Prerequisites
Workstation & Line Configuration
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- Individual workstations (machines or work centers) are set up under
Manufacturing > Workstation > Workstation List.- You have considered how your physical layout groups workstations into distinct production lines (e.g., “Line A: Bottling,” “Line B: Packaging”).
- Individual workstations (machines or work centers) are set up under
Work Orders & BOMs
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- Finished‐goods items and active BOMs exist under
Stock > Item > Item ListandManufacturing > Bill of Materials > BOM List.- You have at least one submitted Work Order ready to assign to a line.
- Finished‐goods items and active BOMs exist under
1.0 Define Production Lines in Workstations
- Navigate to
Manufacturing > Workstation > Workstation List. - For each workstation that belongs to a given line, click the row to open its profile, then click Edit.
- Locate or add the custom field Production Line (e.g., if not shown, request a custom field via your administrator).
- In Production Line, enter the line name (e.g., “Line A – Bottling,” “Line B – Packaging”).
- Click Save.
- Repeat for all workstations, assigning each to the appropriate line grouping.
1.1 Create or Update Work Orders with Line Assignments
- To create a new Work Order, go to
Manufacturing > Work Order > New Work Order. - Fill in header fields as usual:
- Production Item, BOM, Quantity, Company, Planned Dates.
- In the Operations tab:
- For each operation row, set Workstation to one that belongs to your desired line.
- The system automatically inherits the Production Line field from the workstation.
- If you already have a submitted Work Order, open it via Work Order List, click Actions ▶️ Edit (or Cancel & Amend if it’s Completed), and adjust each operation’s Workstation to a machine on the target line.
- Click Save, then Submit. The WO is now linked to a specific production line through its operations.
If a Work Order spans multiple operations on different lines, you can reorder operations so that the first step’s line dictates the primary line assignment.
1.2 Schedule Work Orders by Line
- Navigate to
Manufacturing > Production Schedule > Production Schedule List. - Click New to open the Schedule form.
- Click Get Work Orders, filter by:
- Status = “Submitted”
- Production Line (if your system includes this field as a filter) or filter by Workstation belonging to a specific line.
- Select Work Orders for Line A, click Add—they populate the Scheduled Items table.
- Assign Planned Start Date, Planned End Date, and confirm the Workstation (and therefore Production Line) for each row.
- Repeat for Line B by clicking Get Work Orders again and filtering for that line’s workstations.
- Click Save and Submit to lock in the schedule. Each line’s load is now visible separately.
1.3 Monitor Line Capacity Utilization
- Go to
Manufacturing > Reports > Capacity Utilization. - In the filters, set:
- Workstation: select all workstations for Line A to see that line’s utilization.
- From Date / To Date: the period you want to analyze.
- Click Refresh. You’ll see:
- Available Hours and Utilized Hours for each machine on Line A.
- A consolidated Utilization % for the entire line based on summing all its workstations.
- Repeat with Workstation filter set to Line B’s machines.
- Identify if one line is consistently under- or over-utilized compared to the other.
1.4 Reassign Work Orders Between Lines
- If Line A is overloaded and Line B has spare capacity, open the relevant WO from Work Order List.
- Click
Actions > Cancel & Amendto create a draft version. - In the Operations tab, change each operation’s Workstation to machines on Line B.
- Confirm that the new workstations have the requisite capabilities (e.g., same operation type).
- Click Save, then Submit.
- Return to Production Schedule, click
Actions > Edit, move the amended WO’s scheduled dates under Line B’s rows, and adjust as needed. - Click Save and Submit.
You may need to adjust Material Requests if some warehouses are line-specific; confirm raw materials are available for the new line’s location.
2.0 Additional Features
- Line-Specific Workstation Groups:
- Under Workstation List, create nested hierarchy:
- Top level: “Line A”
- Child: “Bottling Machine 1,” “Bottling Machine 2”
- Similarly for “Line B” and its machines.
- This allows filtering by “Production Line” at a summary level.
- Under Workstation List, create nested hierarchy:
- Line Performance Dashboard:
- Pin widgets that show “Line A Throughput” and “Line B Throughput,” comparing units completed over time.
- Use Production Throughput Report with Workstation filters to drive these widgets.
- Automated Line Balancing:
- If available, enable Auto Scheduling under
Manufacturing > Tools > Auto Schedulingwith “Group by Production Line.” CGIC will allocate WOs to lines based on capacity and operation type.
- If available, enable Auto Scheduling under
- Line-Specific Material Requisitions:
- When creating Material Requests from a WO, CGIC can pre-fill a custom field “Production Line” so you know which line’s warehouse or storage area to pull from.
3.0 Key Notes
- Master Data Consistency:
- Ensure every workstation is tagged with its correct Production Line—errors here will cause WOs to schedule on the wrong line.
- Capacity Limits:
- Define each workstation’s Working Hours per Day under Workstation settings; CGIC uses these to calculate line capacity.
- Permissions:
- Only users with Production Manager, Planning Supervisor, or System Manager roles can tag workstations with lines, amend WOs, and adjust schedules across lines.
- Audit Trail:
- All changes to workstation line assignments, WO reassignments, and schedule edits are logged under View History for traceability.
- Material Location:
- If your warehouse layout is line-specific (e.g., “Raw Materials for Line A”), confirm that Material Requests point to the correct line’s storage.