First Article Inspection During Inbound Receiving

How to use Flexe's First Article Inspection (FAI) service to add missing inventory properties during the receiving process.  

IN THIS TOPIC

• Using FAI During the Receiving Process
• Troubleshooting FAI Issues
• Terminology

First Article Inspection (FAI) is a service offered by Flexe to shippers. When inventory is delivered to your warehouse for the first time, you can use FAI to help with identifying and inputting certain inventory properties.  

Here are the properties that can be added through FAI:

• Eaches per carton
• Cartons per pallet
• Cartons per layer, and layers per pallet (TiHi)
• Ship Alone status (for the each and for the carton)
• Ship As-Is status (for the each and for the carton)

If the shipper already has some or all of these inventory properties saved in Flexe, you can enter or override remaining properties during the inbound receiving process in the Flexe web platform.

The shipper will still be able to edit properties after you've entered them. However, keep in mind that the system does not keep a record of previously entered inventory properties. 

Note: FAI is billed manually, therefore, you won't see associated charges accumulate throughout the month in the Billing section. These charges will appear on the 7th of the month, when invoices are finalized, for the month prior. 

Availability

At this time, FAI is only available for fulfillment reservations--specifically inbound container deliveries/unloads. If you need more information about whether FAI is enabled for your reservation,  please reach out to your Flexe Logistics Analyst or contact us at [e-mail].

Using FAI During the Receiving Process

To complete the First Article Inspection service in Flexe:  

1. Confirm the inbound container delivery.

Open Inbound Deliveries from the left menu, and select the container delivery you want to confirm. To learn more, go to Confirming Inbound Deliveries. 

Note: Make sure to confirm within 24 hours of the requested delivery date. 

2. Open the confirmed delivery, then select Print Receiving List. 

Once the container arrives at your warehouse, go back to Inbound Deliveries in Flexe, and open the In Progress tab to find and open the delivery. Then, select Print Receiving List. 

This generates a printable list (in PDF format) of everything you should expect to receive in the delivery. Make sure to print all pages of this receiving list--it will include sections you can use to manually record everything you'll need to track for FAI. 

3. Manually record missing inventory information. 

During the receiving/unloading process, make sure to record any missing inventory information on your printed receiving list. 

4. Enter all SKU quantities from your receiving list. 

Go back to the Inbound Delivery details page in Flexe to enter quantities received for each SKU. 

Use Shippable Items to enter in the number of items that can be put away in inventory and later shipped out for fulfillment.

Use Damaged Items to enter the number of items that need to be put away in Quality Audit, that cannot be shipped. 

5. Enter missing SKU properties. 

Under Enter missing SKU properties, add in any missing information, using the notes from your printed receiving list: 

• Each Properties - The Eaches per Carton section will default to whatever the shipper entered when creating the SKU (if anything). 
• Ship Status - Use the check boxes to select Shipalone or Ship As-Is for the item. For more information, refer to the Terminology section. If you're still not sure which to select, reach out to your Flexe Logistics Analyst, or contact us at [e-mail]. 
• Carton & Layer Properties - Enter the TiHi for any pallets built for the delivery.
• Pallet Properties - The number of Cartons per Pallet will automatically update after you've added information for the other three entry fields (Eaches per Carton, Cartons per Layer, Layers per Pallet).

When you've finished adding everything, select Save Changes.  

All fields will be updated to reflect the information you entered. If you need to make any more changes, refresh the page. 

6. Choose your staging location.

Use the dropdown menu to set your staging location. The selections available in the dropdown will only include locations designated in the the Inbound Staging category for your warehouse. 

Note: To learn how to choose a different location, go to Creating and Managing Locations. 

7. Confirm pallets and print pallet labels.

The # shippable pallets? column will automatically update to reflect the TiHi you previously entered (in Step 5).

Use the Print option under Labels to print labels for each pallet. The correct number of pallet labels should automatically be generated, based on the TiHi you entered. However, make sure to confirm you have all the labels you need. 

8. Enter the container arrival time.

Go to Enter Inbound Container Arrival Time to add the date and time that container arrived at your warehouse.

Note: The time you enter for arrival should be within 24 hours of the final confirmed delivery window. If you're not sure whether this applies to you, reach out to your Flexe Logistics Analyst or contact us at [e-mail]. 

9. Upload the signed Bill of Lading.

Select Upload to upload a copy of the provided Bill of Lading (BOL). 

Note: If you (or the carrier) don't have this document, you can upload a packing list as the BOL instead.

Choose the BOL file from where it's saved on your computer. Then set the Document Type to Bill Of Lading, and select Upload Document. 

Once uploaded, the BOL is listed under Documents & Labels at the top of the page: 

10. Review everything, then select Complete and Finalize Delivery. 

Review everything to make sure what you physically received with the container delivery matches what you entered. Correct any discrepancies or issues, as needed. 

Then, select Complete and Finalize Delivery. 

Once you complete the delivery, an email confirmation is sent to the shipper--however, the shipper is unable to view and access inventory from the delivery until you move it to storage. 

To learn more about moving inventory to storage as the next step, go to Putaway (eComm/Retail).

Troubleshooting FAI Issues

Here's how to troubleshoot some common errors and issues with First Article Inspection. 

Error: “All SKU properties must be greater than 0”

This error can occur if you erased the zeroes or typed in a number for any SKU property. 

To resolve this error, use the arrows next to each text box to manually set the value to zero (click up and down on each arrow once). 

No Barcode Provided

If you printed a content label instead of a barcode, or you see "NO BARCODE PROVIDED" when there should be a barcode, reach out to [e-mail] for additional help. 

Wrong SKU Property Information Entered

If you entered the wrong SKU property information by mistake, reach out to [e-mail] for additional help. 

Terminology

First Article Inspection (FAI) - First Article Inspection (FAI) is a service offered by Flexe to shippers. When product is delivered to your warehouse for the first time, you can use FAI to help with identifying and inputting certain inventory properties.  

Inbound Delivery - Refers to the process warehouses use to receive inventory or a purchase order (PO). 

SKU - Abbreviation for Stock Keeping Unit; a unique identifier for an item down to size, color and style (if applicable).

Ship Alone - Inventory designation used for items that cannot be shipped with any other product, and that need their own shipping label. 

Ship As-Is - Inventory designation used for product that can be shipped “as-is,” meaning that only a shipping label needs to be applied to the item packaging to ship it with any carrier. If multiple ship as-is items are assigned to an order, each item needs its own shipping label.

TiHi - Used for coordinating pallet dimensions, specifically the cartons per layer, and layers per pallet. The "Ti" refers to the number of boxes/cartons that can be stored on each pallet layer or tier; while the "Hi" refers to the number of layers or tiers high the pallet can be.