A production work order is the process by which materials are used and products are created. Also work time, machine time, subcontract and other cost items can be consumed.
Manu Online supports two basic production methodologies:
- Make to stock (also called serial production). Products are made in batches (even if the batch size is one). Products are allocated to sales orders or higher level work orders (for subassemblies)
- Make to order (also called dedicated work orders). Products are strictly tied to a sales order line. Because of this strict connection, the product(s) can be customised the customer's exact requirements while still using the same product item id.
Both of these methodologies use production work orders. To have a work order without a product, use a service work order.
The work order has a unique number and have a planned start and finish time. Different item types are allocated to work orders according to the planned product structure, which is set in the item card manufacturing tab. The five different item types can be consumed by a work order, and the cost of individual products created (FIFO costs for inventory) is the sum of the costs of all consumed items divided by the number of products created by the work order.
Licensing
Production work orders are included in all systems with manufacturing. Other extensions that affect the features of the work order are described below:
| Serial numbers and lot tracking | Track the serial numbers or lot numbers of either product or consumed items. Serial number or lot tracking is determined for each item on the item card technical tab. |
|---|---|
| Multistep routing | If multistep routing is not used, there will be one step and one cell used by all work orders. |
| Create multiple work orders | Create multiple work orders based on the demand calculations. This can also take into account minimum stock levels for products and maximum batch sizes for lean manufacturing. |
| Pick lists | Picklists are for managing multiple picklists for retrieving consumed material items from stock. This is not a "self service" extension. Contact our support team if this feature is of interest. When not in use each work order can produce one pick list. |
Creating
When creating a new work order, the system will prompt you first for the product and then for the quantities that the system has calculated from demand using the real time MRP feature. At each step you can decide to either make different products or different quantities than proposed.
Dedicated work orders are normally created automatically when activating a sales order, and so the following screen shots do not apply.
In the production home screen or production work order main menu, press the New button to show this popup:
By default, the Planned manufacturing check box will be selected, so only products for which you have an existing demand will be listed.
Optionally enter a part product name (actually manufacturing template name, so you can include template version data), and an end date to get requirement before a certain day. Checking the Material available box will further filter the list for those production operations for which you have all the materials available.
Note if manual stock changes are made, the list of planned requirements will not be correct until the following day unless a manual MRP run is made during the day. It will reflect recently added sales orders and higher level work orders.
Select a product to continue to the next screen to choose the quantity of the work order.
Check or enter the appropriate manufacturing batch size and press [Recalculate] to see how the system allocates this work to the requirements which are displayed in the grid. The requirement can either be a sales order line or a higher level work order. If the batch size is greater than requirements, then all requirements will be allocated and there will be one extra record without display of the customer or work order.
The field ‘Free material in stock’ shows the maximum number of products that can be manufactured using available free materials in inventory. It is possible, but perhaps not logical, to create a work order for a larger number than this but it is recommended to review the situation regarding the component materials before doing so.
If the work order is carried out at a contract manufacturer, select this company from the list. This enables personnel at that company to access the work order if they have been given user names with the required rights.
Press [Ready] close the popup and display the work order screen for the newly created work order.
Header section and Procedures tab
The production work order has four sections. From top to bottom these are:
- Summary of the work order
- Products
Summary
| Work order | This is the work order number, it is either a sequential number generated by the system or has been edited manually in the procedures section. If the work order number is followed by another number in brackets, the work order is dedicated to this sales order line. |
| Status | Under construction or complete. Work orders are under construction while they are open. |
| Template | The manufacturing template that the work order is based on. The template is by default "Make" plus the item id of the product that it is making. It can be seen from the item card. |
| Description | The description of the manufacturing template. This text can be edited from the item card manufacturing tab. |
| Start date | This was specified when the work order was created. If the work order was created automatically from a sales order, it is based on counting back from the promised date of the sales order line using the throughput period of the work order as set in the item card manufacturing tab. |
| Finish date | The finish date is counted forward from the start date based on the throughput time of the manufacturing template. |
| Manufacturer | This will be blank for in-house manufacturing. If a subcontractor was specified when the work order was created it is marked here. User names linked to the subcontractor can access only work orders allocated to them. |
Product section
| Product | There will be at least one product for the work order. If there is more than one, it is a work order that produces by-products. These are specified in the item card. |
Sales order section
Note that the sales order section will only be displayed if the work order is dedicated to a particular sales order line.
| Order number | Sales order number. It is a link to the popup view of the sales order. |
| Customer order | The customer order number as entered to the sales order. |
| Customer reference | The reference as entered to the order. |
| Project | The project of the sales order (if any) |
| Required date | The customer’s required date of the sales order line |
| Promised date | The promised date by your company for the sales order line. |
| Instructions | Instructions to production entered on the sales order line. |
Procedures tab
The procedures tab shows the three buttons for progressing the work order and fields for the relevant work order data. Each time a button is pressed the user and time is recorded for reference.
The three action buttons allow a very simple way to process a work order from start to finish. Much more detail and adjustments can be entered from the different tabs, but these three buttons will make all the necessary actions for removing consumed items from stock, creating products and closing the work order.
Note that to use the backflush feature, use the Work cell screen to process the work order. That screen handles work order data from the point of view of a cell operator rather than an individual work order as here.
| Withdraw initial materials | Press this button to remove from stock all materials as per the planned structure of the product. The planned materials are specified on the item card, but may have been modified on the sales order line if the work order is dedicated to the line and the user used the tools to edit the structure specifically for this order. Material quantities can also be edited and corrected on the items tab. |
| Move all products to stock | Press this button when preparing to complete the work order. It will move all products to stock. It is possible to adjust product (and other item) quantities in detail from the items tab. This button will do the necessary updates for all products in one click. Note that is recommended that all consumed items (materials, work/machine time, subcontract and other costs) are entered before moving the product to stock, so that the products will enter stock immediately with correct stock values. If consumed materials are changed later, than the product costs will be adjusted retrospectively, but this adjustment will not be carried forward to the costs of shipment, or for use in other work orders, if the product has been used before the final adjustments are made. |
| Work order number | The work order number is allocated in one of the two ways, (it can be set automatically, or it can be set/ changed manually). If the work order is opened from a sales order (open work order automatically for dedicated work order) then the work order number is the next sequential number followed by the sales order and line number in parenthesis. If the work order is opened manually from the production menu (and the Get work order number is pressed) then only the next sequential number is allocated. The number sequence is set in the Admin section, company properties. On this section it can be edited. |
| Estimated completion date | This is originally set from the planning system. This will be the estimated completion date of the last step. To change this value, go to the routing tab and enter the date of the last step. |
| Status code | The choices for status code are user defined. The list of choices is set in the Admin section, company properties. |
| Production foreman | This can be chosen from the list of users in the system. |
| Schedule locked | Locks the schedule so that a user of the optional production planning screen cannot adjust the dates of the work order. |
| Priority | By default the priority is set to 50. The value can be set for 1 to 100. If the value is less than 10 then the automatic material allocation system will allow planned materials to be removed from this work order and allocated to higher priority work orders. |
| Work instruction | This is a read-only display of the work instruction set on the item card’s manufacturing tab. It can be either a text or a link to an external document storage system. |
| Comments | This is for internal comments. |
| Comment to customer | This is for comment that is visible to the customer if the optional order tracking details feature is in use. |
Routing tab
The routing tab shows the sequence of steps needed to complete the work order. The route is created for a new work order based on the route selected in the Item card’s Manufacturing tab. If the multistep routing option is not in use then the route is a single step, and it is not possible to add new steps. It is not required to enter route data in order to complete the work order. By convention step numbers are entered as tens so that it is easier to insert steps at a later date.
Items tab
The Items tab shows the different items that have been consumed in the work order and the products completed. It is not necessary to make any adjustments on this tab if the default values are correct. The default product structure is set in the item card’s manufacturing tab. However in the case is that the product structure is not priorly known or extra materials are needed, the adjustments are made here. Recording work hours directly to the work order can also be done here, but it may be easier from the work hours entry screen.
There are 4 sub tabs for materials, work/machine times, subcontract and other costs, and one tab showing a summary of costs. To see the summary of costs the user must have the "show costs" rights selected in the user’s settings.
When the user presses the ‘Withdraw initial materials’ button then the materials are issued from stock to the work order based on the product structure defined in the item card, and as possibly adjusted in the sales order line.
When the user presses the ‘Move all products to stock button’, the system completes the product stock entries according to the planned work order quantity. Both of the above can be adjusted here if the pre-planned quantities are not correct in this particular work order.
Properties tab
This tab displays the configuration settings that affect how the work order is processed, particularly with regard to the automation features: backflush and automatic closing. Also any custom properties set on the item card manfucaturing tab are shown here. Whether a field is editable on the work order is set on the item card.
Traceability tab
Traceability concerns lot tracking and serial numbers. It is displayed only when required.
Lot tracking and serial numbers are set for individual items on the item card technical tab. Traceability is an optional system feature.
Traceability can be on for either the work order product or the consumed items, or both. For full traceability then typically either lot tracking or serial numbers are on for the product and also for key components of the product.
If lot tracking is to be used on a serial numbered product, then it is recommended to use a manufacturing batch size of one.
See details for how serial numbers and lots are tracked in the Traceability section.