The most important contributor to your manufacturing efficiency is properly managing work in process, meaning your manufacturing jobs.

Jobs are planned and generated in the MRP screen. Jobs are generated directly from sales order lines for CTO, custom to order items. For all other manufactured items, jobs are generated in response to net demand relative to item reorder levels.

The job details are initially a copy of the parent item's bill of material specifications. After the job is created, job routing and component details can nr modified to reflect any custom requirements, without affecting the item’s standard bill of material.

You can also copy in one or more phantom assemblies to accommodate custom product options.

Jobs are released to the shop floor through the Job Control Panel. Jobs are only released when an item’s first work center has open capacity, which prevents the shop from getting overloaded, and when material is available.

Job travelers can be batch printed for all released jobs. The job traveler accompanies the job on the factory floor and provides workers with complete manufacturing specifications.

Each work center is automatically scheduled on a daily basis through the Shop Control Panel. Jobs that are running behind schedule are given priority over jobs that are running ahead of schedule. Using this indicator, you can link directly to the Job Issues screen so that material can be issued on a just in time basis, which keeps aisles and staging areas clear for more efficient material handling.

Lot numbers and serial numbers are selected in the lower panel against applicable items.

During the course of the job, it is common to send parts our for subcontract services such as plating, painting, and heat treating. POs for outside services are generated automatically by the Subcontract Services screen.

Back here in the shop control panel, job labor can be entered in real time. Clicking this icon opens the Job Labor screen. You have the option of using standard hours against completed sequences or you can enter actual labor hours with start and end times with automatic break deductions.

Finished items are received to stock here on the Job Receipts screen. Job labor, subcontract, and overhead costs are absorbed into the cost of the finished item. Lot or serial numbers must be entered, if required for this manufactured item. Once the item is in inventory, it can be picked for shipment to customers or issued to other jobs.

Item labels are printed as needed and can optionally include job header information.

Jobs are formally closed here in the Job Control Panel. If there is any variance between input and output costs, a balancing entry is made to your WIP Adjustments account.

A variety of user-defined data views and report enable you to analyze estimated versus actual job costs and cycle times, as well as worker performance.

If you wish to explore these job processes in more detail, see our System Workflow video series. In particular, view these segments – Generate Jobs, Customize Jobs, and the 13 segments beginning with Release Jobs all the way through Close Jobs.

The ability to manage work in process is essential if you want to achieve efficiency gains. Instead of devising your own processes with spreadsheets, you can plug into the DBA job system and take advantage of a true manufacturing process workflow.