We are using ERPNext v16.31 for pharmaceutical manufacturing.
When a Work Order is submitted, Job Cards are automatically created and Qty to Manufacture is set to the Work Order’s batch size.
Our production process has two important characteristics:
Some operations can run in parallel, so the actual output of the previous operation is not necessarily known when the next operation starts.
QC may take samples from the WIP/warehouse during any stage. These samples are not necessarily production losses.
Simple example:
Batch size = 1,000 units.
Operation 1 processes 1,000 units and eventually produces 950 units, with 50 units lost during the operation.
Operation 2 may start before Operation 1 is completed, so its Job Card is also created with Qty to Manufacture = 1,000.
If Operation 2 eventually completes 930 units, ERPNext may calculate the difference against the original 1,000 and therefore show 70 units as loss, while the actual loss in Operation 2 was only 20 units. The 50 units were already lost in Operation 1.
In addition, if QC removes, for example, 10 units as samples, those units should not automatically be treated as production loss.
Our question is:
What is the intended ERPNext workflow for this scenario?
Should Qty to Manufacture remain equal to the original Work Order quantity, with Process Loss calculated independently for each Job Card?
Or is there a standard ERPNext mechanism for defining the actual input quantity of each operation, so that Process Loss is calculated based on the quantity actually received/processed by that operation rather than the original Work Order quantity?
We do not want to manually change Qty to Manufacture, because operations can run in parallel and QC sampling can affect the physical quantity independently of production loss.
What is the recommended standard ERPNext approach for this type of manufacturing process?