Routes and Operations

A production route in Dynamics AX, brings together a sequence of steps or operations which define a manufacturing process. Like a production BOM a route must be approved before use on a live production order and must also be marked as active.

An operation within a route is attached to a specific work center, which defines the Person, Machine, Tool or Vendor who is to carry out the work.

A route can be defined and attached to more than one Item in the same way that an operation can be defined and attached to more than one route. In this way a company can build up a library of operations which may be re-used on many routes.

The following examples demonstrate the principle:

You’ll notice that both the above production routes contain the same operations attached to the same Work Centers and that only the run times differ. When Dynamics AX Master Planning produces planned production orders for these items, the production planner will be able to identify the potential bottleneck around the Mix and Bake operations and schedule the production accordingly.

Operations also record:

• How the operation should be estimated and costed
• How the system should record consumption
• How cost should be categorized.

Key forms

Route form

Form shows route header and route versions. Route version associates Item with Route. One Route can have several versions. Located under Production > Common Forms > Route Details.

Route form

Route form (Operations)

Form shows individual operations on a route and detailed properties of operation per item, route and site. Detailed properties includes: Work center, Route group, and times that are associated with the operation etc. Located under Production > Common Forms > Route Details > Route form > Route button.

Route form (Operations)

Operation with detailed properties can be accessed:

• From the Operations form: Production > Setup > Routes > Operations > Relations button
• From the Work center groups form: Basic > Common Forms > Work center groups > Use menu button > Operation relations button
• Form the Work center form: Basic > Common Forms > Work center groups > Work centers button > Use menu button > Operation relations button
• From the Item form: Inventory management > Common Forms > Item details > Route button

Operations form

Form shows the library of operations. Located under Production > Setup > Routes > Operations.

Operations form

Route group form

Route group is set up per operation. When production operation is created information from the route group is transferred to this operation. Located under Production > Setup > Routes > Route groups

Route group form

Key Tables

• RouteTable - Route headers. Located under Production > Common Forms > Route Details > Route form > Upper pane
• RouteVersion – Route version associates item with Route. One Route can have several versions. Located under Production > Common Forms > Route Details > Route form > Bottom pane
• Route – Individual operations  on a route. Located under Production > Common Forms > Route Details > Route form > Route button > Route form > Upper pane
• RouteOpr – Detailed properties of operation per item, route and site. Detailed properties includes: Work center, Route group and times that are associated with the operation. Located under Production > Common Forms > Route Details > Route form > Route button > Route form > Bottom pane
• RouteOprTable – The library of operations. Located under Production > Setup > Routes > Operations
• RouteGroup - contains setup for route. When production route is created information from route group is transferred to the production route. Located under Production > Setup > Routes > Route groups
• RouteJobSetup - contains job setup information for route groups. A job setup record is connected (belongs to) a specific route group and it specifies calculation parameters to be used when calculating the runtime for the specific job type. Located under Production > Setup > Routes > Route groups > Setup tab
• RouteParameters - contains parameters relevant for how the routes are used in the production process. Located under Production > Setup > Parameters > General tab > Routes field group

Technorati Tags: Routes and Operations