Production planning and cut lists

Production has two screens: Work orders, for what your own floor makes, and Vendor orders, for what someone else makes for you. Cutting sizes come from the Cut sheet tab on the lead rather than from the work order.

Raise a work order

Work order form, at production/work_order/add. Placeholder image.

1. Go to Production, Work orders.
2. Select Add.
3. Fill in the header:
   • Project, the job this is for.
   • For, who or what it is being made for.
   • Requested by.
   • Company.
   • Status.
   • Create date, Due date, Start date and Completion date.
4. Add the items. Each line carries:
   • Arch reference, carried over from the window so the floor can tie the line back to the drawing.
   • Item type.
   • Layout and location.
   • System and Colour.
   • Width, Height and Quantity. Area follows from the sizes.
5. Select Save.

Fill in the dates properly. Start date and completion date are what the dashboard uses for its due and overdue widgets, so a work order with empty dates is invisible on the dashboard even when it is late.

Raise a vendor order

Vendor order form, at production/vendor_order/add. Placeholder image.

Vendor orders work the same way and live at Production, Vendor orders. Use them when a job, or part of one, is going out to a third party rather than through your own floor.

The vendor has to exist in Inventory first. See Pricing and suppliers.

Get the cut sheet

Lead view, Cut Sheet tab. Placeholder image.

The cut sheet is on the lead, not on the work order.

1. Open the lead the work is for.
2. Go to the Cut sheet tab.
3. Read or print the cutting sizes.

This catches people out, because the natural place to look is the work order. If you are on the floor and cannot find cutting sizes, go back to the lead.

The cut sheet is produced from the design and the profile configuration. If the sizes look wrong, the design or the configuration is wrong, and editing the cut sheet is not how you fix it.

A working sequence

1. Win the job and create the project.
2. Raise a work order against the project, with dates.
3. Open the lead and take the cut sheet to the floor.
4. Raise purchase requests for anything you are short of. See Inventory.
5. Raise vendor orders for anything bought in made up.
6. Move the work order status as the job progresses.
7. Record what leaves on a gate pass.

What it does not do

There is no scheduling board, no capacity planning and no machine loading. A work order is a record of what to make and when it is due, not a plan of who is making it on which line. Sequencing work is still a decision your production manager makes, not one the application makes for them.

There is also no optimisation step. The cut sheet gives cutting sizes; it does not nest them onto stock lengths to minimise waste.