logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

, a counting point (CP; also known as a status point, data acquisition point, check point, or control point) is a certain spot designated for planning, controlling, and monitoring material flow items (e.g. single parts, assembly groups, final

product Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution ...

s, bins, racks,

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

s, and freight carriers).

Installation

If the production and material flow gets more and more complex then more counting points must be installed in the process of

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

, and

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

. Especially check points for

quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach plac ...

and

quality assurance Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to assure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...

can be used outstandingly as counting points but also

data acquisition Data acquisition is the process of sampling signals that measure real-world physical conditions and converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that can be manipulated by a computer. Data acquisition systems, abbreviated by the ...

points in material handling processes. For better planning and monitoring of material flow items it is helpful to order all counting points in such a way that the requirements of an ideal Boolean

interval (mathematics) In mathematics, a real interval is the set of all real numbers lying between two fixed endpoints with no "gaps". Each endpoint is either a real number or positive or negative infinity, indicating the interval extends without a bound. A real ...

algebra can be fulfilled. Boolean intervals are half-opened and a counting point lays always inside at the beginning and the ending lays outside and is the entry-point of the next-following interval. Such an interval can represent any kind of stretch in production and material flow e.g. an

assembly line An assembly line, often called ''progressive assembly'', is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechan ...

, a storage or

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

, a transport route etc. Alternative production and transportation stretches are mapped as parallel intervals, which are logical equivalent but have their own different data acquisition points. If a flow item passes a certain CP it has left the preceding interval and stays in the concerned interval at the same time. By this it can be assured that a flow object can stay only in one interval at a certain moment which is also true and evident for parallel intervals. This kind of mapping material flow structure is necessary for a consistent calculation of the

lead-time A lead time is the :wikt:latency, latency between the initiation and completion of a process. For example, the lead time between the placement of an order and delivery of new cars by a given manufacturer might be between 2 weeks and 6 months, dep ...

and complete cycle time for flow items which is extremely important not only for material flow planning but also for

production planning Production planning is the planning of Production (economics), production and manufacturing modules in a company or industry. It utilizes the resource allocation of activities of employees, raw material, materials and production capacity, in ord ...

and

manufacturing operations management Manufacturing operations management (MOM) is a collection of systems for managing end-to-end manufacturing processes with a view to optimizing efficiency. There are many types of MOM software, including for production management, performance analy ...

in general.

Usage

Counting points are used in different logistic areas like transportation, material handling, goods

receipt A receipt (also known as a packing list, packing slip, packaging slip, (delivery) docket, shipping list, delivery list, bill of the parcel, Manifest (transportation), manifest, or customer receipt) is a document acknowledging that something h ...

, and goods issue at the border of a plant, because this is often transfer of ownership. Other well-known counting points are receiving and issuing material items at the border of a storage or

. Counting points play an important rule also in manufacturing and production

scheduling A schedule (, ) or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such things ...

and different concepts of

material requirements planning Material requirements planning (MRP) is a production planning, scheduling, and inventory control system used to manage manufacturing processes. Most MRP systems are software-based, but it is possible to conduct MRP by hand as well. An MRP syst ...

(e.g. for the concept of cumulative quantities and the gross-net-method. Counting points also appear in the

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, Maintenance, repairing, and Custom car, modification of motor ve ...

where the production flow of a car is controlled, scheduled, and monitored continuously at exactly-defined check points for different manufacturing departments and shops and where the data is used for scheduling and optimization.P. Schönsleben: ''Integral Logistics Management ...'', Taylor & Francis, 2016, Chap. 6.5

References

External links

* SAP-HEL

Literature

* * * * {{citation, surname1= Paul Schönsleben , title= Integral Logistics Management: Operations and Supply Chain Management in Comprehensive Value-Added Networks , publisher= Taylor and Francis Group , publication-place=Boca Raton New York, isbn=9781498750530, edition= 5th, date=2016, language=English Logistics

Installation

Usage

See also

References

External links

Literature