Chapter 3: Release Work Order

After work orders are created, a physical copy of the work order can be released to the production department about what to produce and how to produce it.  Once this physical copy is printed, the system will regard the work order as released and the order status will be changed to Printed.  This physical copy can be batch printed by the Print Production Work Orders application.

The Traveler and Pick List can be printed through Print Production Work Orders. The Traveler contains all the basic information about the order, the routing and in which operation the materials are used.  This document can be passed from one operator to another in the production department, hence named Traveler.  Printing the Traveler will update the work order status to Printed and the order is considered released.  An operator can use information on it to report production, including scanning barcodes of the order number and operation numbers that may be printed on the form. On the other hand, the Pick List contains the item number and quantity of the components in use for this work order. It can be used to collect materials from the warehouse.

Once orders are released, the system will update several things:

• The order status will be changed from New to Printed.
• Inventory for components will be allocated if they were not allocated in a previous step.
• If Multi-Bin is configured to use Transfer Tickets, the system will create a transfer batch for all components.
• If the routing was modified after the order was released in a previous step, the system will increase revision number of the work order.

Some restrictions will apply to a released order:

• Some order information cannot be changed, like order quantity and planning start date.
• The bill of material for this work order cannot be changed.
• The system will prevent operators from reporting on the work order until the Traveler is reprinted if a change is made to the routing and the BOMP Global Setup field 47, Enforce +WO Revision Control, is set to “Y”.

If a change needs to be made after an order is released, you can Void the work order and the order status will be changed back to New.

It is not necessary to print these copies before production.

How to Access:

Main Menu è Distribution è Bill of Material Processor è Processing è Print Production Work Orders è Print è Plus Work Order è Print

(Figure 10) Print Production Work Order

There are three options under the Print menu:

• Print Work Order – To print newly created work orders.
• Print Changed Traveler – If the routing was updated after the order was released, the operator can reprint the Traveler.  The order revision number will increase by one and the order will be unlocked if revision control is enforced. The old copy of the Traveler should be destroyed and the new version released to the production department.
• Print Duplicate Work Order – A duplicate copy of the Traveler or Pick List can be printed after the order has been released.

Field Description

(Figure 11) Print Duplicate Work Order

Void Work Order

(Figure 12) Void Work Order

Operators can Void the physical copy of the work order through this feature so changes can be made to a released order.  This can be found under the same menu in Print Production Work Order.

The following will take place if a work order is successfully voided:

• The order status will be changed from Printed to New.  The inventory for the components will remain allocated.
• If the Transfer Ticket feature in the Multi-Bin Add-on is in use, the system will attempt to remove the transfer batch.  However, if the Transfer Ticket has been printed, you will need to destroy the ticket manually.
• The work order WILL NOT be deleted.  You can further edit the order or remove it in the Production Order Entry screen.

Once the production for this work order is started, partially reported or completed, the order can no longer be voided.

Chapter 4: Barcode Preparation

We recommend preparing barcodes before starting production to make the process more efficient.  Barcode scanning is a powerful and easy-to-implement data entry solution. Instead of typing letter-by-letter, operators can input a long string of data like an Operator ID, Product Number or Order Number through a single scan of a printed barcode.  This not only alleviates the data entry burden, but eliminates mistyping errors.  In WO+, most of the time-clock interfaces are designed for scanning.  To benefit from this, you will need to prepare scanners and barcodes.

We used the Symbol Cobra LS 2208 Laser Scanner for in-house testing.  It requires only an USB interface, but you can use any scanner capable of reading the barcodes created.

There are many barcode symbologies.  One of the most commonly used is Code 128[3], which can encode 128 characters into one high-density barcode.  You can choose a different symbology as long as the scanner can read it.  In WO+, some fields work well as a barcode, like Operator ID, Order Number, Routing Operation Number and Special Operation Number.

(Figure 13) Different Barcodes

There are several ways to create barcodes:

• You can use a barcode printing application like Bartender, which allows you to edit the layout and create barcodes in batches.
• There are some font-based solutions which require an application like Excel or Word to create the barcode.
• We have discovered a free online barcode generator.
• In Elliott, you can print barcodes on a report by selecting a Form Template by following these instructions:
• Bring up the Print Options window by printing a report, like the Special Operation Edit List.  Be sure the Destination selection is Printer and click the Option button in the right bottom corner.  The system will bring up the Appearance Options screen (Figure 12).
• In Appearance Options, click on Form Template, select a template with a barcode description and click OK.  Click OK in the Print Options screen to printing.  The result should be similar to Figure 11.
• If a template is unavailable under Form Template (only “00 No Form” is available), you can create new templates or import one from the template files.  Several templates can be found in the [$Elliott_Directory$\forms] directory (ex. C:\Elliott\forms).  BMSPCLST.F01 is for the Special Operation Edit List, BM20P3.F01 is for the Pick List, BM20P3T.F01 and BM20P3T.F02 are for the Traveler.  To import these files, click the “New Form…” button on the Appearance Options screen and click OK in the next screen.  This will bring up the Elliott Laser Form Designer (Figure 13).  Click the “Import…” button and select template files to import.  You can import any template in any print program.

(Figure 14) Select Form Template while printing

(Figure 16) Badge Format

You can have Travelers with barcodes of the order numbers and operation numbers, Pick Lists with the order numbers and item numbers barcoded, a Special Operation List with operation numbers in barcode and badges with the operator’s ID and password in a barcode.  These are sufficient to use most of the interfaces in Work Order Plus, although a barcode is not required.