Manufacturing setup guide

This page walks through 10 steps to set up Manufacturing, in the order the in-app Setup assistant recommends. Each step lists what to prepare, the questions to answer first and the screen to use.

1. Prepare

Optional

What to have ready before setting up Manufacturing: manufacturing GL accounts mapped, and cleaned-up files of items, BOMs and work centers.

2. Production rules

Required

Turn features on in order: the core group first (BOM structure, issuing and reporting, material reservation), then optional groups — planning, engineering, shop floor, quality — and product costing last.

Prepare first

• Turn features on in order: multi-level BOM, partial execution, then planning/scheduling, the shop-floor layer, and product costing last.
• How the workshop works today: make-to-stock or make-to-order, issue materials in one go or in batches, outsourced steps, lot/serial tracking.

Questions to answer

• Do your products have sub-assemblies (multi-level BOMs), substitute materials or several ways to make the same product?
• Are materials issued in several batches and output reported in parts? Must a work order wait until all material is in stock?
• Do you plan production from a forecast (MRP) and schedule work centers by capacity, or schedule by hand?
• Will operators use a tablet on the floor? Do you track machines, downtime, skills, rework or lot/serial traceability?
• Must finished goods wait for a quality check before sale? Do you outsource steps or calculate product cost each month?

3. Production people

Required

Choose who runs production, who plans, who maintains BOMs and routings, who works on the floor and who calculates product cost. You cannot remove a person’s last role here.

Prepare first

• The list of production managers, planners, engineers, operators and cost accountants — each must already be invited as a user.

Questions to answer

• Who heads production, who plans, who maintains BOMs and routings, who works on the floor, and who calculates product cost?

4. Production warehouses

Optional

Work orders take material from and put output into warehouses by role. Create them on the existing Inventory screen; counts update from real data.

Prepare first

• Decide one warehouse per role: raw materials, work in progress, finished goods, scrap, and a transit warehouse per subcontractor.

Questions to answer

• Which warehouses hold raw materials, work in progress, finished goods and scrap today? Do subcontractors hold your material?

5. Production lists

Optional

The choice lists used on production forms: BOM types, production order types, QC points, and downtime, scrap and rework reasons. Open a list to fill it with the standard values, rename, hide or add values.

Prepare first

• The BOM types, production order types, QC points and the downtime, scrap and rework reasons the workshop really uses (Vietnamese and English names).

Questions to answer

• Which reasons do you record for machine stops, scrap and rework, and at which points do you check quality?

Lookups to review (Settings → Lookups):

• BOM Types (bom_types)
• Downtime Reasons (downtime_reasons)
• Production Order Types (production_order_types)
• Quality Control Points (quality_control_points)
• Rework Reasons (rework_reasons)
• Scrap Reasons (scrap_reasons)

6. Document numbering

Optional

Number format of work orders, engineering changes, production reports and subcontract receipts. Work orders share their sequence with asset work orders. Changing the format after numbers were issued leaves two code styles.

Prepare first

• The numbering format wanted on work orders, engineering changes, production reports and subcontract receipts.

Questions to answer

• Do you want a specific numbering format for work orders, or keep the defaults? (Work orders share their sequence with asset work orders.)

Document types to configure numbering for (Settings → Document numbering):

• work_order
• engineering_change
• production_report
• subcontract_receipt

7. Approval workflows

Optional · After step: Production rules, Production people

With engineering changes on, every ECO must be approved before it is applied: it needs an active workflow or a person holding the engineering right. Work order and BOM workflows are optional — without one, orders are confirmed directly.

Questions to answer

• Must work orders be approved before release, and who approves engineering changes to BOMs and routings?

Approval workflows to enable (Workflow → Template library) — see Workflow templates:

• engineering_change
• work_order
• bom

8. Work centers & BOMs

Optional

Create the production master data on the existing screens. Counts update from real data.

Prepare first

• Create work centers first, then routings, then BOMs from sub-assemblies up to finished goods.

Questions to answer

• Where are BOMs and routings kept today (spreadsheet, old ERP), and how many finished products do you make?

9. Orders in progress

Optional

Bring over work orders still running on the cut-over date and agree the opening WIP balance with accounting.

Prepare first

• Agree the cut-over date: work orders still running that day are re-created in XBuddy with the material already issued; finished ones stay in the old system.

10. Test run

Optional

Run one real product end to end before going live and check every result with the key user.

Prepare first

• Use one real product with a short BOM; agree with the key user who checks each result.

Next

See the feature pages of this app in the left menu, or the setup guides of every app.