Though this is a rather common situation, I have yet to see a clean way to handle it. Many inventory systems are capable of managing the multiple UOMs (converting bars to FT) and this part works pretty well. However, when it comes to tracking actual bar lengths in stock and especially when it comes to handling scrap when you end up with remnants, you usually don’t get a lot of help from your inventory system. So in most cases you are stuck with manual processes. There is no single best way to do this so you need to figure what seems to fit best for your specific needs. The most important thing to consider with these types of processes is keeping the process simple enough as to not confuse the workers that need to manage it, and then making sure the workers fully understand the procedures and follow them consistently.  You will probably have to compromise a bit on how accurately you can track these inventories through your manufacturing processes in order to have a process that is practical. You can sometimes use cycle counting of these inventories to help compensate for these imprecise processes.

             Dave Piasecki