Bills of materials, production orders and work orders
Keep each item's bill of materials with its components and the steps on your machines. A production order reserves the material, lays out the work orders step by step and puts the finished goods into stock at cost.
PLANSEvery plan
The problem it solves
- The recipe for each product lives in one person's head or a notebook, so two shifts make it two ways.
- Material is issued by guess, and nobody can say what an order really used.
- You cannot tell which order is waiting for material and which is running on which machine.
- Finished goods reach the store without a cost, so the stock value at month end is a guess.
How it works
- Add your machines and stations under Manufacturing > Configuration > Work Centers. Each one gets its plant and its kind: Machine, Line Station, Manual Cell or Outside (Vendor).
- Make a bill of materials for each item you make, with the components and quantities. With work orders switched on, add the steps (operations) on each machine with their minutes.
- Raise a production order for the item and quantity, or let a sales order or a reordering rule raise it. Confirm it: the components are reserved and the work orders are laid out from the steps.
- Work the order: start and finish each work order on the web, or on the shop floor terminal with Growth. Scrap what is lost, with its reason.
- Mark the order done: the components are used up, the finished goods go into stock and the order carries its cost.
Everything it does
Bills of materials
- Components with quantities and units; one bill per item or per variant
- Kits (sold as a set, not made) and normal bills
- Steps (operations) on a machine or station with their minutes, instructions and a worksheet (PDF or a Google Slides link)
- By-products with their share of the cost, when you switch them on in the Manufacturing settings
- The BOM structure and cost report
Production and work orders
- States: Draft, Confirmed, In Progress, To Close, Done, Cancelled
- Confirm reserves the components; Check Availability tries again when stock arrives
- One work order (job) per step, in order; a step can wait for the one before it
- Start, Pause and Done on each work order, with the time kept against the machine
- Scrap with a reason; backorders for part quantities; unbuild to take a finished item apart
- Lots and serial numbers on components and finished goods
Machines and stations
- Plant (warehouse): filled with the Entity's first plant when you leave it empty
- Kind: Machine (to start with), Line Station, Manual Cell or Outside (Vendor)
- Operators who work there (an Operators tab), cost per hour, capacity and working hours
- Machines and stations: 10 on Starter, 50 on Growth, 200 on Scale; one more is refused with a message
Who uses it
Production ManagerOwns the bills of materials, confirms and closes orders and sees their cost.
PlannerRaises production orders and watches what waits for material.
SupervisorStarts and finishes work orders, records scrap and moves jobs between machines.
Manufacturing AdministratorAdds machines and stations, their plant and kind, and the settings.
Where you use it
- Web: Manufacturing > Operations (Manufacturing Orders, Work Orders), Products (Bills of Materials) and Configuration (Work Centers)
- Web: the Shop Floor and Plant dashboards for supervisors, planners and managers
- The SmartMy Manufacturing app: Manufacturing Orders, open ones with late ones first. Each shows its steps and material (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Growth: operators start and count jobs on the shop floor terminal, a web page on a tablet
- Not on any portal: customers do not see your production orders
What you control
Settings
- Work Orders: switch on in Manufacturing settings to give bills of materials their steps
- By-products, lots and serial numbers, and unit of measure options in the settings
- Plant on each machine: the Entity's first plant to start with
- Kind of each machine: Machine to start with
Questions
Do we need work orders for a simple workshop?
No. Without steps, a production order uses the components and makes the item when you mark it done. Switch on Work Orders when you want time per machine and step.Can a sales order raise the production order?
Yes. An item set to be made to order gets its production order when the sales order is confirmed. Reordering rules raise orders when stock falls below a minimum.How is the finished item costed?
From the components used at their cost and the time booked on each machine at its cost per hour. With Growth you also get standard cost roll-up and variances.What happens when we reach the machine limit?
Adding one more machine or station is refused with a message naming your plan's limit: 10 on Starter, 50 on Growth, 200 on Scale. Archive one you no longer use, or move up a plan.Has this run in a real factory?
It is built and tried on our test systems, not yet end to end in a customer's factory. We set it up and try your products with you before you go live.Related features
PRODUCTION AND JOB WORKRoles for your team, and operators with a PIN or badgeGive each person in the office a role that shows them only their part of production. List your shop floor operators with a badge code and a PIN: they work on the tablet terminal without a login of their own.PRODUCTION AND JOB WORKJob work: challans out, goods back valued, process loss and billsSend your material to a job worker on a challan and it stays your stock, valued, at their place. What comes back is valued with the job charge. The loss is checked against what the process allows, and the job worker's bill is made from what came back.PRODUCTION AND JOB WORKStock value by stage: raw, made, at job workers, on hold, rejectedSee what your stock is worth as on any date, split by stage. The stages are raw material, made items, material at job workers, quality hold and rejects, and with Growth work in progress. Per plant, item by item, with each item's costing method.SHOP FLOORThe shop floor terminal: a tablet at each machineA tablet at each machine or station shows its jobs in big tiles. Operators sign in with a PIN or badge, and start and pause jobs. They count good and rejected pieces with a reason, and stop the machine with a reason. Every count goes straight into the order.PLANNING, QUALITY AND COSTMRP run and the planner's workbenchOne run works out what to make and what to buy for a plant, level by level through your bills of materials. It works from customer orders, open production orders, stock and safety stock. The planner checks each proposal on one workbench and orders it.ACROSS SMARTMY MANUFACTURINGDashboardsManufacturing opens on ready dashboards for each role. The supervisor sees what is running and waiting for material, and the planner sees the order book. Job work, quality and maintenance each have their own. Every number is counted for the person looking, and a click opens the records behind it.
See your shop floor on it.
Tell us what you make, how many machines and people you run, and how production is recorded today. We will set up a line with you and run a job on the terminal.