Manufacturing · Daily operations · 9 min read

Create, plan and release a manufacturing order

Make an order, move it through Draft, Planned, Firmed and Released, and understand what each step locks.

Before you begin

• The product has an active BOM and route, or you will add components and work orders by hand.
• Stock of components is available, or you accept a short release (see the settings).
• Each action needs its own permission: manufacturing.create to create, manufacturing.plan to Plan, manufacturing.firm to Firm, manufacturing.release to Release.

Steps

Create the order

1. Go to Manufacturing > Manufacturing Orders and click New.
2. Choose the Product. It must be a stocked product.
3. Enter Production Qty, more than zero.
4. Leave BOM empty to use the product's first active BOM whose version is live today for this quantity. Pick one only to override it; it must make this product.
5. Leave Route empty to use the BOM's route.
6. Choose the Warehouse. Empty uses the settings default.
7. Optionally set Planned Start, Planned Finish, Priority (Low, Normal, High, Urgent), Source and Source reference.
8. With Source = Sales Order, type the number of a confirmed sales order, for example SO-000487. A draft one is refused: '<SO> is not confirmed yet.'
9. Choose Responsible and Project if used, then save.

The order opens as Draft. The system has calculated component lines and work orders, scheduled them, and estimated the cost.

Check and adjust (Draft, Planned or Firmed only)

1. Review the Overview tab: BOM, Work Orders and notes.
2. Change quantity, priority or notes and click Save. Components and work orders are recalculated.
3. Use Add Material for an extra component and Add Work Order for an extra operation. Added lines are kept when the BOM is re-read.

Plan, firm and release

1. Click Plan. The status becomes Planned and work orders are scheduled forward from the planned start on the work centre calendars. An order with no BOM, route or components is refused.
2. Click Firm if you want to mark the plan as agreed. It becomes Firmed. More > Back to draft reverses it.
3. Click Release.

What happens next

Release does several things at once:

• The BOM and route are copied into the order. Later BOM versions no longer change it.
• Components in stock are reserved in Inventory.
• The first work order is Ready; the others stay Planned.
• Final-point quality checks from the quality templates are raised.
• Lot-tracked products get a lot equal to the MO number.
• Preflush lines are issued at once and the order moves to In Progress.

Worked example: 10 office tables need 10 table tops, 40 legs and 160 screws, and two work orders of 150 and 180 minutes. The estimate is material 1,840.00, labour 247.50, machine 75.00 and overhead 216.25, total AED 2,378.75 (AED 237.88 a table).

If release refuses

• Short components: 'Components are short. Buy or transfer them, use a substitute, or release with the partial-start policy.' It lists lines such as 'LG-01: need 40, free 25'. Raise a purchase request (see Plan with MRP and handle shortages) or switch on Allow release with short components.
• An inactive version: 'BOM version 1 is inactive - an order is released on an approved or active version.'
• An unqualified resource: '<resource> is not qualified for <operation>: <skill> missing or expired.'

Good to know

• A released order is frozen. Product, BOM, route, quantity, warehouse and source are fixed: 'The order is released: its product, BOM, route and quantity are fixed. Short-close it or make a new order.' Planned dates, priority, responsible person and notes can still change.
• Two people editing: the second save is refused with 'Someone else changed this record. Reload it and try again.'
• Cancel is allowed if nothing was issued or produced; it releases reservations and cancels open work orders. Reopen returns a cancelled order to Draft. With issued material: 'Material has been issued to this order. Return it to the warehouse before cancelling.' With output: 'Goods have been produced; short-close the order instead.'
• More also has Duplicate (a new Draft with the same product, quantity and notes) and Reschedule from now.
• Print gives the order, finished-good, batch, WIP, material and serial labels with barcodes.
• Late orders show a red Late chip. If a promised finish cannot be met, an At risk chip appears.