Use this form to create and update work centers. Work centers are the resources that are used to complete the production processes. They can be machines, tools, people, or subsuppliers that contribute to the production of an item. A work center consists of one or more people and/or machines with identical capabilities that are considered as one unit for managing the planning of capacity requirements and detailed scheduling. After a work center is created, you can assign it to specific productions.

Work centers are assigned jobs during the job scheduling process. Job scheduling is the detailed planning of capacity, and separates each operation into its individual tasks or jobs. For more information, see About job scheduling.

Note Note

Work centers with similar functions in the production process are usually assigned to the same work center group. Work center groups must be set up before you set up work centers. The parameters that are defined for the group are the default parameters for the work centers. This eliminates the need to set up parameters for each work center separately. For more information, see Set up and define work center groups.

Tasks that use this form

Navigating the form

The following tables provide descriptions for the controls in this form.

Tabs

Tab

Description

Overview tab

Enter an alphanumeric identifier and assign a name to the work center that you want to create. Select a vendor or employee, and specify whether you want to run the work center on a 24-hour calendar, a standard calendar, or a base-controlled calendar.

General tab

Enter general information for the selected work center. Select the type you are creating, the name of the work center group, and the group's efficiency percentage (the average amount of work completed in a particular time).

Settings that affect the use of the work center include the percent of the capacity of the work center group that is used to conduct operations scheduling and job scheduling for this work center, whether the work center group has limited (finite) capacity, and the method for measuring capacity.

Select the issue or receipt accounts and the debit or credit accounts in which the work in process (WIP) for the selected work center will be recorded.

Define a default route group, scrap percentage, and a task group to use to search for alternative work centers and cost categories. Cost categories are used to calculate the cost of setup time, run time, and quantity for the selected work center. Cost categories are attached to cost groups.

Enter the queue times for before and after the processes are conducted in the work center, the setup time and run time, the process quantity that can be produced in the time listed, and the quantity that must be produced before the next operation in the production route can start.

View the creation date for the work center and the number of work centers in the same work center group. These are read-only fields.

Dimension tab

Select the default department, cost center, and purpose dimensions for the work center.

Buttons

Button

Description

View the jobs in the selected work center. You can make adjustments to daily operations for each work center and adjust the sequential order of the jobs.

Set up and view the working-times calendar for the selected work center. Use working times to reserve capacity for the particular days and times specified in the calendar.

Create or update specific changes to the selected calendar.

Run inquiries to view information about all productions that are related to the work center, including route transactions, capacity load, a graphical depiction of capacity load, and capacity reservations.

Set up and view information on operations, production routes, and task groups that are associated with the work center.

View or update a Gantt chart that includes route jobs grouped by the work centers that are used in the current production.

Fields

Field

Description

Unique identification of the work center.

Note Note

For work center groups, the field and field are identical.

Unique identification of the work center group. To create a work center, you must first specify a work center group.

Name for the work center group. The name is displayed when you click a work center in a selection list.

Select the warehouse that you want to assign to the work center.

Note Note

The specified warehouse in this form overrides the warehouse in the Work center groups (form).

Specify the location in the warehouse for the work center.

Note Note

The specified location in this form overrides the location in the Work center groups (form).

If subcontractors are used, select a work center of the type from the list. (When the production is scheduled, capacity is not calculated for work centers that are assigned this type.)

If the field has the work center type , define the employee number here.

When you create a work center group or a work center, you must specify a calendar.

For more information, see Calendar (form).

Unique identification of the work center.

Note Note

For work center groups, the field and field are identical.

Select one of the following values:

  • – Select this type when the group consists of external work centers, for example with a subcontractor. The type lets you generate purchases for subcontractors on the basis of bill of material (BOM) lines or production lines.

  • – Select this type when the work center group consists of one or more persons. You should only select this value if you want to schedule individual employees or groups of people. For both the operation and the work center, you can specify a number of operators as standard, and you can follow the work center consumption for the operator time in the operator profile. Typically, you schedule for work center type if the personnel capacity is limited.

  • – Select this type when the work center group consists of machines.

  • – Select this type if the work center group consists of tools.

    Note Note

    If you want to schedule for tools, machines, or personnel at the same time, select a primary work center that determines the capacity that is available.

The percentage of the calendar opening time that the system schedules on a specific work center or work center group per day.

You can reduce or increase the processing time of individual jobs per day by using the efficiency percentage.

Example

If a job requires six hours according to the setup for the operation, and the efficiency percentage for the work center is 50 percent, the job will then reserve capacity for three hours on the first day and three hours on the second day.

Specify the maximum percentage of daily capacity for the work center that can be operations-scheduled per production.

Select this check box to indicate that the capacity is finite (limited). If the check box is cleared, the capacity is infinite (unlimited). With limited capacity, the scheduling of operations or jobs is based on the actual available capacity in the work center group or work center. With unlimited capacity, the capacity that is already reserved in a work center group or a work center is not considered.

For more information, see Production scheduling (class form).

Select the check box to define the current work center as a bottleneck resource. A bottleneck resource is scheduled by using finite capacity when the field and the field on the form are selected.

Select the check box to define the property of the work center as limited. When a work center operates with limited properties, certain operations are scheduled at particular periods so as to minimize the work center's setup times.

For more information, see Properties (form).

When you use primary and secondary operations, select this check box to reserve the work center exclusively for a job. Ongoing jobs for the work center will not be interrupted by other jobs.

Examples

  • A primary work center is exclusive. When there is a break in the scheduling of the secondary work center, the primary work center cannot be reserved for other jobs.

  • A secondary work center is exclusive. Performing an operation requires a 50-percent load on the secondary work center. The secondary work center is reserved at 100-percent load, even though it is operating at 50 percent, and no other jobs can be scheduled on that work center until the job is completed.

If this check box is cleared, when there is a gap between reservations or a work center is not being used at 100-percent capacity, it can be reserved for other jobs.

The work center's capacity per hour. Specify the units for capacity in the field.

Specify the unit for expressing the capacity. The options are:

  • None

  • Strokes/Hour

  • Meters/Hour

  • Kg/Hour

  • Cards/Hour

View the issue account for work in process.

For more information, see the field in Production orders (form).

The receipt account for work in process.

For more information, see the field in Production orders (form).

The account that is used to credit work in process for costing.

For more information, see the field in Production orders (form).

The account that is used to debit work in process in for costing.

For more information, see the field in Production orders (form).

Specify a default route group to use when you select a work center during creation of an operation relation.

View the expected extra consumption for the operation. The extra consumption is included in the calculation of both material and work center consumption for the current operation. The value must be positive.

The error percentage is summarized in the field for the current route. Accumulated error is used in the calculation of extra consumption of materials and work center time for the individual operations in the route.

The formula for the calculation is:

is for the next operation number * 100 / (100 - ). The field value is transferred to the route operation when you select the work center.

In the production of 100 pieces, for all three operations (10, 20, and 30), 10 percent is scrapped. To finish 100 pieces, 111 pieces must go to operation 30 from operation 20 (100 pieces * 100 / (100 - 10)). To finish 111 pieces in operation 20, 123 pieces must come from operation 10 (111 pieces * 100 / (100 - 10)). Similarly, operation 10 must be started with 137 pieces in order to reach the ultimate production quantity of 100 pieces.

Specify a task group to search for alternative work centers. The field value is transferred to the route operation when you select the work center.

Specify a minimum requirement for searching for alternative work centers. The field value is transferred to the route operation when you select the work center.

The cost category proposal for setup time.

The cost category for process time. The value of this field is transferred to the field on the route when you select the work center.

The cost category for quantity. The value of this field is transferred to the field on the route operation when you select the work center.

View the time to wait before the operation can be started. The value in the field must be positive. Set up this value in the route group, in which you can determine whether queue time should be scheduled and which calendar to use. Queue time can be used for subsupplier work, for example. The value of this field is transferred to the field on the route operation when you select a work center.

The setup time (which must be positive) is the fixed time that will be used to prepare a work center. Whether capacity should be reserved or the time should respect the working-time calendar depends on the route group. The value of this field is transferred to the field on the route operation when you select the work center.

The time that is required to produce the process quantity.

If you did not specify a conversion factor in the field for the route operation or the field for the work center, this field is filled in automatically with hours to two decimal places.

If you specify a conversion factor in the field for the route operation, the value for the field for the work center will be overridden. The process per quantity must be positive.

For a description of conversion to other units of time, see the field.

The time is scheduled relative to the operation's routing group. The value of this field is transferred to the field on the route operation when you select the resource.

The number of items that can be produced in a specific process time. The value in this field must be greater than 0 (zero).

The field value is transferred to the route operation when you select the work center. See the field.

Shows transit time, which is the time that is required to move items between two work centers or from the last operation to inventory. How the transit time is used depends on the setup for the operation's route group. The transit time must be positive. The field value is transferred to the route operation when you select the work center.

The time that the items have to wait after the operation is finished before the next operation can start. The field value must be positive. The field value will depend on the working time that was determined for the route group in the field, and can follow the Gregorian calendar or the current working-time calendar.

The field value is transferred to the route operation when you select the work center.

Specify the time that is required to dry items before the start of the next operation.

This field shows a conversion factor for the times specified for the operation for conversion to hours with two decimals. The following formula is used:

Hours = operating time * .

  • If the operation time is in hours: is 1.0000. For an operation time of 0.50 (half an hour), the time is calculated as follows: 0.50 * 1.0000 = 0.50 hours.

  • If the operation time is in minutes: is set to 0.0167. For an operation time of 30 minutes, the time is calculated as follows: 30.00 * 0.0167 = 0.50 hours.

  • The field value is transferred to the route operation when you select the work center.

The quantity that can be moved between sequential work centers.

The date that the work center was created.

The number of work centers in this work center group. The number directly affects the defined capacity because the capacity is multiplied by the value in this field for scheduling.

The number is set to 5 and the capacity on a specific date is 8 hours. The total capacity available on that date is 5 * 8 = 40 hours.

Specify a dimension.

For more information, see Dimension (form).

Specify a dimension.

For more information, see Dimension (form).

Specify a dimension.

For more information, see Dimension (form).

See Also