We can definitely include days to completion, resources (Users & Workstations) and dependencies. I would not really expect a very advanced Project tool right now.
@Robert: For simple processes
What you can do is simply do a Stock Entry and convert the raw material into finished (packed) item using backflush. This will now be linked to accounting so you will get accurate inventory valuation. You will not need to create a project in this case.
@Paul & @Sonal Merging Projects:
I agree there might be some confusion, but we have a list of operations in BOM that translate well into tasks. You will also be able to view the shop floor plan via Gantt Charts. We will extend the Gantt Chart tool with filters and ability to move tasks. It will be a great visual way to plan.
And yes, you can use Projects for non manufacturing projects too.
@Paul BOM Explosion and other usability issues
- Paul, I agree there needs to be an exploded BOM view (Flat BOM?) for costing purpose, we will do that. You can use the exploded BOM to find out where an Item is used, costing etc. The Flat BOMs have to be rebuilt every time and child component is changed.
- Quantity based pricing (will need to create Pricing Rules - not related to Production, we can think of this)
- Item status: You can use the tagging feature for this. Tags will be a lot more central in the new version.
- Kit List: Not sure what you mean by this. But I think you mean a group of consumable items (screws etc) that you create in a kit for assembly. I think you can make BOM for the Kit and it should to the Job.
@Sonal Process / Continuous Manufacturing
You are right that both have separate issues. I think we should first focus on discrete, as most users currently are discreet. Maybe we can have process manufacturing later. Will be great if you can share some of the details of your current software - once this version is stabilised. We can surely look into this.
Also each "Project" can also generate items with identical batch numbers. We will link a Project to a Stock Entry that will
Also you were mentioning about some other system in your first mail, but I think the name got removed. Please let us know.
@Sonal - Tree View for BOM
We had a tree view once, but you are right - it will be a lot more intuitive to make the BOM from a tree view. Will set this based on how much time we can devote.
@Sonal - Scheduling
Scheduling is a hard problem. I have done a masters in Industrial Engineering so I know a bit more. The biggest issue is that of setup times. When you do Operation A and switch to Operation B, there is usually a time to setup the workstation for the new task. This and other random events like stockout, breakdowns etc make detailed schedules very un reliable. What you can do is rough-cut planning. I would love to include a simulator in the system that will simulate the entire material flow in over a period of time so you can predict stock-outs and whether you will be able to deliver on the scheduled date.
Both my manufacturing units are in Nahsik. If you are based out of Mumbai its just a 3 hour train/ car journey. I would be happy to demonstrate the DOS based software we use for batch manufacturing records. It has been revised multiple times over 27 years to its present form and will help you understand our issues and process.
As for the discrete manufacturing software - I was considering it before I opted for yours and didn't put up a link on this forum as its your competition :-) Will email it to Umair.
Was imagining a very simple workstation schedule (rough cut planning) which would not allow you to assign a task/ operation to a workstation while it was busy giving a more realistic timeline for projects. Would be very exciting if you were able to include some operations research in the coding or allow us to determine the critical path, scheduling, etc.
Regards,
Sonal
On Tuesday, August 21, 2012 12:53:11 PM UTC+5:30, Rushabh Mehta wrote:
We can definitely include days to completion, resources (Users & Workstations) and dependencies. I would not really expect a very advanced Project tool right now.
@Robert: For simple processes
What you can do is simply do a Stock Entry and convert the raw material into finished (packed) item using backflush. This will now be linked to accounting so you will get accurate inventory valuation. You will not need to create a project in this case.
@Paul & @Sonal Merging Projects:
I agree there might be some confusion, but we have a list of operations in BOM that translate well into tasks. You will also be able to view the shop floor plan via Gantt Charts. We will extend the Gantt Chart tool with filters and ability to move tasks. It will be a great visual way to plan.
And yes, you can use Projects for non manufacturing projects too.
@Paul BOM Explosion and other usability issues
- Paul, I agree there needs to be an exploded BOM view (Flat BOM?) for costing purpose, we will do that. You can use the exploded BOM to find out where an Item is used, costing etc. The Flat BOMs have to be rebuilt every time and child component is changed.
- Quantity based pricing (will need to create Pricing Rules - not related to Production, we can think of this)
- Item status: You can use the tagging feature for this. Tags will be a lot more central in the new version.
- Kit List: Not sure what you mean by this. But I think you mean a group of consumable items (screws etc) that you create in a kit for assembly. I think you can make BOM for the Kit and it should to the Job.
@Sonal Process / Continuous Manufacturing
You are right that both have separate issues. I think we should first focus on discrete, as most users currently are discreet. Maybe we can have process manufacturing later. Will be great if you can share some of the details of your current software - once this version is stabilised. We can surely look into this.
Also each "Project" can also generate items with identical batch numbers. We will link a Project to a Stock Entry that will
Also you were mentioning about some other system in your first mail, but I think the name got removed. Please let us know.
@Sonal - Tree View for BOM
We had a tree view once, but you are right - it will be a lot more intuitive to make the BOM from a tree view. Will set this based on how much time we can devote.
@Sonal - Scheduling
Scheduling is a hard problem. I have done a masters in Industrial Engineering so I know a bit more. The biggest issue is that of setup times. When you do Operation A and switch to Operation B, there is usually a time to setup the workstation for the new task. This and other random events like stockout, breakdowns etc make detailed schedules very un reliable. What you can do is rough-cut planning. I would love to include a simulator in the system that will simulate the entire material flow in over a period of time so you can predict stock-outs and whether you will be able to deliver on the scheduled date.
Thanks for the offer. Would love to take it up sometime once we are through this release and we get more into a marketing mode. Would be also great if we can setup a meet with few more potential customers in that area or do a small event to introduce ERPNext. Maybe Viral can set this up. Do you think it would be a good idea?
(will respond to the scheduling query on the mailing list)
Both my manufacturing units are in Nahsik. If you are based out of Mumbai its just a 3 hour train/ car journey. I would be happy to demonstrate the DOS based software we use for batch manufacturing records. It has been revised multiple times over 27 years to its present form and will help you understand our issues and process.
As for the discrete manufacturing software - I was considering it before I opted for yours and didn't put up a link on this forum as its your competition :-) Will email it to Umair.
Was imagining a very simple workstation schedule (rough cut planning) which would not allow you to assign a task/ operation to a workstation while it was busy giving a more realistic timeline for projects. Would be very exciting if you were able to include some operations research in the coding or allow us to determine the critical path, scheduling, etc.
Regards,
Sonal
On Tuesday, August 21, 2012 12:53:11 PM UTC+5:30, Rushabh Mehta wrote:
We can definitely include days to completion, resources (Users & Workstations) and dependencies. I would not really expect a very advanced Project tool right now.
@Robert: For simple processes
What you can do is simply do a Stock Entry and convert the raw material into finished (packed) item using backflush. This will now be linked to accounting so you will get accurate inventory valuation. You will not need to create a project in this case.
@Paul & @Sonal Merging Projects:
I agree there might be some confusion, but we have a list of operations in BOM that translate well into tasks. You will also be able to view the shop floor plan via Gantt Charts. We will extend the Gantt Chart tool with filters and ability to move tasks. It will be a great visual way to plan.
And yes, you can use Projects for non manufacturing projects too.
@Paul BOM Explosion and other usability issues
- Paul, I agree there needs to be an exploded BOM view (Flat BOM?) for costing purpose, we will do that. You can use the exploded BOM to find out where an Item is used, costing etc. The Flat BOMs have to be rebuilt every time and child component is changed.
- Quantity based pricing (will need to create Pricing Rules - not related to Production, we can think of this)
- Item status: You can use the tagging feature for this. Tags will be a lot more central in the new version.
- Kit List: Not sure what you mean by this. But I think you mean a group of consumable items (screws etc) that you create in a kit for assembly. I think you can make BOM for the Kit and it should to the Job.
@Sonal Process / Continuous Manufacturing
You are right that both have separate issues. I think we should first focus on discrete, as most users currently are discreet. Maybe we can have process manufacturing later. Will be great if you can share some of the details of your current software - once this version is stabilised. We can surely look into this.
Also each "Project" can also generate items with identical batch numbers. We will link a Project to a Stock Entry that will
Also you were mentioning about some other system in your first mail, but I think the name got removed. Please let us know.
@Sonal - Tree View for BOM
We had a tree view once, but you are right - it will be a lot more intuitive to make the BOM from a tree view. Will set this based on how much time we can devote.
@Sonal - Scheduling
Scheduling is a hard problem. I have done a masters in Industrial Engineering so I know a bit more. The biggest issue is that of setup times. When you do Operation A and switch to Operation B, there is usually a time to setup the workstation for the new task. This and other random events like stockout, breakdowns etc make detailed schedules very un reliable. What you can do is rough-cut planning. I would love to include a simulator in the system that will simulate the entire material flow in over a period of time so you can predict stock-outs and whether you will be able to deliver on the scheduled date.
You are right that rough cut planning is just, well, "rough cut" It can only give you a gross capacity estimate. If you are into volume manufacture, then you can cut through all of that and focus on "lean" - plan for a stable product mix and give long standing orders to suppliers - This way you are producing in a "flow" and there is essentially no planning.
For make-to-order and engineer-to-order - I think rough cut might be better than nothing. Doing detailed planning would also mean ability to model complex layouts, material movements and plan "rush" orders.
My personal philosophy is that scheduling is about strategy - The biggest enemy of an efficient manufacturing system is variance (in demand and product lines). The business must aim to stabilize demand by pruning product lines, standardizing, using discounts to maintain product mix etc. Solving the problem downstream (i.e. in the ERP) makes it a much harder problem. High variance also has a negative impact on quality and overheads (more inventory, more documentation, more approvals, more setup, multiple BOMs etc).
Either ways, these scheduling problems though interesting will go way out of scope. In the first cut, I will be happy to achieve a reasonable rough cut plan.
Both my manufacturing units are in Nahsik. If you are based out of Mumbai its just a 3 hour train/ car journey. I would be happy to demonstrate the DOS based software we use for batch manufacturing records. It has been revised multiple times over 27 years to its present form and will help you understand our issues and process.
As for the discrete manufacturing software - I was considering it before I opted for yours and didn't put up a link on this forum as its your competition :-) Will email it to Umair.
Was imagining a very simple workstation schedule (rough cut planning) which would not allow you to assign a task/ operation to a workstation while it was busy giving a more realistic timeline for projects. Would be very exciting if you were able to include some operations research in the coding or allow us to determine the critical path, scheduling, etc.
Regards,
Sonal
On Tuesday, August 21, 2012 12:53:11 PM UTC+5:30, Rushabh Mehta wrote:
We can definitely include days to completion, resources (Users & Workstations) and dependencies. I would not really expect a very advanced Project tool right now.
@Robert: For simple processes
What you can do is simply do a Stock Entry and convert the raw material into finished (packed) item using backflush. This will now be linked to accounting so you will get accurate inventory valuation. You will not need to create a project in this case.
@Paul & @Sonal Merging Projects:
I agree there might be some confusion, but we have a list of operations in BOM that translate well into tasks. You will also be able to view the shop floor plan via Gantt Charts. We will extend the Gantt Chart tool with filters and ability to move tasks. It will be a great visual way to plan.
And yes, you can use Projects for non manufacturing projects too.
@Paul BOM Explosion and other usability issues
- Paul, I agree there needs to be an exploded BOM view (Flat BOM?) for costing purpose, we will do that. You can use the exploded BOM to find out where an Item is used, costing etc. The Flat BOMs have to be rebuilt every time and child component is changed.
- Quantity based pricing (will need to create Pricing Rules - not related to Production, we can think of this)
- Item status: You can use the tagging feature for this. Tags will be a lot more central in the new version.
- Kit List: Not sure what you mean by this. But I think you mean a group of consumable items (screws etc) that you create in a kit for assembly. I think you can make BOM for the Kit and it should to the Job.
@Sonal Process / Continuous Manufacturing
You are right that both have separate issues. I think we should first focus on discrete, as most users currently are discreet. Maybe we can have process manufacturing later. Will be great if you can share some of the details of your current software - once this version is stabilised. We can surely look into this.
Also each "Project" can also generate items with identical batch numbers. We will link a Project to a Stock Entry that will
Also you were mentioning about some other system in your first mail, but I think the name got removed. Please let us know.
@Sonal - Tree View for BOM
We had a tree view once, but you are right - it will be a lot more intuitive to make the BOM from a tree view. Will set this based on how much time we can devote.
@Sonal - Scheduling
Scheduling is a hard problem. I have done a masters in Industrial Engineering so I know a bit more. The biggest issue is that of setup times. When you do Operation A and switch to Operation B, there is usually a time to setup the workstation for the new task. This and other random events like stockout, breakdowns etc make detailed schedules very un reliable. What you can do is rough-cut planning. I would love to include a simulator in the system that will simulate the entire material flow in over a period of time so you can predict stock-outs and whether you will be able to deliver on the scheduled date.