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Manufacturing#

The following features expand standard Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central[^1] functionality to provide additional options to those working in your organization’s production department.

Compliance with 21 CFR Part 11 / GAMP5#

In manufacturing, more than one employee might be logged on to the same work center when a product is reported as finished. To fulfil 21 CFR Part 11, production journals need to contain an identifier (an electronic signature) to show who reported item consumption or completion.

Setup#

Extended Manufacturing Setup#

Before you can decide who will report on production progress, you must turn on the digital signature feature:

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Extended Manufacturing Setup, and then choose the related link.
  2. On the General tab, turn on the Check Digital Signature toggle.

Manufacturing User Setup#

To specify who can post to manufacturing and store their digital signatures:

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Manufacturing User Setup, and then choose the related link.
  2. Choose New on the ribbon.
  3. Assign access to posting based on the following criteria:
    a) If individual login credentials are assigned to everyone, fill in the User ID field but leave the Resource No. field blank.
    b) If one ID is assigned to each work center (so that more than one person can post at a station), group the relevant resources by ID.
    c) If output can be reported on any work center, enter an authorized resource in the Resource No. field but leave the ID field blank.
  4. Fill in the rest of the fields as described in the following table.
Field Description
Digital Signature Specify the person’s digital signature.
Signature Blocked Turn on the toggle if you want to block this signature from being used.
Signature Fail Count Shows the number of times the wrong signature was entered.

Following three failed attempts, the Signature Blocked toggle turns on automatically. The reason for blocking the sign-off is then shown in the Signature Blocking Reason field.
Signature Blocking Reason Shows why the signature was blocked.
Reset Signature With the toggle turned on, the signature needs to be updated before it can be used again.

Post production journals#

Provided the Digital Signature feature is turned on in Extended Manufacturing Setup, the system will ask for a signature when a production journal is posted.

Note

If multiple resources are assigned to the same work center, the resource authorized to post to manufacturing must be specified in a Resource No. field in Manufacturing User Setup.

ID and resource log#

During the posting process, the user ID and the resource number of the person who entered a digital signature is stored with the item or capacity entry posted so that you can see who created a certain entry.

Production order cockpit#

Two fields have been added to the list and to the cards of released production orders to indicate in percent and through a traffic light system the progress of the following production order values:

  • Material consumption
  • Capacity consumption
  • Completion (output status)

Other new fields show the progress of outsourced tasks:

  • % Subcontracted
    Indicates in percent—for each subcontracted operation—the total of Outstanding Qty. (Base) field values from related purchase lines and the Quantity (Base) values from posted receipt lines. These values, which represent all operations, are then divided by the input quantities entered for the order before being divided by 100. The Subcontracted field, written without the percent sign, indicates by color the degree to which work on the production order has been outsourced to other companies.
  • % Subcontrd. Output
    Indicates in percent—for each subcontracted operation—the total of output values as stored in the associated capacity entries. These values, which represent all operations, are then divided by the input quantities entered for the order before being divided by 100. The Subcontrd. Output field, without the percent sign, indicates by color how much subcontracted work has been reported as finished.

Note

For performance reasons, the entries in the list of released production orders are not updated automatically. The "Update Cockpit" action is available to update the data. With this function, you can choose whether only the current production order or all production orders should be updated.

Navigate production BOMs and routings#

This feature gives you direct access to the production bill of materials and the routing from an item card, making it easier to find production base data.

Component BOMs now also show the BOM and the routing stored for an item, and you can navigate further from there.

Day-to-day production management and work preparations often require that users can go directly from the item card to, for example, the Production BOM and the Routing pages.

However, to see a BOM version in the system, for example, you typically need to open the relevant item and go from there to the production BOM list before you can open the versions page from that list. The goal of the new feature is thus to provide a faster, one-click experience when looking for manufacturing-related information.

Assist button#

To see production data, just use the Assist button next to a production field:

  • On the item card, to see the production BOM and the routing, as well as their versions, use the button next to Production BOM or Routing.
  • On production BOM lines, to see the related BOM, select the button next to the Production BOM field.

Note

The Assist button feature available in KUMAVISION factory365 provides even more options. For details, click here.

Create production data#

If the production BOM and routing fields on an item card are empty, you can also use the Assist button to create and link the base data of manufacturing with assembly items.

  1. Open an item card.
  2. On the Purchasing FastTab, select the Assist button next to the Production BOM No. field.
  3. You’re asked if you want to set up a new BOM. Choose Yes to open the production BOM for editing and certification.

Check shortage prior to release#

Another new feature adds a missing parts list to production orders. Called a shortage list, it contains all components that aren’t available at present.

You can open the list manually from a production order by choosing Shortage List on the ribbon, but it will also open on its own when an order is checked for shortages prior to release.

Setup#

You need to turn on the feature before you can use it.

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Manufacturing Setup, and then choose the related link.
  2. On the General tab, choose an option in the Shortage Release Check field to specify whether to show the shortage list—and, potentially, a warning message—when a production order is released.

Regardless of what option you choose, the list will include the fields described in the following table.

Field Description
Type Specifies the type of component (item) that is not available.
No. Specifies the number of the component item.
Due Date Specifies when the production item must be completed.
Description Specifies the description of the component item.
Quantity per Specifies the component quantity that is not available for completing the production item.
Unit of Measure Code Specifies the unit used for the component item (the typical unit for these items is Piece).
Flushing Method Specifies the method used to record the consumption of the component item in manufacturing.
Expected Quantity Specifies the estimated demand for the component item in manufacturing.
Remaining Quantity Shows the result of subtracting the expected from the output quantity.
Projected Available Balance Specifies how many component items (with the same variant and location code) are available prior to the due date entered on the line, considering all positive and negative adjustments made during that period.
Available Inventory Specifies the number of component items in inventory.
Substitution Available Specifies if an item substitute is available for the component.

Production structure lists#

A production structure is a partly of fully exploded BOM that shows, along with routings, the data used to manufacture a certain item. All lower-level BOMs for components can also be exploded in this view.

To see a detailed breakdown of how an item is produced:

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Production Structures List, and then choose the related link.
  2. Select an item in the Item Filter field. This will fill in both the Prod. BOM Filter field with the BOM stored for this item and the Routing Filter field with the routing number linked to the item.
  3. The Prod. BOM Version Filter shows the BOM version that is active on the date values are calculated, whereas the Routing Version Filter field displays the active routing version.
  4. The Calculation Date field initially shows the date specified for the routing.
  5. If—in addition to BOM components—you also want to see operations on the page, turn on the Show Routings toggle.

You can then run the Calculate function from the ribbon to show all first-level components and operations (=Level field contains the number 1) on the lines.

Afterward, you can expand or collapse the structure by using the arrows next to Level fields. To show every part of the structure, choose the double arrows.

To see the card, BOM, or routing of the item originally used for the production structure, go to the ribbon, choose Related > Production Structure, and select the option you want.

To see the same information about an item stored within the structure, that is, on a line, select a line before choosing Related > Line and the option you want on the ribbon.

To see the structure for a different calculation date than the working date:

  1. In the Calculation Date field, choose the date for which you want to display the structure. After you’ve specified a date, the system will search for BOM and routing versions active on that date and fill in the Prod. BOM Version Filter and the Routing Version Filter.
  2. Choose Calculate on the ribbon.

To calculate a BOM version that isn’t active on a certain calculation date, you need to change the Prod. BOM Version Filter manually. The new date will only affect the validity of individual components (within starting and ending dates).

You can also see the structure of production BOMs that aren’t assigned to any item. These are known as phantom BOMs.

  1. On the Production Structures List page, enter a number in the Prod. BOM Filter field so that the system can start searching for a BOM version active on the calculation date.

    Note
    If you calculate a phantom BOM without an item number, routings cannot be shown.
  2. Choose Calculate on the ribbon.

Production order structures#

With the help of a production order structure, you can explode all components of a production order in a single view across all levels (provided that the order has more than one level).

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Production Structures List (Prod. Order), and then choose the related link.
  2. In the Prod. Order Status Filter and Prod. Order No. Filter fields, select the status and the number of the order that you want to show.
  3. If—in addition to BOM components—you also want to see operations on the page, turn on the Show Routings toggle.
  4. Choose Calculate on the ribbon.

The actions on the ribbon of the page provide the same functionality as on the Production Structures List page.

Cancel a production order release#

In the standard system, a production order cannot be completed when you’ve already posted, for example, consumption or resource hours to it but have yet to specify actual output (that is, a warehouse receipt).

Thanks to a new feature, you can now cancel these orders and set their status to Finished.

Requirements#

For the cancellation feature to work, the following conditions need to be met:

  • In User Setup, on the KUMAVISION FastTab, the Can Cancel Prod. Order toggle must be turned on for users who require the function.
  • If output, that is, receipts, have already been posted, they must first be cancelled in the Output Journal.
  • If consumption postings have already been canceled, the system will check whether the cancelled amounts match those originally consumed. If the amounts don’t match, the feature can’t be used.

Instead—as in the standard app—manual intervention is required to cancel transfers tied to production and set the order to Finished.

Cancel a release#

If the stated conditions are met, the production order is cancelled per line via consumption and capacity postings. All postings will be made on the working date.

Consumption postings#

  • Remaining material quantities are reversed through application of the related consumption entries. Therefore, one reversal is posted per entry.
  • Any dimension value is copied from its original consumption entry.

Output (capacities)#

  • For each routing and operation number, the system will total the output and scrap quantities posted, the setup and run times, the downtime, and the direct and overhead costs.
  • The direct cost is calculated per cancelled posting based on total times (setup times, run times, and downtime), as they’re reversed with each posting.
  • If a finished or semi-finished product entered on an order line isn’t valuated according to the standard method, the overhead (Indirect Cost %) is weighted and posted based on total overhead.
  • Any dimension value is copied from its original capacity entry.

Complete a production order#

After the consumption and output postings have been reversed on each line, the production order is set to Finished with the help of standard functionality.

Note

Using standard functionality to change the status of a production order to Finished could very well still allow ‘retroactive’ postings, such as those for operation-related setup times.