Introduction

FFL Tools Complex Manufacturing

Simple Manufacturing that comes standard with FFL Tools is anything but simple. For example: A stripped lower received was purchased from a distributor and acquired as a New item in FFL Tools. When the lower was then assembled into a rifle, it first had to be disposed as a lower receiver and then re-acquired as a rifle as a Manufactured item. It is a confusing, time intensive operation that was prone to mistakes. The manufacturing process is complex enough. That is why FFL Tools Complex Manufacturing attempts to streamline the recording of manufacturing operations for the FFL. FFL Tools Complex Manufacturing (CM) uses five sets of modules.

Creation Manufacturing: Used to record serialized items that are manufactured in house (or manufactured via another FFL using a variance)
Assembly Manufacturing: Used to record serialized items that are purchased as one firearm type and then assembled into another firearm type
Outside Processing: These modules allow in house manufactured items to be disposed and re-acquired to and from an outside processor, I.E. a coating company
Edit Modules: Enable the editing of Serialized Items, Vendors, Outside Processors, and Scrapping of Serialized Items
Reporting Modules: Bound Book and Dated Bound Book reports, Scrap report, Inquiry Screen, Yearly Manufacturing report (5300-11), and Vendor Reference report.

Complex Manufacturing Design

The CM Add On was designed to simplify the creation, processing, and disposition of sequential serial numbered items. When CM is turned on a manufacturing database is created that stores all manufacturing data. This database will be backed up using the same settings as the FFL Tools database. The same restore utility is used to restore from a saved backup.

Some key points about CM:

Items can only be disposed to an FFL holder. When items are disposed to "self" an acquisition is recorded in the Retail Boundbook.
Serial numbers can have a prefix, and suffix, which can contain any character, and the sequential part of the serial number must be a number.
The full FFL number is used for manufacturing and shows on all manufacturing reports.
There is only one manufacturing firearms table and all manufacturing (creation and assembly) items are stored in the table. In the bound book reports, serial numbers with bold type signifies the item was created in house.
Items in the bound book reports are shown by creation date.

Creation Manufacturing Workflow

Creation Manufacturing Acquire

By default the current date will be the creation date when creating new items. Items must be created for an FFL which is selected using the Manufactured For: drop down which will display FFLs that are in the Manufacturing Vendor table. Creation manufacturing makes use of a SKU field in the same manner as FFL Tools. Once a SKU has been defined (by creating at least one item with the sku) the Model, Caliber/Gauge, Firearm Type, and Description fields will auto fill. One to about 2500 serial numbers can be created at a time. We have found that more than 2500 serial numbers on a single acquisition causes the system to become unresponsive. Job, PO, or Lot numbers can be used to help identify and group a set of serial numbers. If enabled, items can be identified as requiring outside processing. (more on that later). To finish out the creation acquisition, if a DYMO printer is connected to the system and the module has been configured to use a defined label, barcode labels can be printed for each serial number created.

Creation Manufacturing Dispose

When Creation Disposition first opens the All Firearm radio button will be selected, the Disposition Date will be the current date, and all available items will be in the data grid. The list can be filtered by Manufactured For, Job Number, Purchase Order, or Lot Number. Shift-Left-Mouse click can be used to select a range of serial numbers, or Control-Left-Mouse click can be used to select individual serial numbers from the grid. Once the selection has been made, a Dispose Sku can be selected or defined, Dispose Type can be selected, and Dispose Description can be defined. These are optional and if not set will default to the creation Sku, Firearm Type, and Description. A packing slip can also be defined, and again, barcode labels can be printed if a DYMO printer is connected and the label has been defined.

If the items where manufactured for "self" (for the FFL# defined in the Retail Store Info in FFL Tools), then an acquisition record for each serial number will be created in the Retail database.

Example:

Twenty Five AR lowers are machined with the following details.

Start Serial Number: LT-00001

Model Number: LT-15

Caliber: Multi

Manufactured for Lewis Tactical (in this case self)

Open creation manufacturing and select Lewis Tactical from the Manufactured For drop down (use the <new> feature if the vendor does not exist)

In SKU: type in LT15LR

SN Prefix: type LT-

Starting Serial Number: type 00001

# of SNs: type 25

Leave SN Suffix blank

Model: type LT-15

Caliber/Gauge: type Multi

Firearm Type: select Receiver from drop down.

Description: type Lewis Tactical Mil-Spec LT Lower Receiver, Black

Lot Number: type 1001

Click the Preview Button. This will list all the serial numbers and information in the grid.

Click the Save Button to create the records and clear the form for the next acquisition.

Then serial number LT-00010 was manufactured into an carbine with MOE furniture. Open Manufacturing Dispositions.

The disposition date will be the current date. Only serial numbers that where manufactured on or before the disposition date will be available for disposition.

In Dispose Sku: type LT15MOEFDE

In Dispose Type: select Rifle from the drop down

In Description: type Lewis Tactical LT-15 with MOE FDE Furniture

Click serial number LT-00010 in the data grid to select it

Click Save. This will create a disposition record in the manufacturing database and an acquisition record in the retail database for the rifle.

Assembly Manufacturing Workflow

Assembly Manufacturing Acquire

Assembly Manufacturing Acquire works exactly like the FFL Tools Retail Acquire, with just a couple of minor exceptions.

Items can only be acquired from an FFL
All items must have a serial number, (Retail Acquire has the ability to generate NSN-#)

Assembly Manufacturing Dispose

Disposing an item from Assembly Manufacturing is a multi step process.

Select the FFL to dispose the item to
Select the Item to be disposed. Selecting the item moves the data from the top grid to a middle set of text boxes.
Change the Dispose Sku (optional)
Change the Dispose Type (optional)
Change the Dispose Description (optional)
Click Add Firearm Button

If the SKU, Type, or Description is not changed, then the Acquire SKU, Type, and Description will be used. This is helpful if items where acquired to be assembled and then it was decided to sell the item to and individual without assembly. In this case dispose the item to "self" and then processes the transfer using the Retail side of FFL Tools.

3. Once all items have been moved to the bottom grid, click the Dispose button to complete the disposition.

Example:

Ten AR lower receivers are acquired from USA Gun Makers with the following details:

Manufacturer: USA Gun Makers

Start Serial Number: USA100123

Model: US-15

Caliber: 5.56 NATO

Open Assembly Acquire and select USA Gun Makers from the drop down.

Press the # symbol in the Firearm Serial Number field to open the Multiple Serial Number dialog box.

Type USA for the prefix

Type 100123 for the Start Serial Number

Type 10 for the # of S/N.

Click Save to close the dialog.

Only the first serial number will show in the Serial Number field.

For Manufacturing SKU: type US15LOWER

For Manufacturer: type USA Gun Makers

Leave Importer blank

For Model: type US-15

For Firearm Type: select Receiver from drop down

For Caliber/Gauge: type 5.56NATO

For Description: Type USA Gun Makers AR 15 Lower Receiver

Click the + Firearms button and 10 serial numbers will be added to the data grid

Click Save to acquire the receivers.

You take one lower off the shelf and build it out as a M4 Carbine with MagPul MOE FDE furniture custom built for a local customer.

Open Assembly Dispose.

Make sure the date is correct.

Select your FFL from the Vendor drop down.

Find the serial number for the lower used one of three ways:

Scroll through the upper data grid and then click the serial number once found
Use the filter to narrow down the list in the data grid
Click in the Serial Number box, (it has focus by default) and then type or scan the serial number

This will move the information to the middle set of boxes.

In Dispose SKU drop down type: US15M4MOEFDE

In Dispose Type drop down select Rifle

In Dispose Description drop down type:M4 Carbine w/USA Lower and FDE MOE Furniture

Click the + Firearm button to move the record with the new SKU, Firearm Type, and Description to the lower grid.

Click Dispose button to dispose. Because you this rifle was disposed to your FFL, an acquisition was created in the FFL Tools Retail Boundbook. It can now be sold to an unlicensed individual from the Retail Boundbook.

Outside Processing

Not all manufactures have the ability to perform all the manufacturing processes that may be needed in house. FFL Tools provides a method of pre-defining Outside Processes and their Processor (which must be an FFL if sending serialized items). With just a few clicks one or many items can be sent or received from an Outside process. The Manufacturing Boundbook will display each serial number grouped together from creation, send to, receive from, final dispose. This makes the physical movement of the item easy to see and understand.

Edit Modules

Firearm and Vendor Edit Modules work the same as in FFL Tools.

Outside Process Edit Module allows to create an outside process for quick dispositions and acquisitions to and from an Outside Processor.

The Scrap Module allows for items to be scrapped and provides the ability to store one or more images of the item being scrapped. If an item is scrapped that serial number will no longer show up in the Manufacturing Boundbook.

Reporting Modules.

There are two main Boundbook reports. Standard that will show everything, and Dated which will show just items that meet the date range specified.

The Scrap report allow for scrap firearms to be viewed and images can be deleted or added as need. You can also print out the item's information along with any images associated with the scrapped item.

The Yearly Manufacturing Report will generate the 5300-11 report making it easy to report your manufacturing activity to the ATF. The report that is generated is not "Flattened" so you can adjust it as needed.

The Inquiry Report works the same as in FFL Tools.

The Vendor Reference report has not been implemented but will work the same as the Vendor Reference report in FFL Tools Retail.