In Dynamics NAV manufacturing is managed using Production Orders. An item is setup with a Bill of Materials (called Production BOM) and manufacturing processing steps (called Routing). As raw materials are consumed and various processes are completed, relevant transactions are created and create a mechanism to monitor costs, and monitor shop floor operations.
Dynamics NAV provides many types of production orders that are used for different purposes:
- Planned Production Orders – These are orders for simulation purposes only and don’t impact the replenishment system within NAV.
- Firm Planned Production Orders – These are confirmed orders that are planned by the production supervisor but are not in production on the shop floor.
- Released Production Orders – These are active production orders being worked on by the shop floor staff.
A typical production scheduling and planning process, managed by the production supervisor, will generally look like this:
- Go to Planning Worksheets in NAV and run the Master Production Schedule (MPS) plan for production items.
- The planning period for the MPS will depend upon the longest lead time, but periods that are too long can create too many orders and make it difficult to manage the volume. Most of the time, production supervisors run the planning worksheets on a weekly basis and cover a period of 4-6 weeks for their planning schedule.
- Based on current orders and demand in the system, suggestions for new orders or changing existing orders are created.
- A Production Supervisor can accept what new orders are created and which of the existing orders are changed.
- The production orders can be created as Planned or Firm Planned orders, with the later being the preferred method.
- At any given point in time, about a week’s worth of firm planned orders will be converted into the shop floor, or released, production orders. This ensures that shop floor staff are working with relevant orders only and the planning responsibility stays with the production supervisor.
Standard NAV doesn’t allow a screen where you can see all the production orders for any given production line/area. This is where the Fenwick Gold module “Production Scheduler” really comes in handy. Production Scheduler allows users to view all the orders that are planned for a specific work group (manufacturing area) or production line. A Production Supervisor can use this to prioritize shop floor orders, send specific comments, and track how the orders are being processed.
A Production Supervisor can also plan firm planned orders on this screen then release multiple orders to the shop floor at the same time by using the “Change Status” function.
All Fenwick Clients who use manufacturing also use production scheduler as an integral part of their manufacturing processes.
How do you manage and prioritize your shop floor?
