You can access the production modules as follows:
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In Classic Design: Purchasing > Production
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In Xentral NextGen: Stock > Production or via Smart Search.
Tip
The production module is not displayed in the navigation bar on the left by default in Xentral NextGen. You can add it to the navigation bar for your user as described in the following article: Configuring your own navigation bar.
Productions can be used for customer orders or their own post-production of products. Productions can thus be created directly on customers or also on the own company. The own company must then be created as an address and have a customer number. For the material procurement it is meaningful, to store a purchase price with a standard supplier for all products. If the own company is registered as a supplier, it is directly visible in the purchase list which items need to be reproduced in-house.
All functions in the production module of Xentral refer to parts list products. The item to be produced represents the header of the bill of materials, the items entering the production, the sub-products of the bill of materials. If single products are production, the behavior of certain functions can be different than described here.
The +NEW button can be used to create a new production.
In this tab, the details for the production as well as the individual items can be specified. In addition, a preview and a protocol can be created.
In this tab information of the customer as well as settings for the production can be defined.
Action
Various actions can be selected from the drop-down list.
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Start production
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Cancel production
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Copy production
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Send production
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Outsource production
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Store production
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Complete production
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Create partial production: This action is useful for large production orders, for example, when certain components are not sufficiently in stock. In such a case you can create a partial production to split the order and produce it with the currently available components.
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Export as CSV
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Open PDF
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Delete all items
General section
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Customer: Customer selection. Can also be the own company, if the production is not for a specific customer (order).
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Project: Select project to which the production should be assigned.
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Status: Status of the production (e.g. created, released,...).
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Order: Assignment to an order.
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Internal designation: Set internal designation for production.
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Created on: Date on which the production was created.
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Preferred warehouse: Only items from storage bins of this warehouse will be reserved.
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Write protection: If write protection is activated, the settings for the production can no longer be changed.
Actions section
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Production instructions as PDF: All included data sheets and attachments of the production as well as all items used in it can be output as one PDF file. In this case, the following file types are used in the specified order from production (attachment and data sheet, sorted by the stored file sorting), from all production articles, sorted according to the article (appendix and data sheet, each within an article sorted according to the deposited file sorting)
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Data sheets as ZIP
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Label sets for all products
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Serial number labels for all products
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Print parts list as labels
Setting production section
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Reservation material: time at which incoming items are reserved for production.
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Withdrawal in the warehouse: setting whether an individual withdrawal with scanner or Collective withdrawal should be made by pressing a button, of the incoming products.
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Explode sub-bills of material: All sub-bills of material in production are to be broken down.
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Function test: A function test is to be carried out for each item produced.
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Display descriptions of work steps: In the production PDF the descriptions of all work steps are displayed
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Create serial number: Each unit of the produced item shall have a serial number
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Record subserial number: Serial numbers of installed items shall be recorded
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Delivery warehouse: delivery date of items from the warehouse.
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Provision Start: Date of provision.
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Production Start: Date of production start.
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Production End: Date of production completion.
Free text section
This is the text that will later appear on the production document.
Internal comment section
An internal remark for this production can be entered here.
The Reservation material setting is used to specify when the reservation of the articles for this production should take place: Already in the design mode of the Production, at release or at the start of the production. The products for the production can be reserved only if they are in stock in sufficient quantity. If a "Preferred warehouse" is set for the production, the product must be sufficiently available on this warehouse.
If necessary, the production PDF can be sent as a voucher via the submit dialog. The function works as for all other documents (order, Delivery bill, Invoice etc.) via the action menu.
One item is produced per production in quantity y, and it is the header item of a bill of materials. The sub-items of the bill of materials represent the items entering production incoming products. In a sub-production, another bill of material can be produced in this BOM. The final result is an article X in y times. (e.g. board-X assembled 50 times). Simple parts lists are automatically formed in the process.
After adding an item for which work instructions have been defined in the item master, they can be found in production on the Work Instructions tab.
The target time of each step is adjusted according to the quantity to be produced. In addition, a time clock employee is able to allocate his or her working time to the individual steps. How the time clock module can be used, is described here: Time Tracking. Once the production has been started via the action field, the production workers can book their working time to the individual production steps. For this purpose, the production instruction must be generated as a PDF and printed.
Once an employee logs on to the time clock, he or she can use a a scanner over the barcodes to log onto a manufacturing step. When scanning of a production step, production is automatically started.
It is possible for several production employees to book in parallel on two work steps of a production without pausing the first one.
This is especially relevant if the first step has longer processing times and the second can therefore already be processed.
Release can be used to release and activate the production: Activation Production, assigning the next sequential number from the number range, Switching the traffic light to green or orange (depending on the material stock).
Explanation of the status indicator options:
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Production not released (only created)
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Material in stock
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Material not/ not fully stocked
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Started production
Please also refer to instructions on how to use purchasing with the integrated order proposal. If you simply need to get an overview of which items are still required for a particular production order, you can click on the blue icon for the mini detail preview icon. Alternatively the same material list can also be found in the log of the individual production order.
If, on the other hand, the goal is to find out which items in total still need to be reproduced or ordered, so that all productions can be completed, it is best to proceed as follows: In the production overview, first click on Calculate material stock and then select Missing items. This will display a list of all missing items across all productions.
The batch number can be specified under Master data > Products under Other Settings either be generated automatically by the system or it is the original batch number of the supplier during putaway. Further Information on the article master or article creation can be found at: Working with products.
If the option activated is stored in the master data of the article, when goods are received (Under Inbound / Outbound > Inbound), the batch number is additionally queried.
In this example, a bill of materials item is to be produced from the two starting materials with original batch numbers of the supplier, a BOM item is to be produced. First, a new Production order is created. Then the production must be released and started. Then the batches of the starting materials can be deposited in the production:
Under the Batch Used tab, all items are added to the bill of materials, which are needed for the production of the item. After the production has been completed the batch of the produced item is displayed in the Batches produced tab.
Under Fulfillment > Item for production > Arrow icon the material of a production can be outsourced.
Here, only stock items from the first level of production can be outsourced, no bills of materials or nested bills of materials.
Under Fulfillment > Item for production > Arrow icon within a production via the the button Open PDF the production list can be opened as a PDF.
The tab and all related features are only possible with the Production Center module. To do this, in a production, use the action menu to select Complete Production.
In the Completion tab, the produced quantities of the products can be stored in a predefined storage bin, for example, a production buffer. Likewise, it is possible to store only a partial quantity of the production.
In addition to the standard completion dialog, there is a correction posting interface with which over- and under-quantities are entered in the production and are transferred with the associated MHD and/or batch entry can be added or deducted from the warehouse. As soon as the production correction module is activated and the button Store production store+ complete button has been clicked, a dialog window opens.
By specifying the actual number of items manufactured, additional raw materials can be booked out of the warehouse and reported back to the order. The same applies for posting back in the case of shortages.
If the production has a Preferred warehouse this also finds use in the correction booking mask. Thus for the outsourcing of the received articles, only storage bins are suggested from this warehouse. The storage of the produced article can be made in any warehouse.
Note
The entry of serial numbers is not possible in this dialog.
The correction booking mask can be deactivated under Administration > System > Basic Settings on the Settings tab in the Production section by selecting the Do not use production correction check box.
Product example
The example first consists of a sales item that a customer orders directly, for example, via an online store or a direct order. Here this item is called "Sales Item A" and is given the item number "700001":-. 700001 Sales item A
Our sales item "700001 sales item A" consists not only of one product but ten individual items, two of which are in turn a new own bill of material:
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A1
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A2
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A3
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A4
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A5 (bill of materials)
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A6
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A7
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A8
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A9
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A10 (Bill of materials)
These sub-products A5 and A10 again have their own new sub-products as a bill of materials. For A5, the sub-products are:
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A5001
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A5002
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A5003
and for A10, the sub-products are:
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A10001
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A10002
Setting options of the above items
The exact settings of the items and sub-items is located here. If the settings are not to be made in parallel, this point can be skipped directly.
Setting: Sales item A
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Stock item
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Bill of materials
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Production item
Setting: A1-A4, A6-A9- stock items
Setting: A5, A10 (bill of materials)
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Stock item
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Bill of materials
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Production item
Setting: A5001-A5003, A10001-A10002 (same setting as A1-A4, A6-A9)-. Stock items
An order can be continued directly as a production. Here all articles are taken over with, which have the setting production article in the article activated. Other articles are not carried along. If an order contains several BOMs, a separate production is created for each BOM.
The settings for a production BOM look like this:
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Stock item
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Bill of material (only the standard bill of material, a set item is always directly assembled in the shipping department. This can not be stored as a "whole").
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Production item
Delivery date for production: the delivery date is taken from the order in following scheme: Delivery warehouse, if this field is not filled, the requested delivery date follows, if this field is not filled, otherwise the order date is taken as the delivery date.
It is also possible via mass processing in the order, to select multiple orders and transfer them into productions. The important thing here is that the order only production articles are released immediately.
If there are two BOMs in the order that are subsequently carried forward as a production, then each bill of materials is recorded in an individual production. This ensures transparency with regard to the availability of raw materials or the material is guaranteed.
With the module Subproductions it is possible to control the behavior of sub BOMs when continuing an order to production.
For this purpose, there is the following option under Administration > System > Basic settings > Settings on the System tab:
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Behaviour Forward order to production
This defines the behaviour of the BOMs to be produced when they are to be produced from an order:
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Explode sub-BOMs: The sub-BOMs of a bill of material in production are formed and displayed
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Do not explode sub-BOMs: The sub-BOMs of a BOM in the production are not formed and displayed. The production is limited thus on the top BOM
If a BOM to be produced also contains BOMs that are still to be produced, this setting for each BOM and sub-BOM a separate production order is created.
Prerequisite:
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BOM to be produced is marked as production item (can be set in the master data of the article adjustable)
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The bill of material was transferred from an order to a production
In the production module, the following variables can be used on documents.
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{DELAY_INVOICE_ADDRESS}
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{DELAYING_INVOICE_ADDRESS}
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{ADDRESSES}
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{SPEAKER}
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{BELEGNR} (same variable as BELEGNUMBER)
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{BELEGNUMBER} (same variable as BELEGNR)
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{FIRMA}
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{FREEIGN FIELD1}
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{FREIFELD2}
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{FREIFELD3}
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{GUELTIGBIS}
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{GUELTIGBISWEEK}
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{CUSTOMER NUMBER}
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{LABELS} (use possible in the Internal name and Free text fields), see application example below
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{DIVISION OF DELIVERY}
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{DELIVERADRESS}
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{LIEFERADRESSELANG}
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{LIEFERADRESS ADDITION}
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{SUPPLY ADDRESS PARTNER}
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{LIEFERLAND}
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{DELIVER NAME}
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{DELIVERY LOCATION}
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{DELIVERPLZ}
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{DELIVER STREET}
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{DELIVERMIN}
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{DELIVER DISTRIBUTION}
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{DELIVER WEEK}
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{net weight}
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{PROJECT}
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{PROJECT NAME}
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{PROJECT NUMBER}
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{Account amount}
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{SOLL}
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{SOLLMITSKONTO}
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{SHIPPING}
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{SHIPPING NUMBER}
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{ShIPPING MODE DESCRIPTION}
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{DELIVERY DEPARTMENT}
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{DISTRIBUTION ADDRESS}
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{DUTY ADDRESS}
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{CUSTOMS ADDRESS PARTNER}
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{DUTY INFORMATION}
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{CUSTOMIZATION COUNTRY}
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{CUSTOMS NAME}
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{DUTY LOCATION}
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{DUTY PLACE}
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{CUSTOMS STREET}
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{DISTRICT DISTRICT}
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{NUMBERING DATE}
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{PAYMENT METHOD}
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{PAYMENT TARGET}
After assigning self-defined labels to a production, it can be also be output on the production slip. This makes it possible to very quickly and flexibly add your own labels to a production. Here in the example the fields "Internal designation" and "Free text" are used to additionally output in the production note. Two steps are necessary for this:
Create the labels under Administration > Workflows > Labels via +NEW.
Transport labels are issued, for example, for pallet slips, whereby the labels are independent of the individual item labels. The transport labels are required for transport of the goods and can even be issued as pallet slips.
Note
Prerequisite for the use of transport labels is that the production has already been completed in full. For example the logic of the storage bin only exists when the production is completed. In addition, the item at hand must be marked as a production item.
Alternative products can be defined for production as a display in a bill of materials. For more information, see Bill of Materials.
For items with batch management, the system architecture may result in the stock level deviating from the quantity displayed in the Batches tab. A precise booking procedure avoids discrepancies.
One reason for deviations is that no batches can be specified for stock removal in production, so that when using this function, the stock of a production component would be reduced, but not its batch. If you use components with batch management in your production, we recommend the following procedure:
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Plan and start your production as usual: Purchasing > Production > Overview: Check production > Action menu: Start production. (Alternatively from the production itself, Details tab > Start production).
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Open the production and go to the Batches tab.
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Add your used batches. As soon as you switch to the Details tab, half of the Production retrieved from stock status is displayed in green. Both your batch(es) and the stock of your batch-managed items have been reduced in one step.
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Now remove the rest of the material, e.g. non-batch-managed small parts, from storage using the Remove from production function. The status Production retrieved from stock now changes to completely green. The stock of all components has now been reduced.
Another reason is that storage in production does not provide for batch allocation, so that when this function is used, the stock of a produced product is increased but its batch is not recorded. If you produce products with batches, we recommend the following procedure:
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To end your production, go to the Completion tab and enter the batch produced there.
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Click Store + complete production (or Store partial quantity).
Caution
For such products, be sure to avoid using the Store production function, which is available in the action menu of the production overview or in the Details tab!
Both the serial numbers used for components and the serial numbers of products created in production are recorded in the production center. A unique assignment of component serial number(s) - product serial number also takes place here if you manufacture a product with a quantity > 1 in a production run.
The production center contains all started productions. You can reach it via the following paths:
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Stock > Production Center
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Stock > Production > open started production > To the production center
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or when you click the pen icon
to open the editing menu in the Serial numbers tab of a started production.
Note
Productions that have not yet started are not listed in the production center.
You can now enter both generated (1) and used (2) serial numbers in the Enter individual productions tab:
If you enter the scrap quantity of a production closure in the Amount of scrap, you lose traceability of the goods concerned, as they are no longer managed anywhere in the warehouse. You can easily avoid this and thus ensure traceability even for rejected goods. We explain how to do this below.
General setup:
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Create a storage bin for rejected goods. We recommend that you check the box for No auto-shipment (blocked warehouse) warehouse in the warehouse type.
Proceed in two steps when completing a production with rejects:
After such a procedure, good items are now in your normal warehouse, bad items in your scrap warehouse. From there, you can then decide how to handle the scrap items (internal reworking, devaluation, scrapping...) and post them manually accordingly.
For efficient production, you want to ensure that production orders can pass through production or assembly smoothly and quickly. A lack of material is a major reason why production can come to a standstill. That's why Xentral checks for you before starting production whether sufficient material is available for the production order. If not, production cannot be started.
If you have situations in your production in which certain work steps are possible without material or with some of the material that is already available, and you want to load these work steps into production, you have the following options:
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Design the bill of materials for your product with sub-assemblies. The sub-assemblies should be structured according to work steps. Plan your production with sub-productions and start them separately according to work steps. This is particularly useful if the same components are regularly involved.
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If only one or a few components are affected and it is an isolated case, you could delete the affected item from production, start production without this component and schedule a task to manually post the material withdrawal as soon as the component is available and has been submitted to production.
If you have assigned incorrect serial numbers or completely forgotten the assignment, open the completed production and enter the serial numbers as follows:
Before batches can be output on the labels, they must be assigned and production must be completed. Proceed as follows:
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Open a started production and go to the Batches tab to assign batches.
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If necessary, remove further non-batch-managed material from storage via Remove from production.
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Produce and then go to the Completion tab to end your production and enter the batch produced there. Click on Store + complete production.
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Go to the Details tab and click on Label sets for all products to generate the labels with batch number.
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In xentral, production is a separate document, so that you can directly forward orders and purchase orders to productions. All products that are marked as production items in the product master are then transferred.
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Production is always based on a bill of materials. The header product is produced from the sub-products (products entering the production). If sub-articles are themselves produced from other products (i.e. are header products of a sub-BOM), you can create a sub-production with one click. This simply creates another production document.
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During the production process, the production document allows you to remove incoming products from stock, including serial numbers, batches and best before dates, and place the finished end product in the desired storage location. In the process, you can also deduct a scrap.
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The production center offers even more possibilities. Under Warehouse → Production Center you can open the individually created productions to work through several work steps.
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During production, the function logs stored in the products are queried. In the process, production employees can confirm that the function tests were successful with just a few clicks.
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Likewise, you can store work instructions for producing products, which are displayed with text information as well as images when the production is processed in xentral.
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The production center is also suitable for posting serial numbers, batches and best before dates individually or for redefining serial numbers, batches and best before dates for new products that have been produced and posting them to the warehouse.
We ask for your understanding that we cannot make a final statement on this, as this may differ from customer to customer.
However, we have compiled the most important points from the HelpDesk entries below to answer this question.
There are two types of BOM in xentral:
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Bill of material → is stored as a whole set with a number and this is also booked out in shipping.
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Just-in-time bill of material (set item) → components are put away as individual items and also booked out individually in shipping
(Just-in-time) bills of materials
A bill of material that is in the warehouse as a finished product with an item number (thus has an inventory). The product, consisting of the individual components of the BOM, is removed from stock as one product during shipping. The components have already been taken from the warehouse during production. Thus, for example, a USB cable in a BOM is part of this BOM and is bound to this BOM from the moment it is placed in stock (it is no longer available as an individual cable for other BOMs).
Parts list that are stored in the warehouse as individual parts, each with its own article number. The parts contained in this BOM type may also be used in other Just-In-Time BOMs. This BOM is removed from stock and scanned as multiple products during shipping. In this way, duplicate storage of different products is avoided.
Thus, for example, a USB cable can be used in many Just-In-Time BOMs without the material in the warehouse being tied to this BOM.
Production items are items that are used in production, i.e. that are to be transferred to the production document when an order is taken forward for production. Products to be produced are always also a "bill of materials". Products that go into the production of another product are only "production items".
The raw materials list is used as extra information for a product. As a rule, for recipes, products etc. Bills of materials are created. Especially if the products are ordered from the bill of materials or the recipe itself or if they are stored and retrieved.
The contribution margin in this screen is based on the last defined purchase and sales prices in the products (regardless of the scale). In the long run you will probably be able to define it more precisely.