Firm Work Order Maintenance

A firm work order can be modified or deleted as long as it has not been released. In particular, the quantity, release dates or due dates can be changed. In this case, the resulting component requirements are updated.

Fields

Quantity:	The quantity released in the work order
Release date:	The planned release date of the work order
Due date:	The required due date for the order (often generated by the MRP calculation)
Priority:	Priority index which can be used by the finite capacity scheduling function
Transfer batch:	Transfer lot size which is used for overlapping in the scheduling function

Buttons

In addition to the standard buttons, this page has ten different buttons:

New		This button creates a new work order. It assigns the next available number to the order. All fields must be filled.
Operations		This button opens the Work Order Operation page.
Release		This button launches the release procedure and, as a first step, reserves necessary components in the inventory. When the release is impossible (in case of insufficient inventories or missing routing) the button is inactive. See further on for the detail of the release procedure. At the time of release, the total order quantity is considered as a work in process, waiting for the first operation.
Master Sch.		Posts the Item Master Schedule for the item.
Schedule		Tries to reschedule the work order (if the Infinite Capacity Scheduling function has already been launched (Planning menu). Scheduled dates are posted in the Dates tab.
Work Loads	This button shows the Work Load Graph window for the Work Order. This graph display the work load profile for the operation selected in the list calculated by the Infinite Scheduling and Work Load Calculation function.
Gantt		This button displays the Gantt chart for the work order, according to the backward and forward schedules. In addition, the schedule according to the scheduling release dates is displayed in the same figure. When clicking on a scheduled work order operation, a window appears which displays the sequence of each operation. This chart has to be interpreted as follows: 1. In blue is depicted the sequence planned by forward capacity schedule. 2. In red is depicted the sequence planned by backward infinite capacity schedule. 3. In green is depicted the sequence planned by the finite capacity schedule.
Graph		This button displays the work order flow chart. This chart presents the sequence of the operations and shows estimated flows (including scraps effects).
Costs		This button displays the Work Order Cost page. If the Budget frozen data have been created, the projected costs are compared to the budgeted costs.
Change Routing		The button displays the list of routings attached to the item. The routing revision index is automatically chosen according to the release date of the work order. If the routing is not changed, the system propose to recreate the operations from the latest routing data.
Change BOM Variant		This button makes it possible to change the BOM variant used. It displays the BOM variant list. If the BOM is not changed, the system propose to recreate the requirements corresponding to the latest BOM data.

When a planned order is converted or is directly created, the corresponding operations are created under a work-in-process status. Information featured in the relevant manufacturing routing is stated there.

For work orders involved in a project, the corresponding project number is displayed next to the order number.

The firm work order page has three tabs:

• the first tab presents the manufacturing operations. It is possible to display the details related to each operation by clicking on the operation field in the tab.

• The second tab shows the part requirements list. When clicking on a part in the list, the corresponding master schedule is displayed.
All the first level components are listed, except those that are managed under an ‘Inventory Management’ policy.
The Available column shows the current inventory of a part, whereas the Available/ Rel shows the inventory that will be available at the release date.

• The third tab shows the scheduling dates that were calculated by the Infinite capacity loading function or by the Schedule button. This tab also displays the finite capacity scheduling dates.

The slack is defined as the number of hours between the earliest and latest end dates.

The infinite capacity ratio is equal to the ratio of the work hours divided by the throughput time (including the transfer time).

The finite capacity ratio is equal to the ratio of work hours divided by the throughput time (possibly including the waiting time at each operation).