Production Orders
A Production Order is the document that instructs the manufacture of a finished product from a Bill of Materials (BOM): it sets what will be produced, how much, at which location, and with which raw material, services and operations. From it you record the actual material consumption, the output obtained, track its progress, and calculate its cost and the profitability of the sales order that triggered it.
What it is and what it's for
Every Production Order starts from an approved Bill of Materials (BOM), which acts as its recipe: it defines the finished products to obtain, the raw material and services consumed, and — if your plan allows it — the Operations Routing to run on the shop floor. The order also sets the quantity to produce, the Subsidiary and the Location where production happens.
You can create orders one at a time, or generate them in batch from a Sales Order or from the "Items to Order" screen, when you need to manufacture to cover already-committed or projected demand.
Throughout its life, an order moves through a production status (Open → In Progress → Closed) that reflects shop-floor progress, and independently it can have an authorization workflow (Pending, Authorized or Rejected), the same as other AdmCloud transactions, if your company uses it as an internal control.
How to use it
- Create the order. From "New Production Order" you can start from a specific Bill of Materials, or open the blank form and pick it there. You can also generate several orders at once with "Production Order Generation" (batch creation), from the lines of a Sales Order or from items flagged to order; in that case AdmCloud pre-selects each item's default Bill of Materials when it has one, and you only need to confirm the Location and quantity of each line before generating them.
- Fill in the header: Bill of Materials (required), Subsidiary, Location, quantity to produce and, if you use them, Department, Division and Item Class.
- Review the lines the BOM brings in on its Finished Products, Raw Material (including the expected waste %) and Services tabs, and adjust them if this particular order needs it. If your plan has Work Centers, you'll also see an Operations tab with the Routing to run.
- Save the order. It's left in Open status, ready to be worked on the shop floor.
- From the Details screen, use the Open Order, In Progress and Close Order buttons to reflect the actual progress of the work.
-
Record the actual production as raw material is consumed and finished product is
obtained:
- If your plan does not have Work in Progress (WIP), use "Direct Production": it records the raw material consumed and the output obtained in a single document.
- If your plan does have WIP, do it in two separate steps: first "Dispatch Raw Material" to take the materials out of the warehouse, then "Build" (Finished Products Construction) to record what was manufactured; this way cost accumulates on the order while the work is in progress.
- If you need to bring in raw material from another Location before producing, generate a "Material Requisition" (Transfer Request) directly from the order, available if your plan has that feature enabled.
- If your company uses the authorization workflow, use Authorize, Reject or Mark Pending Authorization as needed.
- Print the order with the standard format or with your own HTML/PDF templates, and use Duplicate when you need to quickly create an order similar to an existing one.
Screens in this area
| Screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| List | Shows your Production Orders with customizable columns, and gives direct access to the planning screens and the operations calendar. |
| Create / Edit | The order's header form, with its Finished Products, Raw Material, Services, Operations (when it applies) and attached Files tabs. |
| Details | Shows the order in read-only mode with its current status, status-change and authorization buttons, printing, and the links to record actual production and related documents (Direct Production, Dispatch Raw Material, Finished Products Construction, Material Requisition, Routing Planner). |
| Batch Creation | Generates several Production Orders at once from a Sales Order or from items flagged to order, with each item's Bill of Materials pre-selected where it applies. |
| Order / Work Center / Operator / Fixed Asset Planning | Visual, calendar-style views of open and in-progress orders, grouped by order, by Work Center, by the operator employee, or by the Fixed Asset/equipment assigned to each operation. |
| Operations Calendar / Routing Planner | Schedule and let you reschedule an order's Routing operations (dates, Work Center, operator or equipment). They require Work Centers and, for the Routing Planner, Production Lines as well. |
| Production Progress | Reports the completion percentage of each order, comparing what was planned against what has already been built and dispatched. |
| Raw Material Consumption | Compares the raw material actually consumed against what the Bill of Materials planned, by item, order or sales order. |
| General Report | A filterable list of Production Orders for analysis and export. |
| Sales Order Profitability (and its summary) | Cross-references the actual production costs against the sales price of the order that triggered it, to see the margin obtained. Requires the Item Costs permission. |
| Printable formats for the order (standard or customized with your own templates), including the BOM, production and dispatches already generated. |
Key fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Bill of Materials (BOM) | Required. Defines what is being manufactured and with which materials, services and routing. It must exist; if your company requires BOM approval, it must also be in Approved status. |
| Quantity | Quantity to produce; scales the raw material consumption defined on the BOM proportionally. |
| Subsidiary and Location | The company/branch and warehouse where production happens. Location is required and must belong to the indicated Subsidiary. |
| Department, Division and Item Class | Optional dimensions to classify and later analyze the order in your reports. |
| Waste % | Expected scrap percentage of a material within this specific order, on top of what's already defined on the Bill of Materials. |
| Order Status | Open, In Progress or Closed; reflects the actual progress of the shop-floor work. |
| Source Sales Order | When the order was generated from a Sales Order, it stays linked to it for follow-up and to calculate its profitability. |
Validations when saving and changing status
- The Bill of Materials (BOM) is required; if your company requires BOM approval, it must also be in Approved status.
- A Location must be indicated, and it must belong to the order's Subsidiary.
- The order must have at least one item with a quantity; the Inventory accounting period matching the order's date must be open.
- If an item tracks attributes (such as Color or Size), they must be specified; if it doesn't track them, they can't be specified.
- Kit-type items are not allowed on a Production Order.
- An order that's already Open can't be marked Open again, nor can a Closed one be closed again; you also can't change status, reschedule tasks or record production on a Voided order.
- Deleting or voiding the order requires, respectively, the delete or void permission level on "Production Orders".
Availability, modules and permissions
- Requires the Manufacturing module to be enabled on your plan (Premium Plus Manufacturing, or Enterprise with the Manufacturing module active).
- Operations Routing, Work Centers, assignment by Employee/Equipment, Production Stages and Work in Progress (WIP) additionally require the Enterprise Advanced Manufacturing module.
- The Routing Planner requires, in addition to Work Centers, the Production Lines feature to be active.
- Material Requisition (Transfer Request) from the order requires your plan to have that feature enabled.
- Sales Order Profitability additionally requires the Item Costs permission.
- Viewing, creating/editing, deleting and voiding require, respectively, the browse, edit, delete and void levels of the "Production Orders" permission.
Tips and common mistakes
Can't find your Bill of Materials when creating the order? Check that it exists and, if your company requires BOM approval, that it's in Approved status; a draft BOM can't be used to produce.
Don't confuse "Direct Production" with the Work in Progress (WIP) flow. If your plan has WIP enabled, use "Dispatch Raw Material" and then "Build" separately; using only "Direct Production" in that case may not correctly reflect the cost accumulated while the order is in progress.
Need to reschedule a Routing operation? Do it from the Operations Calendar or the Routing Planner by dragging the task to its new date; there's no need to edit the whole order for that.