continue in research. EXF just has the potential to create too many errors in the replenishment system. Say the capacity is 12 and there are zero on the floor. When you scan it in research and enter 0, no matter what the accumulator thought was on the floor already, it knows there are zero and the need for that item is set to 12. If you have 24 in the backroom, it pulls the 12 needed to fill to capacity and the accumulator for that item goes back to 12. The item is full and will pull correctly as the item sells or is defected out.
Now say that instead of researching the out you key in an EXF for the capacity. So first you have to switch over to item search and see what the capacity is and then see how many are actually backstocked. There are 24 backstocked and the capacity is 12 so you put in an EXF for 12. 12 are pulled and all 12 fit on the floor. Seemingly the same benefit. But now you sell all 12. Let's say the accumulator was already at 12 before you scanned an EXF for it. Since it thought the floor already had 12 and it pulled another 12, the accumulator is now sitting at 24. This item only pulls when it's at half its capacity. Once the accumulator reaches 6 the item will drop into the autofills or CAFs. So you sell through all 12 that came out on the EXF. Now the accumulator is back at 12 when you have 0 on the floor. A case comes in on the next truck but it is sent to direct because the accumulator thinks the floor is full. So now you have 24 in the backroom that will not drop into the autofills or CAFs because the sales accumulator thinks the floor is full. Now it's been a few days and you come by and scan it on an all scan day. BAM. You just got a scan with a location in the backroom. The accumulator is now reset, but all that original EXF did was postpone you scanning the item in research and taking a hit. Had you scanned the out in research to begin with, you wouldn't have wasted time with the EXF, and you would've saved yourself from scanning it twice.
You can imagine how messy this can get with 30,000+ different items in the store. We don't have time to do double work. Take the hit and go on. The instocks team is rarely the reason scans with locations are red. It's every other process in the store that causes scans with locations. Flow not pushing to the piece, backroom burning batches, salesfloor not zoning to planogram, pog team not shooting research, cashiers using K2 for similar items that aren't the same DPCI, the market team QMOSing from the wrong area, etc. Those are the problems that need to be corrected. Your leadership should not be "correcting" the instocks team when they are the one team that is doing their job right.
Using EXF is like taking Tylenol after breaking a bone. It may reduce the pain for a short time, but it doesn't actually heal the fracture, and you'll just feel the pain again later and have to take more pills. Research is the surgery needed to fix the broken processes.
This type of fill can lead to Sales Accumulator inaccuracies if not used properly because it does not affect any other batches currently in the replenishment system.
TheManInRed, you are incorrect about stand alone research. Best practice is for POG team to shoot stand alone research after they are finished setting so that they are able to scan critical lows as well as outs. The filters are in stand alone research as well to keep the counts from being changed due to new sets and transition madness, which is why it's okay to use stand alone research.
I'm open to being wrong, but if I shoot an EXF for 6 of something, I will get 6 if there are 6 in the back regardless of whatever the system thinks the floor needs. If I shoot an EXF for 6 and there is a casepack of 12 in a upper or lower casestock location I will get the entire casepack due to casepack rounding. The other 6 from the pull might fit in the home, but I only created an EXF for 6, so the sales accumulator won't be affected as long as I fill the home location as well since more was subtracted than I actually requested. I did the logic on the sales accumulator once and the only way I could get it to work was to set the need as counting down from the capacity, so maybe I do have it backwards, but all the logic still stays basically the same. Just make the minus signs into plus signs and vice versa.
I could see EXF working the way you described it, but then EXF basically is research without changing counts. You can scan anything in research to reset the accumulator to what is actually on the floor. But the point is to not do that since it's extra work. I always understood and seen that if I EXF for more than what we have OH that product will keep flowing to the floor until it either meets the EXF need or it is subt99ed. In your example when you EXF more than the accumulator needs it resets to 0, but when you request less than the accumulator needs the accumulator is unaffected? By your own logic the accumulator should at least be decreased by the 6 that got pulled with the EXF.
TheManInRed, you are incorrect about stand alone research. Best practice is for POG team to shoot stand alone research after they are finished setting so that they are able to scan critical lows as well as outs. The filters are in stand alone research as well to keep the counts from being changed due to new sets and transition madness, which is why it's okay to use stand alone research.
There is no way of telling what the accumulator is sitting at when you create a batch so no one knows. If EXF's are being shot on an out, it's because the accumulator hasn't been able to reach the trigger to create a pull
There's just a ton of confusion about how the accumulator works in general. It definitely doesn't add to the current value. The only time it's not how I posted it is if you enter a value less than the accumulator already wants, but that is pretty rare. I've actually never seen it pull more than I asked for on an EXF though I'm sure it's possible.