Introduction
In Bottleneck, a Work Order is a specific task within your manufacturing process, serving as the fundamental units that compose a Production Order. This enables detailed tracking of production progress, facilitates comprehensive instruction provision, and promotes accurate time planning. To illustrate, consider the manufacturing process of cold brew coffee bottles. Separate work orders would be established for each specific task—brewing the coffee, mixing in flavors, and the final bottling process.
Managing Work Orders within Bottleneck
Creating a Work Order
As foundational elements of your Production Order, Work Orders in Bottleneck are generated automatically based on your existing Bills of Material (BOM). For instance, when creating a production order for bottled coffee, the system will generate work orders corresponding to the steps and inventory requirements specified in your BOM, adapting them according to the intended production quantity.
Allocating Inventory
Work Orders in Bottleneck utilize information from your BOMs and inventory to determine what resources need to be allocated to each task. Bottleneck offers the flexibility to allocate your inventory either manually or automatically based on your unique requirements. When inventory allocation is done within Bottleneck, the system automatically monitors the Lot Code used, ensuring comprehensive lot tracking throughout the entire production process. Allocating Inventory is useful to track your inventory usage ahead of time and can be modified. Once you have allocated the inventory the next step is to complete a pull.
Allocating Inventory under Ordinary Circumstance
Pulling Inventory
Pulling Inventory is the process of utilizing resources for a work order as it moves into production. In contrast to allocation, which signifies resource planning, 'pulling' indicates the actual consumption of resources in the production process. Although both are present underneath a Work Order, it is important to distinguish the difference. Upon completing a Work Order, the allocated lots are pulled and removed from inventory.
Handling Capacity & Inventory Constraints
Manufacturers sometimes lack the required materials or capacity to execute an entire Work Order. In such instances, Bottleneck offers a valuable feature that automatically scales Work Orders to align output with existing inventory and BOMs. This strategic planning tool optimizes utilization of available resources, ensuring customer needs are consistently met. Bottleneck also allows you to use the “exceptional pull” feature to use an alternate material at your discretion.
Adjusting Output Based on Material Shortage
Quality Control
When progressing through a work order in Bottleneck, it is essential to complete the QC forms tailored to your team's workflow. By completing QC forms within Bottleneck, the system automatically captures user information and completion time, streamlining the QC procedure and ensuring accuracy. To optimize the process, it's advisable to create multiple QC forms, each for specific checkpoints, leveraging Bottleneck's timestamp feature for accuracy and efficiency. Once you've aligned your QC forms with the workflow, they can be added to Bill of Materials (BOMs) and automatically generated within Work Orders, allowing for easy tracking and reflection on the QC process to identify potential improvements.
Entering Results
Upon completion of a Work Order in Bottleneck, the system allows you to easily track the actual product output against production targets. Furthermore, it allows you to generate a custom Lot Code to maintain consistency throughout production. With a Work Order marked as completed, you can rest assured that the system has accurately adjusted your inventory—deducting allocated items and adding in the resulting output.
How a Work Order Progresses
Bottleneck's status function allows easy tracking of work order progression. A new work order starts its life in the 'DRAFT' status, indicating that it's still editable and not finalized. Once plans are set, it transitions to the 'SCHEDULED' status, representing the pre-production preparation stage. With the start of production, the status updates to 'IN-PROCESS', remaining there until production concludes. On completion, the status changes to 'COMPLETED'. Bottleneck also provides flexibility by allowing the status to be set to 'CANCELED' if the order is called off, or 'DELETED' if it needs to be removed from the system.
Readiness Check?
What is the difference between allocation and pulled quantities in the context of Work Orders?
What is the difference between allocation and pulled quantities in the context of Work Orders?
Allocation is a reservation made while the Work Order is in the scheduled state. It represents the quantity of inventory items reserved for the Work Order. On the other hand, pulled quantities refer to the actual quantity of items pulled and used by the Work Order in the in-process state.
What does a Work Order represent in Bottleneck, and how is it used in the manufacturing process?
What does a Work Order represent in Bottleneck, and how is it used in the manufacturing process?
A Work Order represents a specific task in the manufacturing process and serves as the fundamental units of a Production Order.
What is the purpose of the "Enter Results" function in the work order process?
What is the purpose of the "Enter Results" function in the work order process?
The purpose of the "Enter Results" function in the Work Order process is to record and capture the outcomes and details of the completed Work Order. It allows the user to specify the actual quantity of the output item produced, calculate the actual yield and scrap amount, generate or modify a new lot code for the produced items, and record any additional information related to the Work Order's results.
How is a Work Order in Bottleneck generated from a Production Order?
How is a Work Order in Bottleneck generated from a Production Order?
Work orders in Bottleneck are generated automatically based on your existing Bills of Material (BOM), corresponding to the steps and inventory requirements specified in your BOM, and adapted according to the intended production quantity.
How can the results of a Work Order, including actual yield and scrap amount, be captured and recorded?
How can the results of a Work Order, including actual yield and scrap amount, be captured and recorded?
To capture the results of a work order, you can click on "Enter Results." Here, you can specify the actual quantity of the output item produced, which calculates the actual yield and scrap amount. Additionally, you can generate a lot code for the produced items, modify it if needed, and specify the storage location and expiration date. Clicking "Save" creates a new lot code under "Production Results," along with the specified quantities and scrap amount. You can click on the output lot to view the captured lot traceability information.
Key Takeaways
Work Orders in Bottleneck are specific tasks within the manufacturing process that serve as the fundamental units of a Production Order.
Work orders are generated automatically based on existing Bills of Material (BOM) and inventory requirements, and can be allocated manually or automatically.
Bottleneck allows you to handle capacity and inventory constraints by automatically scaling Work Orders to align with existing inventory and BOMs.
The status function in Bottleneck allows easy tracking of Work Order progression, and upon completion, the system facilitates easy tracking of actual product output against production targets.