In the case that the sales order line is a material item which is planned for manufacturing and has "Dedicated work order" set (item card -> Manufacturing -> Properties) then a work order dedicated to this line will be created. The creation will happen either immediately the work order is activated (Open work order automatically) or later when the user opens work orders. When the line is shipped to the customer, it will only be possible to do so if the dedicated work order has been completed.
Because a product in a dedicated work order can only be shipped to this customer against this order line, it is possible to "re-use" the product item id for different physical products. To do this the user can edit the product structure for this line only and also change other manufacturing information such as routing and manufacturing properties.
If the product being sold is not with the dedicated work order feature, then the Structure, Routing and Production tabs will show this information from the product if available, but it can not be edited.
Editing the product structure and routing for the product
On the line details page, structure tab, press the "Edit structure and properties. This will editing of the data that will be used in the new work order by coping the product structure and route from that specified on the item card.
Note that the new work order will not be visible in the Production section until the sales order is activated.
Using the structure tab it is possible to add and delete lines as required on the structure of the manufactured item on the sales order line. The original list of items in a product structure is specified in the manufacturing tab of the item card. After clicking ‘Edit structure’ it is also possible to add items in bulk by pressing the ‘Upload’ button. This will open a new window to which it is possible to paste a list of items from another application such as an Excel spreadsheet or a CAD system.
The routing tab allows specification of the route steps to be used by this manufactured item. Steps can be removed and added by the user.
Generally it is recommended to update the route first and then specify the structure. This is because each item is associated with a route step.
Automatically opening the work order on sales order activation
On the item’s Manufacturing tab -> Properties subtab there is a check box "Open work order automatically". If this is set then the work order for the item will be automatically created when the sales order is activated. The finish date of the work order is set as the promised date specified on the sales order line. The start date is then calculated by counting back from this finish date by the amount of planned throughput periods specified for the item (which is also set in the Manufacturing tab > Properties subtab of the Item card). The definition of the length of one period is set in the Company settings section. Typically either 1 minute or 1 hour is used.
Depending on the other settings on the item, the work order may already be queued or under work at the first cell in its route.
Setting the price from the sum of planned components
Price lists can be set up for components of this product structure used. On the pricing tab, go to the Component prices sub tab and press Update component prices
Work order numbers and serial numbers on dedicated work orders
By default this work order number will also include a reference to the sales order number and line number. However the user can also specify the work order number to use for the work order about to be created.
If serial numbers are in use for the item and the batch size is one, the work order number set here can also be used as the serial number of the product to be manufactured. This action is controlled in Admin -> System settings -> Use work order number as serial number. If the work order number is already in use then a sequence number will be appended to it.
Item dimensions
The item dimension module allows the quantities of items used in the product structure to be automatically updated according to the dimensions of the sold product. To do this mark in the item card if an item dimension dependent, and to which dimension is the dependency (i.e. height, width, length, area, volume). When entering the sales order line, set the dimensions of the product and press the update dimensions button. The system will calculate the appropriate quantities of the product structure that is being edited.