Operation
An Operation in ERPNext is any particular step of manufacturing or mechanical process used on raw materials to convert them into finished or semi-finished goods—like drilling, mixing, coating, cutting, fitting, assembling, painting, or polishing. Every Operation is a single discrete activity in the production process and is a crucial part of the Bill of Materials (BOM) and Work Orders. The Operation master not only specifies the name and description of the process but also its default Workstation, associated costs, execution parameters, and any quality control requirements.
The operations help to establish standard procedures between successive runs of products, to achieve a steady production, an efficient schedule and accurate cost determination. ERPNext also provides for sub-operations, which are individual steps in a larger operation, providing increased control and visibility over complex manufacturing operations. Batch-wise operation, job card generation, and connectivity with Quality Inspection Templates also enable organizations to streamline workforce planning, minimize rework, and enforce compliance with production norms.
With ERPNext tight integration of Operations, Job Cards, Workstations and BOMs, the manufacturers, have a veritable, extensible, and configurable platform on which they manage their shop-floor operations efficiently.
Accessing the Operation List
In order to manage operations, visit:
1. Prerequisites
Prior to creating and utilizing an Operation, make sure that at least one Workstation has been established, because every Operation needs a Default Workstation setup in order to schedule and estimate manufacturing jobs correctly.
2. How to Create an Operation
When an Operation is created in ERPNext v15, it is defined in all its details, starting with the workstation on which it runs, all the way through how it is scheduled, and checked for quality as well as possibly batched to perform efficiently. The set up is important in the rightful routing of production and generation of job card.
Steps:
Go to the Operation list and click New.
Fill in the Operation Name: Assign the operation (relevant) name, e.g. Cutting, Polishing or Assembly. It is applied on BOMs, job cards and production reports.
Select Default Workstation: Select the default Workstation where the operation is usually done. This impacts the availability of schedules and automatically introduces relevant cost of operations to Work Orders and Job Cards.
Is Corrective Operation (Optional): If rework or corrections are performed using this operation, make the Is Corrective Operation checkbox ticked. It will enable tracking and reporting of rework in production analytics.
Job Card Settings:
Create Job Card Based on Batch Size This check box is only to be used in case you want to break up larger production quantities into colored job cards. Then fill in the Batch Size
Example: Suppose a Work Order quantity is 100 and batch size is 25. Then four Job Cards will be generated (25, 25, 25, 25). This helps in carrying out the execution at floor levels.
Quality Inspection Template: You can choose a template in case this operation involves quality checks. Once the Job Card has been generated on this operation, the chosen template will be automatically applied to guarantee consistency and compliances.
Sub Operations (Optional): Under the Sub Operations section, define smaller or sequential steps that are part of this primary operation. Sub-operations offer finer management and accountability of complicated operations. This is listed on the Job Card and has an influence on time tracking and capacity planning.
Operation Description (Optional): In this region provide the purpose of the operation, tooling specification or safety comments that should be used in the operation. This may assist the shop floor operators who access the Job Card or Operation information.
Saving: Click Save and save up. This operation can now be tied to Work Orders, Bill of Materials as well as Job Card
3. Post Creation Actions
Once the Operation is saved it can be used during Bill of Materials (BOM) and Work Orders. Also in the ERPNext v15 sequence operations using the management procedure has been made much more flexible enabling the users to resequencing sub-operations or adjust batch based creation of job cards within BOMs. To update real -time or engineering changes, you are also able to change default time or cost per operation in work orders or job cards.
Operations in ERPNext v15 are merged more dynamically than earlier, giving us better job card batching, Quality Inspection roll-in and simplification of process definitions using sub-operations.