk select rows and delete them all at once.  Simply check the boxes to the left of the rows you want to delete, and then at the top of the table you will see a “delete rows” button that you can use to delete them all:

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Applying The Last Change To All Selected Lines

If you want to change something like the transfer amount or the batch code for a bunch of rows, you can select them all at once, change one of the rows, and then press “apply last change to selected rows”:

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Completing a Packaging Operation

When you save an operation, it is still just in a draft format.  None of the changes you have specified will actually happen until you press “Save and Complete” at the bottom of the page. When you complete an operation, the wine will be removed from the tank, finished wine stock item inventory counts will increase, and any packaging additives used will be taken out of inventory.  If working on a long or complicated draft operation, you can save as you go by selecting ‘Save and Continue Editing’ from the ‘Save’ drop down menu.  Select ‘Save and Add New’ if you wish to save the draft and proceed straight to screen to enter a new operation.

Reviewing and Approving Costs after completing a Packaging Operation

Note: This feature is available on our cost tracking subscriptions.

Vinsight tracks the quantities and costs of any additives and packaging used to create a finished item in Vinsight. When you complete a packaging operation, there is a manual review point after bottling that allows you to approve the costs before the cost per unit is committed to the item you produced.

On the stock item, under the Finished Item Components section, the is a “View Composition” button:

This shows the components (additive and packaging etc) that went into make the item you have packaged:

If these costs appear correct, then you can commit them to become the new Standard Cost of the item, that will be used in turn to calculate your inventory valuation and cost of goods sold. When you click the “Use as standard cost” button, I can confirm or approve the new cost:

This copies the new value to the Standard Cost:

Undo a Completed Packaging Operation

If you have completed an Operation and you need to edit some of the details, then you will have to undo the completed operation before you can make changes. This can be done by pressing the “Undo” button at the bottom of an completed Operation.

Assigning Operators

You can assign two types of operators for any one job (if you have a premium subscription). To do this, go to the Operators section at the bottom of the operation and pick names from the drop down lists.

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