Work centers

Work centers are where Manufacturing work orders are processed, and can be used to track costs, make schedules, plan capacity, organize equipment, and track efficiency. Specifying a work center is required when a work order is defined in the Operations tab of a bill of materials (BoM) for a product.

Enable work center

Work centers only appear if the Work Orders setting is enabled. To do so, navigate to Manufacturing ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings, then tick the Work Orders checkbox. Work orders can be managed in the Manufacturing app by selecting Operations ‣ Work Orders.

Create a new work center

In the Manufacturing , go to select  Products ‣ Work Centers

and click the Create button to open a new work center form.

The General Information tab on the work center form allows for productivity goals to be assigned to a work center. These are used as the basis for calculating how much of the potential time the work center is being used and its operating costs.

Work Center Name: the label for the work center used to select it on a work order or on the reporting dashboards

Alternative Workcenters: where a work order should be carried out if this work center is not available

Code: reference id for the work center that is displayed in the list view

Working Hours: the hours that work center can be used during the week

Time Efficiency: a multiplier for how using this work center affects the normal speed of execution of a work order

Example
If a work center has older equipment and work orders take twice as long to produce, the Time Efficiency would be 50.00%.

Capacity: the number of products that can be processed at the work center simultaneously

OEE Target: the target for efficiency at the work center

If a work center is available for 8 hours per day but is only expected to be used for 7 hours per day, the OEE would be 87.50%. 

Time before prod: the time required before work can commence on a work order

Time after prod: The time required immediately following the completion of a work order before the next step or cleanup can begin (such as drying, cooling, or setting time).

Cost per hour: the operating expense of that workstation. The per employee value is for estimating the average cost per employee.