Work order dependencies

When manufacturing certain products, specific operations may need to be completed before others can begin. To ensure operations are carried out in the correct order, the Manufacturing app features a work order dependencies setting. Enabling this setting allows for operations on a bill of materials (BoM) to be blocked by other operations that should occur first.

Configuration

The work order dependencies setting is not enabled by default. To enable it, navigate to Manufacturing app ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings. Then, enable the Work Orders setting if it is not already active.

The Custom Work Order Dependencies option appears below it. Enable this setting, then click Save to confirm the changes.

Add dependencies to BoM

Work order dependencies are configured on a product’s BoM. To do so, navigate to Manufacturing app ‣ Products ‣ Bills of Materials, then select a BoM, or create a new one by clicking New.

On the BoM, open the Miscellaneous tab, then enable the Operation Dependencies checkbox. The Blocked By option becomes available under the • (settings) menu of the Operations tab.

Open the Operations tab. Click the • (settings) icon, then enable the Blocked By checkbox. The Blocked By field appears for each operation in the tab.

In the line of the operation that should be blocked by another operation, click the Blocked By field. The Open: Operations pop-up window opens. In the Blocked By field, select the blocking operation that must be completed before the operation that is blocked. Click Save to save the changes to the work order.

Finally, save the BoM by clicking • (Save manually).

Plan work orders using dependencies

After work order dependencies are configured for a BoM, the Manufacturing app can plan when work orders are scheduled based on those dependencies.

From a manufacturing order

To plan the work orders for a manufacturing order, navigate to Manufacturing app ‣ Operations ‣ Manufacturing Orders.

Next, select a manufacturing order for a product with work order dependencies set on its BoM, or create a new manufacturing order by clicking New. If a new manufacturing order is created, select a BoM configured with work order dependencies from the Bill of Material drop-down field, then click Confirm.

After confirming the manufacturing order, open the Work Orders tab to view the work orders required to complete it. Any work orders that are not blocked by a different work order display a To Do tag in the Status column.

Work orders that are blocked by other work orders display a Blocked tag instead. After the blocking work orders are completed, the tag updates to To Do.

To schedule the manufacturing order’s work orders, click the Plan button at the top of the page. After doing so, the Start date field for each work order on the Work Orders tab populates with a scheduled start date and time.

A blocked work order is scheduled at the end of the time period specified in the Expected Duration field of the work order that precedes it.

From a work order

To plan a work order directly from a work order form, navigate to Manufacturing app ‣ Operations ‣ Work Orders, then open a work order from the list.

In the work order form, click the ⚙ (Actions) icon, then select Plan.

Planning views

Two work order planning views are available to display a visual representation of how work orders are planned:

• Manufacturing app ‣ Planning ‣ Work Orders ‣ Planning

• Manufacturing app ‣ Planning ‣ Work Orders ‣ Kanban

Both open different views of the Work Orders Planning page. Both the Planning and Kanban views show all work orders, while the Planning view shows a timeline of all the work orders scheduled for each operation.

By default, the Planning and Kanban views are grouped by work center. This grouping is best used to view work orders grouped by the work center at which they take place. This view can help identify overloaded machines or bottlenecks in production.

To view orders grouped by manufacturing order, click in the search bar and select Group By ‣ Manufacturing Order. This view is ideal for providing estimated delivery times or determining if an order will be completed on schedule.

In both views, when one work order is blocked by the pending completion of another, the blocked order is shown as scheduled to begin once the pending order is complete.

To view potentially troublesome work orders, filter via the search bar:

• Late: Shows work orders that are scheduled to start at some point in the past but haven’t been started yet.

• Conflicts: Shows work orders that have been planned at the same work center at the same time.

• Planning Issues: Shows work orders that have planning issues, such as being scheduled out of sync with their work order dependencies.

The Planning view

In the Planning view, a grey arrow connects the two work orders, leading from the blocking operation to the blocked operation.

Plan unplanned orders

Unplanned orders can be planned in two ways: From the Plan MO button or from the # to schedule list.

Click the Plan MO button. The Manufacturing Orders pop-up window opens. Select a manufacturing order to plan.

Alternatively, click the # to schedule panel on the side of the screen to open a list of unplanned work orders.

To plan a work order, click it in the # to schedule list. The Open window opens, where a Planned Date can be specified. When the Planned Date and time are specified, the ending time is automatically populated, based on the Expected Duration of the work order. Click Save to plan the work order.

Replan work orders

By default, linked work orders in the Planning view can be rescheduled automatically, preventing them from being moved out of the order they are set in.

Work orders can be scheduled with a buffer, or the time gap between consecutive work orders. By default, this view is set to Auto-Reschedule (Keep Buffer). When the buffer is kept, the work orders are moved, and the gap is maintained. If the buffer is important, use this setting.

Alternatively, you can use the Auto-Reschedule (Use Buffer) setting by selecting it from the Auto-Reschedule (Keep Buffer) drop-down menu. Select this option if the gaps were accidental and meeting a due date is a priority.

For full control over rescheduling work orders, select Manual Reschedule.

Resolve inconsistencies

When the Planning view is set to manually reschedule work orders, or if work orders are manually scheduled to conflicting times, it is possible to introduce inconsistencies in the manufacturing order.

Inconsistencies can be identified in two ways: The color of the arrows and the addition of a flag to the top corner of the work order.

Example

A workshop is manufacturing a table in three work orders:

1. Assemble

2. Apply finish

3. Dry

If the third work order is moved before the second work order, the third work order and the arrow pointing to it turn orange, and a flag is added to the work order’s top corner to indicate that the planned schedule violates the defined work order dependency.

When hovering over the connecting line, an X (cancel) button appears. When clicking this button, SecureIO assumes the dependencies no longer apply due to an exception, and the link between the steps is broken. To remove the dependency, hover over the connecting line. Click the X (cancel) button that appears, and the arrow between the two work orders disappears.

To resolve the scheduling conflict and keep the dependency, click the red work order. Click the Replan button. The work order is replanned to ensure the conflict is resolved.

The Kanban view

By default, the Kanban view is filtered to show only Planned work orders. To show work orders that need to be planned, click in the search bar, then select Filters ‣ To Plan.

Work orders appear in card form with the name of the manufacturing order, the product being manufactured, the quantity being manufactured, the name of the operation, the expected duration, the scheduled start date and time, and the selected employee who will complete the work order (if one is assigned).

If the work order is scheduled to start on the current date, its scheduled date appears in orange. If it was planned to start in the past, the scheduled start date appears in red. If it is planned to start in the future, the scheduled start date appears in grey.

To assign a work order to an employee, click the • (Assign) icon in the work order card, then select an employee from the list, or click the ✎ (Assign) icon if another employee is already assigned.

Blocked work orders are tagged with a yellow-orange circle in the bottom corner of the work order card.

To update the status of a work order, click the circle in the bottom corner and select a status.

Plan unplanned work orders

To add work orders to a work center’s planning, click the • (Quick add) icon next to the work center name. The Add Work Orders to planning window opens. Select one or more work orders, then click Select. The work orders are scheduled for that work center.

Plan unplanned manufacturing orders

To plan confirmed manufacturing orders, click the Plan MO button. The Manufacturing Orders pop-up window opens. Select a manufacturing order to plan. The manufacturing order will be planned so as not to disrupt the existing schedule.

Reschedule work orders

To reschedule work orders in the Kanban view, drag and drop the cards to their intended order. To avoid introducing work order dependency conflicts, the work order and any dependencies are replanned to maintain the correct order.