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Work Centers

Work centers in Ianai ERP represent the physical locations, machines, or groups of resources where manufacturing operations take place. They are fundamental building blocks for routing and production planning.

Overview​

  • Work centers define the resources required for manufacturing operations.
  • They contain critical information about capacity, costs, and operational parameters.
  • Properly configured work centers enable accurate scheduling, costing, and resource management.

Creating a Work Center​

To create a new work center:

  1. Navigate to Manufacturing > Work Centers in the main menu.
  2. Click the New Work Center button.
  3. Enter the basic information including name, code, and description.
  4. Define the capacity and cost parameters.
  5. Save the work center.

Work Center Components​

A comprehensive work center setup includes the following information:

Basic Information​

  • Name: A descriptive name for the work center
  • Enabled: Whether the work center is active and can be used in routing and work orders
  • Description: Detailed information about the work center's purpose and capabilities
  • Location: The location where the work center is physically located

Cost Information​

You can add the cost items such as labor, machine, overhead, etc. in the work center.

  • Labor Cost: Hourly cost of labor resources at the work center
  • Machine Cost: Hourly cost of machine operation
  • Overhead Cost: Additional costs associated with the work center
  • Setup Cost: Costs incurred during preparation for operations

Work Center Cost Calculation​

Work centers are essential for accurate cost calculation in manufacturing:

  • You may set up the cost items such as labor, machine, overhead, etc. in each work center.
  • These costs flow through to routing operations and ultimately to work orders, enabling precise product costing.

Work Center Scheduling​

The system uses work center information for production scheduling:

  1. Available capacity is determined based on working hours and efficiency.
  2. Operations are assigned to work centers based on routing specifications.
  3. The system schedules operations considering available capacity and priorities.
  4. Real-time capacity visualization helps identify bottlenecks and optimize resource allocation.

Integration with Other Features​

Work centers connect with other manufacturing functions:

  • Routings: Define which operations are performed at which work centers
  • Work Orders: Schedule production using work center capacity information
  • Cost Accounting: Calculate accurate manufacturing costs

Best Practices​

  1. Create work centers with the appropriate level of granularity for your operations.
  2. Regularly update cost rates to maintain accurate product costing.
  3. Monitor efficiency metrics and identify opportunities for improvement.
  4. Configure realistic capacity settings to prevent over-scheduling.
  5. Group similar resources into logical work centers for simplified management.

For more detailed information on advanced work center management techniques and optimization, please refer to the specific sections in this documentation.