System Overview > Sequence of Events

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

The manufacturing process involves five basic spheres of activity: planning, database maintenance, work orders, purchase orders, and sales orders. The sequence of events for each of these five spheres of activity are presented in check list fashion within this section. For checklists on accounting activities, such as month end procedures, see Important Times.

Manufacturing Planning

Planning is the most important set of activities in a manufacturing enterprise. Planning encompasses a range of activities, including inventory planning, scheduling, and capacity requirements. Inventory planning involves the study of Inventory and MRP reports to determine what, how many, and when to manufacture and purchase materials, subassemblies, and finished goods. Scheduling involves studying MRP and Scheduling reports to adjust start and finish dates on work orders and purchase orders in order to respond to changing requirements. Capacity requirements involves studying loads on work centers to determine manpower and machine requirements to meet present and future production needs. All of these planning activities interact with one another.

The following is an outline of the steps required for the manufacturing planning process. These are not in any sequential order.

Planning Work Orders and Purchase Orders

Convert sales orders (SO-N Convert Sales Orders to Work Orders) and estimates to work orders (ES-E Convert Estimates).

Enter forecasts for inclusion in MRP generation (MR-A Enter Forecast)

Print reorder report to determine what is to be purchased and manufactured (IN-D Print Reorder Report).

Generate material requirements (MR-F Generate Material Requirements).

Generate work orders and purchase orders via MRP (MR-I Generate Work Orders, MR-J Generate Purchase Orders) or manually (WO-A Enter Work Orders and PO-A Enter Purchase Orders).

Generate RFQ's (if applicable) via MRP (MR-K Generate RFQ's) or manually using PO-E Enter/Print RFQ's.

Scheduling Existing Work Orders and PO's

Print Reorder Report to make sure PO receiving dates and WO finish dates align with requirements (IN-D Print Reorder Report).

Print Sales Order/Work Order Schedule to coordinate production with shipments (SO-O-G Print Sales Order/Work Order Schedule).

Run scheduling programs to schedule or reschedule work orders (SH-E Finite Scheduling, SH-F Infinite Scheduling, SH-P Lead Time Scheduling, ).

View or print work center loads to see if schedules can be handled with existing capacity (SH-K View Work Center Load, and SH-R Work Center Scheduler)

Change capacity (overtime, hiring, added machinery, etc.) as needed; adjust work centers accordingly (RO-C Enter Work Centers).

Reschedule work order finish dates as needed (load leveling) to fit schedule to available capacity (SH-A Edit WO Start/Finish/Due Dates or SH-R Work Center Scheduler).

Change work order dates (SH-A Edit WO Start/Finish/Due Dates) and purchase order dates (PO-Q Maintain PO Delivery Dates) in response to EXPEDITE and DELAY messages from the Order Action Report in the MRP module (MR-H Print Order Action Report).

Assign sequences (operations) to machines, if applicable (SH-D Manually Schedule Machines).

Key Reports

Reorder Report (IN-D Print Reorder Report)

Forecast Report (MR-B Print Forecast)

Work Order Schedule (SH-G Print Work Order Schedule)

Machine Schedule (SH-J Print Machine Schedule)

Work Center Load (SH-I Print Work Center Schedule)

Order Action Report (MR-H Print Order Action Report)

Manufacturing Database Maintenance

Database maintenance involves regular attention to the databases that affect the planning process, including inventory reorder levels, lead times, standard costs, time standards, and inventory stock status accuracy.

Inventory Management

Set reorder levels, reorder amounts, lead times as needed (IN-B Enter Inventory or MR-D Enter MRP Parameters).

Run lead time generator for manufactured items, if desired (SH-N Generate Lead Times).

Verify on-hand quantities through cycle or selective counting or complete physical inventory (IN-J Print Physical Check, IN-C Enter Inventory Adjustments, PHYSICAL INVENTORY).

Product Specifications

Update standard costs as required (IN-L-A Enter Standard Costs, IN-L-E Update Material Standard Costs).

Update bills of materials as required (BM-A Enter Bills of Material).

Update routing time standards as required (RO-A Enter Routings).

Perform cost rollups as required (BM-G Print/Rollup Standard Costs).

Update estimating material costs as required (ES-H Enter Material Costs).

Update work centers for capacity, rates (RO-C Enter Work Centers).

Key Reports

MRP Parameters (MR-E Print MRP Parameters)

Physical Check (IN-J Print Physical Check)

Inventory Value (IN-F Print Inventory Value)

Print Bills of Material (BM-B Print Bills of Material)

Routings Report (RO-J-A Print Routings)

Costed Bill of Material (BM-G Print/Rollup Standard Costs)

Material Costs (ES-I Print Material Costs)

Print Work Centers (RO-J-B Print Work Centers)

Work Orders

Work orders consists of all the activities involved in physically preparing and processing production orders through the factory, including generating the orders, printing documents such as shop travelers and pick lists, processing labor, materials, and outside processing, and reporting finished production.

Create work orders manually (WO-A), by converting sales orders (SO-N), by converting estimates (ES-E), or by generating via MRP (MR-I).

Modify the work order routing (WO-K-A) or work order bill of material (WO-K-B) if needed.

Generate multiple date work orders (WO-K-C) or generate multiple assembly work orders (WO-K-D) if needed.

Release work orders when ready to go to the shop floor (WO-B).

Print the following shop paper as needed: shop travelers (WO-C), pick lists (WO-D), labor cards/labels (WO-E).

Purchase materials for specific work orders (PO-A).

Issue materials to work orders from inventory (WO-G).

Enter labor manually (WO-M or WO-F) or via data collection (DC-A or DC-C). Batch post labor transactions if automatid posting is not enabled (WO-N or DC-H).

Enter any miscellaneous or extra costs (WO-H).

Report production of finished goods and optionally backflush materials and optionally close work order (WO-I).

Close the work order (WO-J).

Key Reports

Work Order Schedule (WO-L-B Print Work Order Schedule)

Work Center Backlog (WO-L-C Print Work Center Backlog)

Work Center Schedule (SH-I Print Work Center Schedule)

Work Order Status (WO-L-A Print Work Order Status)

Work Order Shortages (WO-L-F Print Work Order Shortages)

Purchase Orders

Purchase orders consists of all the activities involved in coordinating purchases and receipts of materials and services from outside vendors.

Enter purchase orders manually (PO-A) or convert from RFQ's (PO-G) or generate via MRP (MR-J).

Print purchase orders (PO-B).

Receive purchase orders (PO-C).

Close purchase orders if not using Accounts Payable module (PO-K).

Enter vendor invoices if using Accounts Payable and automatically close the PO when fully received and invoiced (AP-C).

Transfer inspected items from QC to inventory, if applicable (PO-J-C).

Key Reports

Open PO Listing (PO-I-APO_I_A_Print_Open_Purchase_Orders_Listing).

Received Purchase Orders (PO-I-E Print Receiving Report) for buying history

Sales Orders

Sales orders consists of all the activities involved in the receiving, scheduling, and shipping of customer orders.

Enter sales orders manually (SO-A), by converting a history invoice (SO-H), by converting sales quotations (SO-P-C) or by converting estimates (ES-E).