When working with a Bill of Materials (BOM), 3E Exchange can automatically calculate values for weight-related columns so you can store your data in multiple ways! The 3E Exchange Standard Auto-Calculation mode interprets what weight data you've entered to figure out how we should do the calculations. You can even enter unreacted formulation data (aka wet percent by weight data) along with the process information and we will calculate the final amounts of the included chemicals. 

3E Exchange Standard Auto-Calculations

Unreacted Formulation Data
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A majority of 3E Exchange users will benefit most from the 3E Exchange Standard
Auto-calculations. This setting works best if you have any kind of weight or percentage data about your products and materials. This mode calculates the Product % by Weight of your products by using the entered data to make a few small assumptions. Keep in mind, this setting should not be used when the weights are only stored at the lowest level of a BOM (usually the chemical level).  As long as the weights are listed for all the rows or at the higher levels of the BOM, this mode works flawlessly!

But wait, there's more! This mode can be extremely helpful for combining materials with different types of weight and percentage data entered all within the same product. If some of your materials have substance level weights, some have Material % by Weight, and some have unit weights, you can use 3E Exchange Standard Auto-calculations to combine them all together. You can also combine products with other products using this mode! See an example of 3E Exchange Standard Auto-calculations in action below.

Before 3E Exchange Standard Auto-calculations:

After 3E Exchange Standard Auto-calculations:

You can turn on auto-calculations from the BOM view of any product or material. In the BOM view, select "Product Settings" and select "3E Exchange Standard Autocalculations (Recommended)" from the drop-down.

For more information about the BOM Editor, see Editing Products and Materials. 

In some cases, you may find that documenting weight data for wet-applied substances can be more difficult. You're in luck! We have two new BOM columns to help you navigate this process and make wet percentages easier to document than ever while using 3E Exchange Standard Auto-Calculations!

These can be activated by either importing data with these columns, or by manually activating the columns in 3E Exchange. To do this, you will select the column button (pictured below) in your BOM. You can then select the checkbox next to appropriate columns and organize their order by dragging them up or down the list. If you would like to enable these columns for all your products and materials, you can add them to your BOM column template. Read more here: Setting up your BOM Fields.

In order for the auto-calculations to work correctly, you will need to add values into the "Wet Material % by Weight" and "% of Wet Ingredient in Final Product" columns. These two columns generate a Material % by Weight value, and then a Product % by Weight column (see example below).

The auto-calculations in these scenarios work as follows:
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The Wet Material % by Weight is the wet-applied weight of the substance in question. Typically, wet-applied products lose weight during the drying process due to chemical reactions. The % of Wet Ingredient in Final Product is the amount of the substance that is left in the product after evaporation. 

In reference to the example above, we will look at the 'Diethylene Glycol'. This substance is 15% of the Foam Insulation while wet. During the drying process, only 50% of the substance remains after chemical reactions. These two values yield the Material % by Weight, and ultimately the Product % by Weight. This occurs for each of the wet-applied substances. 

If you think one of our other auto-calculation modes might suit your data better, feel free to check out the following article. 

If you have questions about using 3E Exchange or the material covered in this help article, reach out in chat in the bottom right-hand corner or email support@3eco.com.