Overview
In ERPlite, phantom items are treated just like assemblies except that the phantom item itself does not show up when an assembly is exploded. The child items of the phantom are blown through and appear as children of the parent item to the phantom. For example, I have an assembly called PRD1000 which contains a phantom item called ASY0008. When I add the PRD1000 to a work order and explode the PRD1000, the ASY0008 will not appear in the pick list, but it's children will appear.
Definitions
While working with ERPlite, you may have questions about the distinction between assemblies, phantom items, and QuickBooks groups. These definitions will help you clarify the differences between these three very similar concepts.
Phantom Bill of Material:
A bill of material coding and structuring technique used primarily for
transient (non-stocked) subassemblies. For the transient item, lead time
is set to zero and the order quantity to lot-for-lot. This permits MRP
logic to drive requirements straight through the phantom item to its
components, but usually retains its ability to net against any occasional
inventories of the item. This technique also facilitates the use of
common bills of material for engineering and manufacturing.
(Definition from: Production & Inventory
Management by Fogarty, Blackstone, and Hoffman)
Assembly:
A group of subassemblies and/or parts which are put together and constitute a
major subdivision for the final product. An assembly may be an end item
or a component of a higher level assembly.
(Definition from: Production & Inventory
Management by Fogarty, Blackstone, and Hoffman)
QuickBooks Group:
Group items are useful for quickly entering a group of individual items that
you've already set up as single items on your list and often sell together.
Group items cannot be included in other group items. Inventory is tracked
against each item in the group, not the group itself. Sales tax is
calculated on each item in the group.
Phantom Items in Work Orders
ERPlite handles phantom items in work orders in the following way. A phantom item will be exploded so that all it's child items will be in the work order. After the work order is exploded, you will notice that the phantom item will not appear in the exploded BOM of the work order.
How does InstantMRP handle Phantom Items?
When InstantMRP encounters a phantom item, it is treated like an assembly. This ensures that the forecasted demand for the children of the phantom calculated by InstantMRP remains accurate. InstantMRP will even create work orders for phantom items, but when the work orders are imported into ERPlite, the work orders for phantom items are ignored.