41 Days: Converting from Purchasing Units of Measure to Pounds Part 1: Standard conversion factors
Purchasing receives in very different units than the ones you need for Tier2 Threshold Determinations…
Receiving/Purchasing Units of Measure can be very different than what we need for Tier2 Threshold determinations-Each? Piece? What do I do with those? This is Part 1 of 2, the easy steps
A few days back we talked about how Enterprise Resource Planning ERP/Purchasing systems typically track receipts/transactions by Part Numbers, not by Safety Data Sheet SDS numbers.
It’s the exception where the SDS Number is associated with the Part Number for each different Supplier who provides that material. It’s ideal if you can implement that, and something to check into for next year if you have that option.
But once you have associated the SDS Number to your Part Numbers, you will next encounter the challenge that ERP/Purchasing systems receive materials in a wide range of Units of Measure. It is again the exception by far when the units are the Pounds you need for your Tier2 threshold determination calculations.
So here is the start of the (minimum) steps for conducting that conversion:. We set up a hierarchy where once the particular conversion has gotten the transaction to Pounds, it is skipped in the subsequent steps.
Units of Measure UOM = Pounds (in some variation). You will probably need a “synonym” table: P, #, Lb, Lbs, Pounds, etc. Synonym tables will probably be needed for almost all units of measure you receive.
Sidetrack: Units of measure are Cubic Feet or Cubic Inches but the material is contained a gas cylinder. These look like the next type of conversion, a mass unit of measure, but these require supplier-specific conversion factors for each type of gas and type of cylinder. The amount in each cylinder will vary depending on the pressure to which the supplier fills the cylinder.
Mass units of measure not pounds. Conversion factors you can look up in a table (only one way to convert) but not volumetric so doesn’t require specific gravity to convert to Pounds. Tons (converstion factor x 2000 = pounds) is the most common
(Standard) Volumetric units of measure. Again, units of measure you can look up in a table and where there is only 1 conversion factor.But these require specific gravity to convert to pounds, so you will need to make sure that the Safety Data Sheet SDS has a specific gravity that can be used to calculate a value
It needs to be a numeric value. “Greater than 1” or “>1” won’t work
For a specific gravity range, we would typically use the higher value for purposes of threshold determination. Again that standpoint of calculating the highest possible value for purposes of threshold determinations, if the material doesn’t exceed thresholds, you can ignore it for the rest of this Tier2 cycle. If the conversion does exceed threshold determinations, and if it would make a difference, you can come back and refine the specific gravity value later.
We’ll address other kinds of conversions in the next post:
Container-specific but convert to standard units of measure (for example, Case of 12-32ounce bottles)
Part-number specific: Each part number will need its own conversion factor (for example, Each, Piece)
Community outreach: How do you implement this at your facility?
Michigan EGLE links from first and second webinars of 2022 SARA 312 virtual training courses:
I’m keeping these links for awhile because they are so useful. I’ll post the session 3 recording info when it becomes available. You can sign on and listen even if you didn’t sign up for the webinar series.
RECORDING LINK FOR SESSION 2: Wed Jan 19, 2022.
Really good example on batteries. This is the “in the weeds” how to conduct your threshold determinations episode: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/4027906237723673347
I talked to Mike Young, one of the presenters, right after the first webinar. He said that it’s not unusual for them to take phone calls from people from other states (with the warning to confirm that your state doesn’t have differences in their requirements compared to Michigan).
RECORDING LINK FOR SESSION 1:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/7957790593170499843
PRESENTATION: (I wasn’t able to attach a copy of the presentation, email the link below and they will send it to you)
SARA TITLE III – TIER II REPORTING WEBSITE: http://www.michigan.gov/sara
MICHIGAN FACILITIES’ GUIDE TO SARA TITLE III: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/deq-oea-saraguidebook_509720_7.pdf
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Mike Young and Adam Pohl
517-284-7272
Michigan EGLE SARA 312 virtual training courses for Jan 2022
#SARA312 #SARATierII #SARATier2 #EPCRA #EGLE #March1EPAReportDeadline #Tier2Training
