Work Centers

A work center is a location where a production activity is performed on a part. Resources, such as operators and machines, are linked to a work center and used as a functional planning unit.

Work centers have associated costs, so part routing cannot be set up without first setting up a work center.

Some examples of work centers:

• Single machine, single operator

• A production department

• An inspection area

• An assembly area

• Shipping and receiving area

• Any designated production area

These screens are used primarily by engineering managers, or anyone with engineering permissions.

The Work Center Master screen, where work centers are set up in the system, can be accessed:

• By navigating to it in the Menu under Engineering > Engineering Production > Work Centers,

• Or by searching for Work Center or S1019.

Work Center Department

A work center department is an area within the plant where a production activity takes place. Defining a work center department allows you to group work centers together for quicker reporting and management.

Work Center Groups

Work center groups provide planning and scheduling teams greater management over resources. For example, one operator might be responsible for two or three machines, or you may have a group of welders and welding cells.

By grouping these resources together, you can more efficiently calculate costs and plan your resources.

Work Center Capacity

Work center capacity is the potential standard hours that can be worked at a work center. By tracking your work center capacity, you can expose any production shortcomings while highlighting areas where future work can be added.

This is done by setting the standard number of hours that a work center is expected to work in a given year on the Work Center Master > Models tab. Here, the following fields can be filled out to provide work center capacity information: 

• Standard Hours - The number of hours the work center can be used per year.

  Standard Hours Capacity Calculation Example

  The standard hours should be calculated similar to the work center availability set on S2809. It should not be based on maximum capacity (three shifts) but on realistic capacity (two shifts). These hours calculations should be independent of the current labour and supplies restrictions but based on the potential hours available at each work center. For example:

  A work center that has 2 shifts per day can be calculated as 2 shifts at 7.5 hours per shift for 251 production days in the current year. Or:

  2 x 7.5 x 251 = 3765

  For the example, 7.5 hours per shift is based on the available hours on this machine when manned. The operator is only at this machine for 7.5 hours of his 8 hour shift.

  The standard hours for a work center is independent of the number of people assigned to this work center. Regardless if one person is in this work center or if two people are working on this machine, this does not affect the potential hours. A work center's hours will be higher if it can run unattended. For example: Based on the example above, a machine that operates continuously will use 8 hours per shift in the calculation.

  2 x 8 x 251 = 4016

• Std Hrs 12M History - The calculated total standard hours for the past 12 months if the part and quantities produced in the last year were manufactured using today’s standard hours.

• Std Hrs 12M Forecast - The calculated total standard hours forecast for the next 12 months based on future demand of each manufactured part and the standard routing times at each work center.

• Forecast Capacity % - The calculated percentage of hours required to fulfil current demand. If the Forecast Capacity is greater than 100%, you should action the work center capacity. Calculated with the following calculation:

  Forecast Capacity % = Std Hrs 12M Forecast / Standard Hours

• Std People - the number of staff assigned per shift to this work center. Used to provide insight to the basis for the Standard Hours calculation.

• Number of Shifts - The number of shifts per production day for this work center. Used to provide insight to the basis for the Standard Hours calculation.

Another issue that can affect plant capacity is the state of the economy. To ensure a more accurate capacity percentage, you can adjust the economic factor on Business Info [S1824]> EconomicFactor. For example, if current economic constraints have your plant operating at 80% capacity, you can adjust the Forecast Capacity % calculation by adjusting the EconomicFactor value to 0.8.

Values entered for capacity calculations do not affect other modules, like DCP Detailed Capacity Planning, or DCP, is a capacity and manpower forecasting tool in OnRamp. or RCCP, in the OnRamp business model. These values are added for informational purposes that can aid with long term decisions and goals.

Work Center Capacity Reports

Work center capacity values can be reviewed on Work Center Factors by DCP Groups [R3619] and Work Center Factors by Groups & Departments [R3620]. Reviewing the reports will indicate which work centers have potential capacity issues:

• If a work center is over-capacity, then you should take measures to increase the capacity. Examples of how to increase capacity include: moving demand to another work center, sub-contracting/ outsourcing, adding shifts, or overtime.

• If a work center is under-capacity, then you can focus new orders on under-worked centers.

• If similar work centers are unbalanced, you can move orders from high capacity to lower capacity work centers, like moving some orders from a robotic weld to a manual weld.

To view the standard hours forecast breakdown by part, use report Work Center Load Analysis [R3593].