The manufacturing tab is only available if the item is "Plan for manufacturing" as shown in the top section of the item card.
If you wish to have an item that has a product structure, but nevertheless is planned for purchasing, it is possible to create the manufacturing template for the item but not use it for planning.
To set up a manufactured item in the system, the following information is needed:
Cells and routing are setup in the Production main menu. For a new system where routing is not being used, use the defaults that come with the system.
Note that for make-to-order items, it is possible to edit and extend the product structure and routing for the sales order line itself without affecting the data stored in the item card. Thus for products that are made differently each time to customer’s requirements it may be wise to leave the product structure rather empty, consisting only of those items that are truly common to the generic product.
A manufactured item can be associated with (i.e.created by) more than one manufacturing template. This can be done so that a single item can have different versions of the product structure for instance. When creating a new work order the user can then choose which version of the product to make. However, only one manufacturing template can be selected for planning purposes and this is chosen in the dropdown list on the top section of the item card. For further information on creating multiple manufacturing templates for a single item see the Manufacturing section.
Structure subtab
The Structure subtab contains the data for the product structure of the manufactured item. The product structure is a list of items that are required to produce the manufactured item, together with the quantities needed to produce it.
Note that items of all generic types can be added to the structure. For example both materials and work time can be added to one step. (This is why it is not called a Bill of Materials
Also, an item can exist in the structure multiple times on different steps, but can only occur once on each step.
Each consumed item is specified according to the step of the route to which it is consumed. Therefore it is recommended to specify the route on the routing tab before adding items to the structure. It is possible to change the route later however, but if the new route has different step numbers then the items on the structure may be moved automatically to valid steps on the new route. If routing is not used on the system, then there will be a standard route with one step whose step number is 10.
The quantity refers to the actual quantity consumed at that step, per unit of the manufactured product. If not using the per piece unit of measure be especially careful that the quantities are valid for the unit of measure of the product.
When a work order is created, the planned quantity for each item will be the consumed quantity times the work order quantity, plus the fixed quantity specified in the structure.
The options button opens a pop-up screen where the information needed for the sales configurator is needed. See the section on sales configurator for further information.
Routing subtab
The Routing subtab displays information of the default route of the product. Select the desired route from the drop down list and press save.
The choice and content of routes can not be edited here. This is done in the Factory setup section.
If the route is changed and the new route has different step numbers on it from the old, then the product structure will be updated with valid step numbers.
The route specified here is the default when manufacturing a product. When the work order is opened it is possible to change the actual route steps used by the product manufacturing process. For instance if there is a choice of work cells for a certain product then specify the most common here.
Properties subtab
This contains the parameters that control the way that a work order created for this item is processed in the system.
Design properties are valid for setting on the item card. Shopfloor properties are valid only when the work order is created, and should normally be left blank on the item card. In exceptional cases the default values can be set for the shopfloor properties on the item card.
Design properties:
| Make at assembly | For subassemblies: if this property is 'on', manufacturing the subassembly will be merged in the work order where the final product is manufactured. Use this only on the sub assembly itself. Do not set it on the parent product. |
| Close work order on last step | The work order will be automatically closed when the last step of the route is completed. The work order will not be closed if lot tracking or serial number information is not complete. This is useful for high volume manufacturing where a work order can be closed by using a bar code scan to mark the last step as complete. |
| Default Batch Size | Used to allocate fixed quantities of Items (usually setup hours) in correct relation to per unit Items when automatically scheduling work. |
| Maximum batch size | When creating work orders in bulk, the system will limit the number of products on one work order to this number and if necessary create more work orders. For instance, if the maximum batch size is 1, and 5 items are required then 5 work orders (each of 1 product) will be created. |
| Planned Throughput Periods (Fixed) | The number of periods used to calculate the difference between the required start date and the required finish date. The number of periods in a day, the number of minutes in a period and the number of working days in a week are specified in the company section. |
| Planned throughput periods per unit | The time for manufacturing one unit of product. The total throughput time is the sum of the fixed periods plus the periods per unit times batch size. |
| Dedicated work order | When this product is added to a sales order line, it will use the dedicated work order process. (Also known as Make to Order) When the order is activated, a work order will be created regardless if there is the same item id freely available in stock. Also it is possible to edit the properties and structure of the work order on the sales order line. At shipping time, it is not possible to ship the sales order line unless the dedicated work order has been completed. |
| Open work order automatically | Automatically opens a work order when a sales order line for this product is activated. |
| Work Instruction | Text comment or a hyperlink to a work instruction document on another server. |
Shop-floor properties:
| Comment to customer | Comments that the customer can see through the order tracking site. |
| Comments | Internal comments |
| Estimated Completion Date | Can be seen by customer in order tracking (if access is given) |
| Product lot number | The lot number of products created by this order. If blank, the work order number is used. Only relevant when lot tracking is enabled for the product. |
| Status code | A user defined status code. The available values are defined in the ‘Own company’ section. |
| Production foreman | The foreman responsible for the work order |
| Dimension 1, 2, 3 | Used by the dimensions extension to set the dimensions' units. |
| Volume, area, weight | Used by the dimension extension for calculating the product structure's total requirements on a sales order. |
By-Products subtab
In certain manufacturing processes, a work order will create more than one product. There will be one main product and a number of by-products.
When the manufactured item is created, the main product will be listed here with a quantity of one. Add any by-products of the work order on this screen. It will then be possible to create by-products in the Production menu when the work order is completed.
Part Designators subtab
Part designators are the references to the item on an engineering drawing. Part designators are added as text relative to items in the product structure. One item can have many part designators.
Custom data subtab
It is possible to add custom fields to the manufacturing template. These fields will be prefixed with a ~ mark and can be of the types Decimal, Currency, Date, Text or Logical (Yes/No).
Versions sub tab
It is possible to create and manage multiple versions of an item's manufacturing template. However only one can be active at any one time. The different versions are normally edited for changes in a product's structure that does not require a change in the product item id. (i.e. customers do not need to know there has been a design improvement.) Other design properties are also included in the version, so it might reflect a change in manufacturing strategy.
To create a new version, select one previous version and press Duplicate selected. Then edit it. Finally activate it. Activating it will change the displayed value for the Manufacturing template shown on the top part of the screen.
Backflush sub tab
Backflush is the process of automatically issuing items to work orders according to plan. It is used to reduce data entry on the shopfloor in manufacturing processes where item usage remains sufficiently close to planned usage that there is no sense to manually record all transactions. There are several options for backflush depending on whether the backflush is to be carried out on the work order or the step, and at the beginning or end.
For simple, high volume production, consider the use of backflush on step completion together with "close work order on the last step". This will allow items to be backflushed and product put to stock and the work order to be closed all in one (possibily barcoded) operation. On the work cell screen the user will be prompted to enter the scrap amount so that backflush uses the total of good production and scrap, while product is put to stock per the quantity of good production.