In the manufacturing world, making well-informed decisions is a game-changer. That’s precisely why, in this blog, we’re diving into Assembly Orders and Production Orders within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. ?

 

?️ Assembly Orders ?️

Imagine you’re in the furniture business and you offer some products with a variety of options. For instance, a kitchen table can have a wooden, ceramic or glass top. Legs can be wooden or aluminum. Colors may vary. Cool stuff.

Every time customers order such a table, they select their options, creating a different finished good item. Assembly Orders are your go-to in this scenario, streamlining the process of efficiently putting these components together.

The advantage of Assembly Orders in Business Central lies in their simplicity. Once you select the combination of components you need, perhaps using Insight Works’ Product Configurator, you obtain a product that is not in stock but has its own bill of materials and can be put together quickly from existing inventory.

You are not really concerned with labor costs since much of the effort is inventory handling time. You are not concerned with manufacturing capacity either and there’s no machine involved since you are not transforming anything.

You can create the assembly order for this item from within the sales order or you may want to use the planning worksheet to gather all demands into one Assembly Order.

Why Assembly Orders matter:

Efficiency: You avoid complex transactions and can streamline inventory consumption.
Accuracy: You promote accurate inventory and costing.

 

? Production Orders ?

Now, picture manufacturing high-end smartphones, involving intricate stages like component assembly, quality checks, and software installations. Production Orders give you precise control over each step, ensuring smooth operations.

Production Orders include the bill of materials of the product you are making, but also a routing which indicates the flow or path the product will follow to be manufactured. Routings involve machine centres and/or work centres.

Routings provide two evident benefits: tracking costs and workload. This is an important difference between production orders and assembly orders. By assigning direct and indirect costs to machine and work centres, it becomes possible to account for all cost elements of a manufacturing process.

By the same token, assigning calendars and capacity will also provide visibility on work loads by using the planning worksheet, but also a visual planner like Insight Works’ MxAPS.

When using Production Orders, tracking time, consumption and outputs becomes an important requirement. This can be a daunting task. Luckily, we simplify this process with our very own declaration application. We can also deploy Insight Works’ MES or bridge Business Central with your MES solution using VokCNX.

Why they’re crucial:

Resource Allocation: Production Orders efficiently manage resources across different production stages, maximizing productivity.
Cost Management: Production Orders truly shine in cost tracking. For smartphones, they enable meticulous cost monitoring from materials to labor, identifying areas for potential savings.

Your choice between Assembly Orders and Production Orders significantly impacts operational success. Leveraging Business Central‘s capabilities allows you to tailor your manufacturing strategy to your environment. And yes, as each item is configured independently from others, you can combine both approaches.

Are you using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for your manufacturing operations? View our Services page to learn more.

 

Last updated: October, 2023