Manufacturing

The User can both create and maintain Manufacturing Instructions for individual Parts or Assemblies.

These Instructions comprise the individual Operation details of Set-Up Time, Operation/Cycle Time, Lead Time (for Sub-Contract) associated to the various Resource Codes that define the machines and processes provided by your company and its associated sub-contractors.

In addition to the standard Resource Descriptions (e.g. CNC Milling, Drilling, Bench/Assembly, etc.) the Planner may also specify more detailed Operation by Operation Instructions that will appear alongside the Operation when the Route Card is printed. In the case of Sub-Contract Operations these detailed Operation Instructions are automatically reproduced on the relevant Sub-Contract Purchase Orders as are the associated Batch Prices which are also brought forward from the Manufacturing Instruction database.

It is also possible to maintain more than one set of Manufacturing Instructions for a Part to cater for the situation where alternative Manufacturing Routes are possible.

Once Manufacturing Instructions are available the User may print off Route Cards for that Part in either stand-alone format or via the Works Order and Scheduling modules which will enable the Route Card to automatically reflect the Customer, Quantity, Due Date, Works Order Number, etc.

All printed Route Cards have the Works Order Number printed in a Bar Code format to facilitate the Shop Floor Data Capture options available within FactoryMaster.

When utilised in conjunction with the Estimating Module the above procedure is considerably simplified as Manufacturing Instructions can be automatically created straight from the Quotation. These Manufacturing Instructions inherit all relevant attributes of the Quotation but may then be expanded for actual Production use (e.g. Detailed Manufacturing Instructions may be added for some Operations).

All Manufacturing Instructions can be associated with a specific Drawing Issue Release for the Part and these Issue Numbers are checked between Manufacturing Instructions, Quotation, Customer Order and Drawing Register to ensure that Route Cards can only be produced where all Issues agree.

As well as the Manufacturing Instructions themselves, it is also possible to record details of an associated Data Card Reference, Operator Self-Inspection Check List, CNC Program Number or even to embed a Stage Drawing, Digital Photograph or Digital Video Clip within each Manufacturing Stage.

All resulting in a Route Card which can be chosen from a library of over 40 alternate Route Card layouts.

If a manufacturing route is changed or an operation within a route is changed the system will automatically ask the user if any existing works orders which would be listed need to be updated with the change. Any changes can be tracked with the audit trails built into the FactoryMaster system.

Factorymaster within the drawing control can initiate an ECN (Engineering Change notification) when a change in drawing issue is made. This allows the user to have full traceability on the reasons for the drawing issue change.

Assemblies, FM can handle assemblies from simple parts that just contain its raw material through to machine tools requiring thousands of parts and multiple sub assemblies.

The FM system will advise the user of any outstanding works orders on Any changes that are made to an assembly and give them the option of applying these changes to them.