The Assembly Kanban is a visual board that helps you manage your production workflow. View all your open assemblies as cards organized by status columns, track progress from start to finish, and quickly identify bottlenecks in your production process.
To open and use the Assembly Kanban, head to the main menu and select Production > Assemblies > Assembly Kanban.
📌Note:
Assemblies with Completed and Deleted status will not be displayed in the Assembly Kanban.
Disassemblies are not displayed in the Assembly Kanban.
Assembly Kanban role permissions
Access and use of the Assembly Kanban depends on your user's granted role permissions:
To access, view, and manage layouts on the Assembly Kanban, your user role must have the "Assembly Kanban" permission granted.
To update assemblies by moving them across the status columns in the Assembly Kanban, the role permission "Assemblies" must be granted.
Prerequisites for using the Assemblies Kanban
Before using the Assembly Kanban, ensure you have:
Products set up for production: Use the Type setting in a product's record to identify products that can be assembled and those that are components.
Bill of Materials: Create BOMs to automate the assembly process for your products.
Custom assembly statuses configured: You need at least one custom Assembly Status to use the Kanban view.
Tutorial Videos
Introducing Assembly Kanban View
Manage Assemblies via the Assembly Kanban
Each open Assembly that is shown in the Assembly Kanban is represented by its own card, with a summary of the Assembly's transaction details. Assembly cards will be displayed on columns defined by their assembly status, including custom assembly statuses.
To update an Assembly's status, drag and drop the Assembly's card from one column to another. The Assembly's status will then update to align with the new column's status.
To update the components, quantities, or details of an Assembly or to complete it, click on an Assembly's card. The Assembly will then open in a new tab, allowing you to confirm its component quantities, wastage, and costs, then complete it when appropriate.
You can also move each Assembly vertically, within its current column, to display the Assemblies in your preferred order. If you leave the Assembly Kanban page or refresh it after moving an assembly card within its current column, the Assembly Kanban will revert the column's order to its filtered "sort by" order.
In the top right corner of the Assembly Kanban, you'll see three functional buttons:
List View: Directs you to the View Assemblies page.
Edit Layout: Allows you to create, update, and share your Assembly Kanban layouts.
Add Assembly: Allows you to create a new Assembly from scratch.
Filter the Assembly Kanban
The Assembly Kanban column will, by default, display an unfiltered view of up to 500 open Assemblies currently in your account. At the top of the page, you'll find the filtering options available to refine your Kanban view. Click on the Clear Filter button to remove any filters that have been applied.
Assembly Kanban filter field | Description |
Sort By | Use the drop-down menu to order the assembly cards by Assembly Number, Assembly By Date, or Assembled Quantity. Click the up or down arrow icon next to the Sort By field to choose between ascending or descending order. |
Product | A free text field that will filter for assemblies that have products that include the text in their Product Code or Product Description. |
Warehouse | Use the multi-select drop-down menu to filter for assemblies with the selected warehouses allocated, using the source or destination warehouses. |
Assemble By From | Select a date to filter assemblies based on the assembly's expected due date from that period onwards. |
Auto Assembly | Use the drop-down menu to filter the view by Auto, Manual, or All Assembly types. |
When an Assembly Status is displayed in the Kanban's layout as a column, a count for how many Assemblies with that column's Assembly Status, based on any Kanban filters that have been applied, will be shown in the board's header.
Customise the Assembly Kanban
Create and share Assembly Kanban layouts specific to your processes and workflows, and ensure you and your teams are seeing all the information you need quickly and easily.
Assembly Statuses
To track incomplete Assemblies through their production process, and manage their progress efficiently using the Assemblies Kanban, create an Assembly Status per manufacturing stage, e.g., "Materials Ready", "In Production", and "Quality Check". These statuses will then be displayed as a column in your Assembly Kanban's default layout, organized from left to right in alphabetical order, with each Assembly listed in the column with a matching status.
To create a new custom Assembly Status:
Go to Settings > System > Assembly Statuses.
Provide a unique name for the status and select a colour to help differentiate it.
Click Add.
Kanban Layout
Customise your Assembly Kanban's view, or save and share it for future use, by clicking on the Edit Layout button. A sliding panel will then be displayed, and from here you can create, edit, and switch between layouts for your Assembly Kanban.
To save a new layout against your user profile in the Assembly Kanban:
In the Assembly Kanban, select Edit Layout.
Use the Kanban Columns, Default Sort Order, and Assembly Card Content options to curate the layout.
Click on New.
In the "Add New Kanban Layout" pop-up window, provide a unique Layout Name.
Click Add.
To make changes to an existing layout:
In the Assembly Kanban, select Edit Layout.
Use the Kanban Layout drop-down menu to select the layout you want to edit.
Use the Kanban Columns, Default Sort Order, and Assembly Card Content options to update the layout.
Click on Save.
To delete a layout from your Assembly Kanban:
In the Assembly Kanban, select Edit Layout.
Use the Kanban Layout drop-down menu to select the layout you want to delete.
Click on Delete.
Kanban Columns
The "Kanban Columns" section in the Edit Layout panel allows you to select which Assembly Status boards should be displayed in the layout, and in what order. Tick the checkbox for each Assembly status board you want to include and use the 6-dot icon to drag and drop the boards into the preferred order.
Click on the "Add/edit custom statuses" hyperlink to add new Assembly Statuses, or edit the names or colours of the existing ones.
Default Sort Order
Use the "Default Sort Order" drop-down menu in the Edit Layout panel to determine how the Assemblies should be displayed in each column. The Assemblies can be sorted by either the:
Assembly Number
Assembly By Date
Assembled Quantity
Use the arrow icon next to the "Default Sort Order" drop-down menu to determine whether the Assemblies will be sorted in ascending or descending order.
Assembly Card Content
Each Assembly card in the Assembly Kanban will always show the following Assembly details:
Assembled Quantity: The quantity to be assembled from the Assembly.
Assemble By: If the Assembly's Assembly By date is in the future, it will be highlighted green. If the Assembly By date is in the past, it will be highlighted in red.
Assembly number: The transaction's reference number.
But you can use the checkboxes available in the "Assembly Card Content" drop-down menu, in the Edit Layout panel, to choose which other Assembly details should also be displayed. The Assembly details that you can choose to display per Assembly card are:
Product Code: The product code for the product being assembled.
Product Description: The description of the product being assembled. If the product's description exceeds 2 lines on the card, hover over the description to see it in full.
Product Group: The Product Group the assembled product is assigned to.
Source Warehouse: The warehouse the assembled stock will be added.
Destination Warehouse: The warehouse the component stock will be taken.
Sales Order Number: If the Assembly were created from a Sales Order, the Sales Order's number will be displayed.
Comment: If a comment has been saved on the Assembly, an orange speech bubble will be displayed on the Assembly card. Hover over the speech bubble to view the comment in full.
Default and Shared layouts
Whenever you navigate the Assembly Kanban, your chosen default layout will be the view that automatically populates. To choose a new default Kanban Layout:
In the Assembly Kanban, select Edit Layout.
Use the Kanban Layout drop-down menu to select the layout you want to make the default.
Tick the Default checkbox.
Click on Save.
And if you've created a Kanban layout that other users in your account would benefit from using, you can share it:
In the Assembly Kanban, select Edit Layout.
Use the Kanban Layout drop-down menu to select the layout you want to share.
Tick the Shared checkbox.
Click on Save.
Other users with access to the Assembly Kanban will then be able to select the layout from their Kanban Layout panel's menu.
Frequently asked questions
Why am I missing assemblies from the Kanban view?
Why am I missing assemblies from the Kanban view?
If no assemblies appear in the Kanban view, it could be due to a missing assembly status. Go to Settings > System > Assembly Statuses and ensure at least one custom status is defined and active. You should then be able to retur to the Kanban view and your open Assemblies will be displayed.