Create work centers after you create the work center groups they belong to, and before you begin production. Work centers are resources used to complete the production process. Since the parameters defined on the work center groups are used as default parameters for each work center in that group, many of the work center parameters already exist in the fields.

Note
For complete information about the buttons on this form, see Work centers (form).

Create a work center

Click Basic> Work center groups and select the work center group you want to add this work center to.
Click Work centers.
Press CTRL+N to create a new line.
Under Work center, type an alphanumeric identifier for the work center you want to create.
Under Name, type the name of the work center.
If the work center group Typeyou selected is Vendor, in the Vendorfield, from the list, select the vendor this work center represents.

If not, leave this field blank.
If the work center group Typeyou selected is Human Resources, in the Employeefield, select the employee this work center represents.
Under Calendar, select whether it is an Employee calendar or Student calendar to be used by the work center.

Set up general information for an existing work center

Click Basic> Work center groups and select the work center group you want to use.
Click Work centers.
On the Overviewtab, select the work center you want to use, and then click the Generaltab.
Under Work center:
1. Select the type of work center from the list.
  
  Select from Vendor, Human Resources, Machine, and Tool.
2. If you did not do so already on the Overviewtab, type or change the name of the work center.
3. If the work center group Typeyou selected is Vendor, in the Vendorfield, select a vendor from the list.
  
  If you selected some other work center group type, leave this field blank.
Under Scheduling:
1. In the Efficiency percentagefield, enter a percentage that represents how well you expect the work center to produce the planned amount. Efficiency is used for planning purposes, in connection with the calendar.
2. In the Operations scheduling percentagefield, type the percent of the capacity of the work center you would like to use in operations scheduling.
  
  This should be less than 100 percent to allow for flexibility in capacity when job scheduling.
3. In the Calendarfield, select whether it is an Employee calendar or Student calendar to be used for job scheduling.
4. Select the Finite capacityfield, if you want the work center to be scheduled based on the capacity actually available.
  
  If you leave this field blank, the system assumes that all capacity needed for this work center is available during scheduling.
  
  When you select this field you tell the system to use finite capacity scheduling for this work center.
5. Select the Finite propertyfield if you want the system to take the properties on this work center into consideration when scheduling.
6. Select the Exclusivefield if you do not want the work center to be used for another job or operation until the current production is complete. This means that the work center can not be used even if there are gaps in the work center's run time.
Under Capacity:
1. Enter a number in the Capacityfield if you want to measure capacity for the work center, according to the capacity unit selected in the next field.
  
  If you do not enter a number here, capacity is measured in hours according to the calendar.
2. Select a unit in the Capacity Unitfield, if applicable.
  
  This is the unit of measure used by the system to calculate the rate at which the work center can produce an item.

Set up ledger information for an existing work center

Click Basic> Work center groups and select the work center group you want to use.
Click Work centers.
On the Overviewtab, select the work center for which you want to set up ledger information, and then click the Ledgertab.
Under Accounts - WIP:
1. In the WIP issuefield, select the account to use for the work-in-process (WIP) issue from the list.
2. In the WIP accountfield, select the WIP account you want to use for the work center from the list.
Under Accounts - Costing:
1. In the Issuefield, select the account you want to use for work center issues from the list.
2. In the Offset accountfield, select the offset account you want to use for work center issues from the list.

Set up operation information for an existing work center

Click Basic> Work center groups and select the work center group you want to use .
Click Work centers.
On the Overviewtab, select the work center you want to use, and then click the Operationtab.
Under Route:
1. In the Route groupfield, select the routing group you want to associate with the work center.
  
  If routing groups have not been created yet, this can be done later.
2. In the Scrap percentagefield, enter a percent that represents the amount of scrap material left over by the work center.
  
  For example, if shirts are cut from fabric and the pieces that are used add up to eight tenths of the fabric (0.80), the scrap percent is 0.20 or 20%.
If relevant, under Work center alternative:
1. In the Task groupfield, select a task group for the alternative work center.
2. In the Requirementfield, enter a numeric value that represents the minimum requirement for the capability/skill level of the alternative work center used for the work center.
Under Cost categories:
1. In the Setup categoryfield, from the list, select the cost group for the setup costs associated with this work center.
  
  This and the next two fields must be filled out to manage and identify the costs used in production.
2. In the Run time categoryfield, from the list, select the cost group for the run time costs associated with this work center.
3. In the Quantity categoryfield, from the list, select the cost group for the costs associated with the quantities produced by this work center.

Set up times information for an existing work center

Click Basic> Work center groups and select the work center group you want to use.
Click Work centers.
On the Overviewtab, select the work center you want to use, and then click the Timestab.
In the Queue time beforefield, type the time required for the job to wait at the work center before setup or work is performed.
In the Setup timefield, type the time required to refit the equipment or prepare the work center for the production of the next scheduled item.
In the Run timefield, type the time it takes to process a piece or a lot of a specific operation on this work center.
In the Process qty.field, type the process quantity. This is the quantity that can be produced with the given times listed in the Setup timeand Run timetimes fields.
In the Transit timefield, type the standard time it takes to move items from one operation to the next in this work center.
In the Queue time afterfield, type the time required after the processing of the item at this work center.
In the Hours/timefield, enter the conversion factor you want to use for the work center.
- If you are using hours in this calculation the number should be 1.0000, which is also the default.
- If you want to use minutes, change the number to 0.0167.
In the Transfer batchfield, type the overlap quantity. This is the quantity to be produced before the next operation in the production route can begin.

Set up update and dimension information for an existing work center

Click Basic> Work center groups and select the work center group you want to use.
Click Work centers.
On the Overviewtab, select the work center you want to use.
Click the Updatetab and view the date the work center was created in the Createdfield and the Group work centersassociated with this work center. These are both read-only fields.
Click the Dimensiontab, and define the Department, Cost centerand Purposedimensions that you want to use as default for the item in the work center.