Work Guidelines

Work guidelines are instructions or notes associated with the manufacturing process, either through the product structure or the routing of the part being built. Used with structures, they allow you to create an artificial routing (if you do not use routings). They also give specific or additional information to the assembler or stockroom manager when he/she picks material for an order. Work guidelines warn you about the hazards or special handling properties of the material being used. Used with routings, they allow you to give step by step instructions about performing an operation. Additionally, they provide a standard location to store inspection and safety notes.

For routing guidelines is it possible to define a guideline type. Possible values are Instruction and Subtask. The difference between an Instruction and Subtask guideline type is that a subtask may require a signoff or inspection which an instruction does not require. If a signoff is required than it indicates that the subtask must be signed off before the operation can be completed by the shop floor worker. It is not possible to report any operation quantity complete for the shop order before all subtasks related to the operation guidelines are signed off.

It is also possible to include an inspection sign off for a subtask. This means that an inspector must approve the work performed in order to complete the subtask. It is not possible to receive any shop order quantity into inventory before all subtasks that require inspection sign off are signed off by the inspector.

Work guidelines can either be created manually or from a work guideline template. Work guidelines are associated with structure line items or routing operations. When a shop order is created, the work guidelines for the structure used on the order are copied to the order’s allocations. The work guidelines for the routing used on the order are copied to the order’s operations. You can modify these allocation and operation guidelines without affecting the structure or routing guidelines that generated them. The structure and routing guidelines can be modified without affecting the work guideline templates that created them.