Almyta Control System's versatile Work Orders System lets you perform the following functions:

 

·         Schedule and track internal requests for work including preventative, emergency, and scheduled maintenance.

·         Plan work against available human and inventory item resources.

·         Associate each work order with an available asset.

·         Automatically adjust the total number of inventory items when inventory items are specified in the work order for consumption.

·         Generate detailed reports that among others include the current status of all outstanding work orders.

·         Collect and maintain warranty information.

·         Make a kit or assembled item.

10.1  Work Orders Screen

 

 

 

 

10.2  Creating a Work Order

1.      Select “Work Orders” from the main menu and then select “Detailed Work Orders” from the dropdown menu that appears.

2.      Click the “Add New” button.

3.      Fill in the “Order Header” tab with information about the employees, skills, and type of work involved in the work order.  None of this information is required but it is helpful in tracking the order later.

4.      Fill in the “Warranty/Status” tab with information about the item being made and the date on which the work must be finished (“Required by”).  The “Creation Date” field will automatically fill with today’s date.

5.      Fill in the “Parts” tab with the parts needed to carry out the work order.  If you are assembling an item:

6.      The item ID must be labeled a “make” on the “Item Master List.”

7.      All the components of the item must be listed on the “Item Master List” with their own item ID numbers.

8.      It will be easier if the components are also listed as components of the finished product. (On the “Item Master List” entry for the finished product, choose “Components” from the “Operation” box—list all the component items on the screen that appears.)

9.      Add any comments that you have on the “Comments” tab.

10.  If work is beginning on the work order immediately, be sure to update the status on the “Warranty/Status” tab. Work orders must be approved before parts can be issued on this tab. Otherwise, you can exit the “Work Orders” screen now and come back when you need to update the work orders.

10.3  Maintaining Work Orders

The Work Orders tracks the entire life cycle of the work order from initial request through completion.  Almyta Control System tracks each of the following states on the “Warranty/Status” tab of the “Work Orders” screen.  Be sure to update the status of your work orders as they progress. The available statuses are:

 

·         “Request:” a work order that has been requested but not yet approved. When an order has this status, parts cannot be issued until the order is changed to “approved” status.

·         “Open:” a work order that has been approved.

·         “Scheduled:” an approved work order that has a date assigned to begin work.

·         “Started:” a work order that is currently in process but has not yet been completed.

·         “Completed:” a work order that has been completed.

·         “Canceled:” a work order that was canceled before it was completed. A work order can be canceled at any point in its life cycle.

 

If you issue the parts for a work order, its status will automatically change to “Completed.”

10.4  Modifying a Work Order

Work orders can be modified at any time by returning to the screen that you used to create them.

 

1.      Select “Work Orders” from the main menu and then select “Detailed Work Orders.”

2.      Enter the work order number or select one from the dropdown box (you can use the status dropdown box to narrow your selection).

3.      Make any changes and then exit (Almyta Control System will save your changes automatically).  If you are making any changes to the “Assembly” or “Unit” field, a confirmation box displays to adjust all line items. Clicking “Yes” will adjust the line items to meet your changes in the assembly.

10.5  Completing a Work Order

A work order is considered complete once all the necessary parts have been issued.

 

1.      Once a work order has been approved, the “Issue” button becomes available on the “Detailed Work Orders” screen.  Click “Issue” to view the “Issue Inventory” screen.  (See section 5.14 for “Issuing” screen options).

2.      From the “Issue Inventory” screen, you may either manually select warehouse locations from which you want the parts to be taken or click “Load” to have Almyta Control System fill in the locations for you. However, if you are storing a part in more than one location in your warehouse, you will need to load manually.  Click the Hand with a Box button to view all the locations in your warehouse where a part can be found, then select from the list.

3.        After specifying a warehouse location, click “Issue.”  A confirmation message will appear to tell you that the work order has been completed.

10.6  Canceling a Work Order

Use this function to delete a work order from your queue.

 

1.      From the main menu bar select “Work Orders” and then select “Detailed Work Orders.”

2.      Enter the number of the order that you wish to cancel.  There are two ways to cancel an existing work order:

§         Click on the red “X” located to the right of the “Work Order” field. A pop up box displays asking you to confirm your choice. Click “Yes.” The system displays the next work order in chronological order.

§         Click on the “Warranty/Status” tab.  Click on the “Canceled” box located in the “Status” box on the lower right portion of the screen.

10.7  Making a Kit (Assembling or Making an Item)

The Work Orders module in Almyta Control System allows you to make and ship a kit or to assemble and then ship an item as a finished product.  Using the Work Orders to kit or assemble a finished product, Almyta Control System will automatically remove required items (components) listed on the work order and receive the finished product into stock when you issue the work order.

 

For ease of use and error-free entry, we recommend adding the components to the Bill of Material (BOM) on the “Item Master List” if the assemblies are repetitive. For each new kit/assembly work order you enter, you will then be able to select the finished product item ID in the “Assembly” field and enter the quantity you wish to make and this will populate the screen with all the components needed to make the item and the quantity required of each item.  If you wish to enter the parts each time, that is fine too.

 

Keep in mind that you can add to the components as needed on the work order.  So, if you have an item whose assembly changes frequently, you can list only the regular items on the “Components” screen.  Then use this and add the variable components to each work order as needed.  This will also save some time by reducing data entry.

 

Below are the steps to create a Kit/Assembly/Bill of Materials.

 

1.      All the parts (components to be used in any assembly of another part) of the kit must be separate inventory items on your “Item Master List.”  On the “Stocking Properties” tab for each part, check the box for “Item is a make.”

2.      Enter the kit or assembled item in your “Item Master List” as a new inventory item.  On the “Stocking Properties” tab, check the box next to “Item is a make.”

3.      From the “Select Operation” dropdown box, select “Components Detail/Modify.”

4.      On the “Components” screen, add the item IDs of all the parts of the assembled item or kit and the number of units needed of each item to make the kit.  Fill in the other fields as they apply.

 

Once your “Item Master List” is set up, you can proceed with creating an assembly order.

Follow the instructions earlier in this chapter to create a new work order.

 

1.      On the “Parts” tab, fill in the “Select Assembly” field with the ID of the item or kit you are making and the “Units” field with how many of the finished product you would like to have.

2.      Then click “Top Components” or “All Components” and the system will automatically populate the work order pulling the components and units from the “Components” screen.
The “Top Components” button, when clicked, will populate all parts listed on the “Component” screen for the kit/assembly.  It will not list any components of a subassembly that may appear on the “Components” screen. A subassembly would be an earlier level of an assembly. For instance, refer to the example below.
You are making a car as the final assembly.  This requires the following parts:

1 transmission

1 engine

1 exhaust system

1 computer

Etc.

However, prior to assembling the car, you have to do several subassemblies.  One subassembly might be for the exhaust system.  This would require the parts below:

1 muffler

4 brackets

8 screws

Etc.

In this example, clicking “Top Components” will list only the components of the car final assembly.  If you click “All Components,” it will list all of the car components along with the subassemblies for the components going into the car.

10.8  Committing Items on Work Orders

Inventory items being used on a work order can be considered “committed” quantities.  When using Almyta Control System, you will need to decide if you want the system to count components on a work order as committed stock on hand.  This can be done under “System/Administrative Tools/Options” on the “System” tab.  For more information on system options see section 4.1.

 

Committed quantities in Almyta Control System are not reserved.  Even though the system shows how many are committed on future orders, you can still remove items from inventory on a new order.  The system will not prevent you from “stealing” committed quantities. 

When you enter a new work order, the components listed on the work order are not considered committed until the work order is approved.  If you are not using approvals, each time you enter a work order, you should immediately move it from requested to approved status. 

 

Committed quantities are reflected in a few areas throughout Almyta Control System:

 

·         On the “Inventory/Item Master List” screen.

·         On the “Inventory Fast Browse” screen.

·         On the Items Cost Summary Report.

 

Tracking committed quantities is valuable when using the reorder functionality in Almyta Control System.  By reflecting items needed for work orders as committed, the system can accurately recommend the reorder quantities on the Items to Order Report.

10.9  Partially Completing a Work Order

The occasion may arise when you need to only make a part of a work order.  For example, you might have a situation where an item is needed for a shipping order.  The customer wants it tomorrow so you have to get it shipped today.  But if you are making 100 items, you don’t want to wait until all of them are completed when you need 5 right now. Another example would be if you only have enough components to make half of the work order.  You can partially complete a work order for maintenance or for a kit/assembly.  Follow the steps below.

 

Proceed to issue parts against a work order as shown in Section 10.5 earlier in this chapter.

 

1.      On the “Issue” screen, adjust the quantities of items you are issuing.  Make certain you are on the “Issue” screen, not the “Outstanding Work Orders” screen.  If you alter quantities anywhere other than the “Issue” screen, these will change the work order required quantities. For example, if the work order were to assemble 100 boxes of pens and each box requires one box and 10 blue pens, you need 100 boxes and 1000 blue pens to complete the assembly. You begin the work order and make only 40 boxes in one day. You want to update the system to reflect the 40 so they can ship to a customer.  So you will click “Issue” on the work order. Then adjust the box to remove only 40 and adjust the pens to 400.  Then finish the issue.

2.      Once all quantities are adjusted to reflect the amount you used, click “Load” and continue with the issue process. Almyta Control System will automatically remove the components. If it is an assembly, Almyta Control System will also receive into stock the finished product. The system will determine based on the required quantities (on the “Components” screen of the “Item Master List”) how many to receive into stock based on what you have issued out. After issuing a partial work order, the system will follow the option for back orders that you have selected in the “Options” screen under “System/Administrative Tools.”  See section 4.1 and section 10.10 below for more information on work order back orders.

10.10         Work Order Back Orders

In Almyta Control System, back ordering a work order means to partially complete a work order but leave the outstanding balance to be made at a later date.  Three options concern back orders in the Work Orders. You can set which option you will need by going to “System/Administrative Tools.” Select the “BOM/Work Orders” tab.  In the “Backorders for Work Orders” field, you can select:

 

·         “Do not make back orders.” Selecting this will complete a work order when any quantity is made against that work order.

·         “Off to create new order.” This will ask you each time you make a work order if you want to back order any remaining balances or call the complete.  If you opt to back order the balance, the system will create a new order with a suffix attached to the order number to indicate it is the second time the order is being worked on.  For example, if the original work order was W500124, the back ordered number becomes W500125:2.  You may also assign the back order separator on this tab.  A back order separator is the sign used to separate the original number from the suffix assigned when an order is back ordered.

·         “Always create new order.” This will automatically create a back order whenever there is an outstanding balance.

10.11         Work Order Parts Tab in Detail

When you are adding parts to your work order you can now specify for each component if you plan to use stock or purchase new inventory.  The new parts tab is shown below.

 

 

 

 

For each component on the purchase order, the system will default to “Use Stock”.  This means the person(s) processing work orders and those entering purchase orders will know you can use the inventory on hand or coming in and they do not need to order inventory specifically for this work order.

 

If the PO box is checked and Use stock is not, then you will need to order those items.  When you are on the work order follow the instructions below.

 

1.      Click the “Create PO” button.

2.      You will be on the Purchasing Utilities screen.  It displays the item you need to order for this work order.  The system will take into account the term agreement for a specific item and automatically enter the purchase order for that supplier based on the supplier catalog.

3.      You can alter any quantities as needed on this screen.  For example if you will figure waste on specific items, then you may want to increase the ordered amount a little to ensure you do not run out.

4.      Click “Apply”.

5.      The newly created purchase order numbers will display.  Write them down so you can reference them if needed or print them out by going into each order in the Outstanding Purchase Order screen.

 

Note: When a purchase order is entered specifically for a work order, the work order number will appear on the purchase order on the Notes/Totals tab.

 

When the materials arrive and you receive them, Almyta Control System does the following:

 

1.      Places items for a work order directly on hold, only to be issued for the specific work order number.

2.      It places the work order number as the Issuing Reference in the items Unit in Stock details screen.

3.      The items will not show up as active inventory.

4.      The items can be viewed as reserved for that work order.

 

When all reserved items are received, you can begin processing the work order.