Production Consumption & Output

Description

The Mobile WMS app can be used to register production consumption and output. Finish operations and print output labels.

Requirements and Limitations

The Production functionality in Business Central requires Premium user licenses.

Overview

Production Orders

Production orders are used to manage the conversion of purchased materials into manufactured items, and contain - among other things - the following information:

Materials required for the planned and released production orders
Products that have just been manufactured
Materials that have already been selected
Work/Machine center on the shop floor, needed for manufacturing

Supported Setups

Production orders may route work through work/machine centers
Pure conversion of materials, without resources involved

Note: "Assemble to Stock / Assemble to Order" is not part of the Production functionality.

Mobile: Production Order Lines

The production module is accessed from the main menu seen in the screenshot.

The output from a Production Order could be some quantity of

a single product,
but may also include quantities of different other products, including semi-finished products from the Bill of Material.

Each different kind of product produced on the same Production Order is a separate Production Order Line in Business Central.

Note:

You are starting from a line
Production points directly to a list of production order lines (not orders)

Requirements for Production Order Lines to be displayed

Order must have status Released
Order must have a Location Code filled in

Lines remain on the list until the related production order is marked Finished in the Business Central WebClient

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Mobile: Prod. Order Lines filter

The list of production order lines may include lines from production orders not yet started, orders in progress, and even fully produced orders.

Only Finished Production Orders is removed from the list, otherwise, you may continue to register additional consumption and output for the production order lines.

The filter can be opened at any time, on the order list screen, by clicking the filter icon in the top right corner

From the filter icon in the top right-hand corner, you can filter which production order lines are displayed:

The purpose of the filter is to limit the number of orders sent out to the mobile device. In the standard configuration, the user can filter on:

Location - The location code from the production order line.
The user can select a specific location or select All to see all locations

Note:
The locations available to the user, correspond to the locations the user has been set up to use on the warehouse employee page in Business Central.
The default location is the first entry in the list.
Starting Date - Planned starting date from the production order line.
All order lines before or equal to this date are included
Progress
This filter is for the progress of the Production Order Line based on remaining quantity:
- Ready: Lines with no- or partial output reported, but still some remaining quantity to output accordingly to the original planned output quantity.
- Completed: Lines completed accordingly to original planned output quantity, but still open to post-registrations since the Production Order is not yet changed to status Finished
- All: Show all lines
Work Center
The Work Center from associated production routing lines. Production order lines are displayed only if that order line has at least one associated routing line from the Work Center being filtered.
Assigned User ID
Here the user can choose
- All - to see everything
- Only my orders - to see only orders assigned to them
- Mine & Unassigned - default
  
  Note: It is possible for Partners to add/remove filters on this screen by using the Extension API.

Hint: You can easily select a Line by scanning:

a Production Order number
an Item No. (output item)

Mobile: Register Consumption and Output for a Released Production order line

From Production Order Line you can access:

Production consumption (materials used in the production)
Production output (finished goods, time consumed, and scrapped goods)
Print Label for production output / finished goods (See below)

Production Consumption Lines

Production Output Lines

Print Labels

These subpages will manually post:

Consumption of components
Quantity of end items produced
Time spent in operations

Journals and Entries

Business Central offers different ways of achieving this:

The separate Consumption Journal, separate Output Journal or the combined Production Journal.

In Mobile WMS the execution task is performed using the combined Production Journal, meaning consumption and output is posted as from this journal:

The values are posted to ledger entries under the released production order
Consumption quantities are posted as negative item ledger entries
Output quantities are posted as positive ledger entries
Times spent are posted as capacity ledger entries.

Reference https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/production-how-to-register-consumption-and-output

Consumption Lines

Posting Consumption Lines is the process of spending raw materials and semi-completed components in the production process.
However, not every Production Order Line requires consumed materials to be posted manually. The Production module in Business Central offers different ways to set up lines to have materials spent automatically.
In Mobile WMS only released lines set up for manual spending will be displayed at the mobile device:

Component line "Flushing Method" must be Manual
Production Order "Status" must be Released

Examples of consumption that are excluded from the mobile device:

The associated route (if any) cannot be a Subcontract Work Center. Outside work is not registered on the mobile device
The component line "Flushing Method" is not Manual (but "Forward", "Backward", "Pick + …").
In this case, consumption is automatically posted along with output when the production order changes to Finished
Component items are blocked

Mobile: Consumption Lines

From the Prod. Order Lines, you can open the Consumption Lines page by either:

Select a Line
Select the Action "Consumption Lines" icon at the bottom of the page

The leftmost screenshot above shows Consumption Lines (Components) for manual consumption for production Order No. "101023".

Note:

The layout of the Consumption Lines page will be slightly different, based on if the Location is set up for "Bin Mandatory" or not.
Without Bins, the Item No. is instead shown in bold font

The information displayed for each consumption line (component) are:

Quantity per: The quantity-per-output unit from the Component (derived from the Bill of Materials).
For each unit manufactured, this many units of raw material are needed.
Picked Qty. (only visible when Require Pick and Require Ship on Location):
The number of components picked from storage and moved into the production area "input bin".
If location is set up for Bin Mandatory, the raw materials must be picked before they can be consumed.
This is a separate process (a Warehouse Pick is created from the Production Order in the Web Client, then picked like any other Warehouse Pick from the Pick main menu icon in Mobile WMS).
Expected Qty.: (only visible when no Bin Mandatory):
For locations not set up for Bin Mandatory, the raw materials can be picked directly from inventory (available stock from item ledger entries). No specific picking to the production floor is needed prior to consumption.
Actual Consump. Qty.: The quantity already consumed for this component.
Expected remaining quantity: To consume, based on the planned output, the "quantity per" from the BOM and already consumed items.
The expected remaining quantity may display "0/0" to indicate our actual consumption already matches or exceeds the expected consumption for the component.

The consumption line always remains open for additional registrations until the Production Order is manually changed to status Finished.

You may post more or less than expected consumption for any given component i.e. when additional raw materials were needed due to unexpected waste or scrapped semi-completed products.

If values remain to be posted, the Consumption Lines page will contain these remaining values the next time it is opened. Posted values are shown as actual values at the bottom of the page.

Substituting components during production

You may substitute components used for production by using the "Substitute item" option from the Action Menu in the Consumption Lines list.

Substituting a component will replace the component in the BOM used for the current production order line only (and will never affect other existing – or future – production orders).

This works like the similar feature from the Components page in the Web Client called "Select Item Substitution".

You will be able to select from items that have been set up as substitutes or substitutes of substitutes.

Output Lines

From Register Output the completed manufactured items can be posted, along with time spent during the manufacturing process and scrapped quantities. “Good” items are the output from the production process (that was not scrapped) and will add to our inventory as positive ledger entries.

When production order lines have an associated route with multiple operations, the Output Lines page will display an output line for each operation, rather than just a single output line.

Only the output quantity on the last route line will adjust the inventory level when posting the output since previous lines designate a step in the manufacturing process and not a completed product.

Further, some restrictions exist as to what can be posted for each output line:

If a machine or work center is blocked, you cannot post good quantities, scrap quantities or process times for the output line in question.
Setup Time and Run Time (process time) can only be posted if the output line in question has an associated route.
Scrap Code can only be posted if Scrap Qty. can also be posted and scrap codes exist in the scrap table and the operation is for a Machine Center.

The leftmost screenshot above shows two operations for a production order for item "Box of chocolates".

The information displayed for each output line (operation) are:

Finished Qty. The finished quantity that has been already posted for this operation (and the total expected quantity for the operation)
Actual Setup Time (only if routed): The total Setup Time that has been already posted
Actual Run Time (only if routed): The total Run Time that has been already posted
Actual Scrap Qty. The total Scrap Qty. that has been already posted
Expected remaining quantity to output, based on the planned quantity

Mobile: Output Posting

Promoted output icons

From the Output Lines list, you may post output by either:

Open the Output line to collect all information for this line (finished quantity, process times and scrapped quantity)
Use "Output Quantity" icon at the bottom of the page to collect only the finished quantity
Use "Time Tracking" and/or "Register Time" icons at the bottom of the page to collect process times:
- Use "Time Tracking" to start/stop a "stopwatch" for a process (setup time or run time). The "Time Tracking" feature is described in detail below.
- Use "Register time" to collect process time by entering the exact duration yourself.
Use "Output Scrap" icon at the bottom of the page to collect only scrap quantity

You may repeat posting to the same operation as many times as you like and may post more or less than the expected output for any given operation.
If values remain to be posted, the Output Lines page will contain these remaining values the next time it is opened.

Note: Lot Number is only registered on the last operation on a route.

Action "Time Tracking" was selected,
user selects Start/Stop

User inputs/approved start time

Operation started, note the || symbol

When the “stopwatch” is stopped the duration is automatically calculated and registered.

The recorded time is posted exactly as for “Register Time”, including the same restrictions (time can only be posted if the output line in question has an associated route). Duration is posted including decimals but displayed with no decimals on the mobile device (rounded up, with no decimals). The time recorded in larger time factors (i.e., hours) are displayed as-is without rounding.

Multiple users may have their own “stopwatch” started for the same process at the same time. Time is recorded (started and stopped) per Mobile UserID and per DeviceID:

If the Mobile UserID starts Time Tracking for an operation only that same mobile user can see (and stop) that "counter" ("stopwatch") for the operation.
Also, Time Tracking "in progress” markers are only visible on the same device that originally started the "stopwatch" (and therefore can only be stopped from the exact same device).
This allows multiple users to share the same Mobile UserID if they are using separate devices.

Mobile: Reverse Output Posting

There are times when output posting must be reversed. An example of this would be if a data entry error occurred and an incorrect amount of output is posted to a production order.
Reverse Output is posted as described in the previous section 12.3.2 Mobile: Output Posting", only using negative quantities or times. This reverses the capacity- and item ledger entries.

Mobile: Finish Operation

If an Output Line is derived from a Prod. Order Line with associated Routing, you may finish the route operation directly from the mobile device using the action "Finish operation". Note: Only the routing line "Routing Status" is set "Finished", never the Production Order itself (Status for Production Orders is always updated using the "Change Status" action from the Web Client).

The "Finish operation" action interacts directly with the Prod. Order Routing Line "Routing Status"-field
When an operation is marked finished, it disappears from the Output Lines list
You may display previously finished operations using the "Route Operation Status"-filter at the Output Lines page to display "All" lines.

Filter Route Operation Status

The filter can be opened at any time, on the order list screen, by clicking the filter icon in the top right corner.

The “Route Operation Status” filter is ignored if the Output Line do not have associated Routing. In this case “All” lines are displayed.

Printing Output Labels

Before finished products are being put-away in inventory, you should add a barcode label to the item.

There are currently two ways of printing labels through Mobile WMS.

Tasklet Cloud Print Service and Print Label
(requires separate subscription)
Extend Mobile WMS to create custom functions to create and print labels, see Best Practice: Printing

From the Prod. Order Lines page you can print labels using the integration with our Print Cloud Service. Some initial setup of the Cloud Print Solution is required and attempting to print with no such setup will throw an error.

You access the Print option from the Action Menu or Context Menu.

Print Output Labels using Print Action

Selecting a Label Template

All “Item Label” templates from the Cloud Print Service can be used for output production output.

If your finished product is set up for item tracking (Lot numbers or Serial numbers) you will need to manually specify the new Lot Numbers / Serial Numbers when printing labels.

The Cloud Print Solution does currently not support pulling Lot- or Serial Numbers from number series associated with the finished product.

See Set up Cloud Print Service