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The work centers workplace helps you manage work centers, work center types, and their availability within certain periods. This information is required for production planning.

In the work centers workplace, you can do the following:

• Create work center types.
• Create work centers.
• Set up work centers availability.
• View work centers availability.

To access the work centers workplace:

1. Go to Production.
2. Under Planning, click Work centers workplace.

Before you can start using the work centers workplace, you need to set it up.

Setting up work centers workplace

To set up the work centers workplace:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Under Accounting settings, click Production.
3. Under Production planning, select the Use workload planning checkbox.

Creating work center types

A work center type is a group of production resources with similar characteristics. For instance, a group of machines or a team of assembly workers can be a work center type.

Create work center types if you want to plan production according to availability of production resources. To learn more, see Production planning.

To create a work center type:

1. Go to Production.
2. Under Planning, click Work centers workplace.
3. In the Work center types section, click Create.
4. In the Work center type (create) window, enter or select the following:

   Field	Description
   Description	A name or short description of a work center type.
   Department	A production department that includes this work center type. For production planning, ensure that Planning interval is specified in the details of this department.
   Planning on work centers level	Indicates that production operations are scheduled for each work center of this type individually. In this case, you can view the production schedule by work centers. For instance, by each machine or assembly worker. To schedule production operations for a work center type, clear the checkbox. Do this if you want to view the production schedule for the work center type. For instance, for a group of machines instead of a certain machine.
   Work schedule	The schedule that defines working days and hours of a work center type. This schedule is a source for filling in the availability schedules of all work centers with this work center type. The list of values is based on the Work schedules catalog. The Work schedule field is available if the Planning on work centers level checkbox is cleared.
   Capacity	A work center type’s efficiency coefficient. It applies to a production operation’s standard time. This calculates the planned time that the operation takes in a work center type. For instance, if you set Capacity to 0.5 then operations in this work center type will take two times longer than the standard time. The Capacity field is available if the Planning on work centers level checkbox is cleared.
   Schedule each operation for a single work center	Indicates that each operation is assigned to a specific work center and cannot be split between several work centers. It is available if the Planning on work centers level checkbox is selected.

5. Click Save and close.

Creating work centers

A work center is a production resource. For instance, a machine or assembly worker. Create work centers if you want to plan production according to availability of production resources. To learn more, see Production planning.

To create a work center:

1. Go to Production.
2. Under Planning, click Work centers workplace.
3. In the Work centers section, select a work center type.
4. In the Work centers section, click Create.
5. In the Work center (create) window, enter or select the following:

   Field	Description
   Description	A work center name or short description.
   Work center type	A work center type. It is automatically filled in with the selected work center type. You can edit it. The list of work center types includes the work center types from the Work centers types section.
   Planning on work center type level	A message indicating that production operations are scheduled for the work center type instead of the work center. The work schedule and capacity are specified in the details of the work center type. This message is shown if the Planning on work centers level checkbox is cleared for the work center type.
   Work schedule	The schedule that defines working days and hours of a work center. This schedule is a source for filling in the work center availability schedule. The Work schedule field is available if the Planning on work centers level checkbox is selected for the work center type. This means that production operations are scheduled for the work center. In this case, you can view the production schedule for the work center instead of the work center type. For instance, for a certain machine instead of a group of machines. The Work schedules list is based on the Work schedules catalog.
   Capacity	A work center’s efficiency coefficient. It applies to a production operation’s standard time. This calculates the actual time that the operation takes in a work center. For instance, if you set Capacity to 0,5 then operations in this work center will take two times longer than the standard time. The Capacity field is available if the Planning on work centers level checkbox is selected for the work center type.

6. Click Save and close.

Setting up work centers availability

Work centers availability defines days and hours available for performing operations in a work center. If you want to plan production according to availability of production resources, set up work centers availability.

A work center availability schedule can be automatically filled in according to the work schedule of the work center or work center type. Then you can edit this work center availability schedule. For instance, do this if a work center is closed for maintenance due to an unexpected breakdown. To learn more, see Fill in the availability schedule automatically and Fill in the availability schedule manually.

Filling in availability schedule automatically

Availability schedules can be automatically filled in for all work centers of a selected work center type. In this case, each availability schedule is populated with the data from the work schedule of a work center or work center type depending on their settings.

To automatically fill in availability schedules for work centers:

1. Go to Production.
2. Under Planning, click Work centers workplace.
3. In the Work center types section, select a work center type.
   The Work centers availability section shows only the work centers of the selected type.
4. In the Work centers availability section, in the Period field, specify the period for filling in the work center availability schedule.
5. Click Fill in with work schedule.
6. Click Save changes.

Filling in availability schedule manually

To fill in a work center’s availability schedule manually:

1. Go to Production.
2. Under Planning, click Work centers workplace.
3. In the Work center types section, select a work center type.
   The Work centers availability section shows only the work centers of the selected type.
4. In the Work centers availability section, in the Period field, specify the period for filling in the work center availability schedule.
5. In a work center line, under a working day, double-click a cell.
6. In the Work schedule window, do one of the following:
   • To enter custom working hours, click Add and specify the work center’s start time and end time.
     Note. To specify several intervals within a day, repeat this step. For instance, an assembly worker can work from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM, then go on lunch break and resume working at 3:00 PM to finish at 5:00 PM.
   • To populate working hours from the work center’s work schedule, click Fill in with work schedule.
     Note. You can edit these working hours in the same way as you enter custom working hours.
7. Click OK.
8. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each working day when the work center is available.
9. In the Work centers availability section, click Save changes.
   If you have entered custom working hours, they are displayed in bold and icon appears in the work center line.

Viewing work centers availability

You can view availability schedules for the work centers of a certain work center type.

To view a work center availability:

1. Go to Production.
2. Under Planning, click Work centers workplace.
3. In the Work center types section, select a work center type.
4. In the Work centers availability section, in the Period field, specify the period that you want to view a work center availability for.

The Work centers availability section shows the availability schedule for the work centers of the selected type. A work center's availability schedule shows the number of working hours for each working day within the specified period. The number of working hours is displayed in bold if they are specified manually.

For a work center's availability schedule, the following can be shown:

• Capacity. A work center's efficiency coefficient. It applies to a production operation's standard time. This calculates the actual time that the operation takes in a work center. For instance, if Capacity is 0.5 then operations in this work center take two times longer than the standard time.
• Indicates that a work center's working hours are filled in or edited manually.
• Last filled in date. The last working day with filled in working hours within the specified period.

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