1. Using Manufacturing
  2. Overview of Work Orders

Overview of Work Orders

A work order refers to a document that conveys the authority for the production of a specific product. It contains information about what, how to, how many, and when to manufacture a product. The product item, work definition details, operations, resources, components, quantities, and dates are specified in the work order. As a production supervisor, you can use the Manage Work Orders page to perform work execution tasks such as search, create, and update work orders. In addition, you can create user-defined statuses for work orders. The Manage Work Order page is designed for tablet-friendly user interfaces, and is optimized for a high resolution.

Some of the key features of discrete work orders are:

  • Work orders are created by Supply Chain Orchestration as supplies for the following:

    • Planned orders from Planning Central

    • Sales orders for back-to-back ordered make items

    • Sales orders for configured items

    • Contract manufactured items

  • Enables collaboration using Oracle Social Networking to communicate with stakeholders for better fulfillment of work order supply.

  • Supports serialized manufacturing by previously assigning serials.

  • Helps to prioritize work orders by reviewing sales order reservation details of the work order.

  • Maintains work order and production transactions history for each work order, which can be viewed at any time.

  • Work orders can be created and updated through cloud import framework using the .xlsm template.

  • Enables collaboration using Oracle Social Networking to communicate with stakeholders for better fulfillment of work order supply.

Some of the key features of process work orders are:

  • Supports multiple output items in a work order in the form of co-products and by-products.

  • Supports scaling of work definition batch in the work order, based on changes in either batch quantity, input item quantity, or output item quantity.

  • Maintains work order and production transactions history for each work order, which can be viewed at any time.

  • Work orders can be created and updated through cloud import framework using the .xlsm template.

  • Enables collaboration using Oracle Social Networking to communicate with stakeholders for better fulfillment of work order supply.

Search Work Orders

You can use the Manage Work Orders page to search for work orders to review or update. You can perform basic search using important attributes, such as Work Order, Item, Status, Start Date and Completion Date. You can also perform advanced search using additional criteria, such as work order Type, Subtype, Work Definition, Priority, Customer, Serial Number, Work Center, and so on. Additional attributes, such as Work Method, Process Name, Output Item, and Output Item Description have been added to make the search for process work orders more effective.

By default, search enables you to retrieve all work orders which start today and the next seven days, in predefined statuses such as Unreleased, Released, or On Hold and available user-defined statuses. You can personalize search criteria using the saved search feature, and set them as the default search if required. Work order records are presented in a tabular format with visual indicators to highlight past due work orders, and indicate work order progress. In process work orders, multiple outputs of a work order can be viewed in search results.

You can also personalize search criteria using source system fields such as source system type (values such as internal or external) and source system code.

Click the IoT Insights icon in the Manage Work Orders page to drill down to the work order view in IoT Production Monitoring to view work order details, factory-level metrics, and machine-level details. In the Manage Work Orders search results page and the Edit Work Order page History tab, you can drill down to the work order view in IoT Production Monitoring to gain insights into the actual production progress of the work order.

Note: For a work order, you can print Components List, Labels, or Work Order Traveler from the Manage Work Orders page.
Note: You can't query / search work orderless transactions on the Manage Work Orders page.

Create Work Orders

The Create Work Order page captures minimal mandatory information to quickly create work orders. You can create discrete work orders based on attributes such as Item, Work Order Status, Work Order Quantity, Start Date or Completion Date, Work Definition, and so on. You can also select a user-defined status to create work orders. You can only create standard process work orders based on either the process name or primary output item.

Update Work Orders

You can update the following work order details:

  • Work order header attributes such as Quantity, Priority, and so on

  • Reschedule the work order by updating the Start or Completion Dates

  • Update the work order status to predefined or user-defined statuses

  • Manage operations, material, and resource requirements

  • Add or delete attachments

  • Perform mass actions to update work order status or priority

  • Capture values for descriptive flexfields

New attributes are displayed for process manufacturing work orders in the Process and Primary Output regions. You can optionally update the batch quantity or the primary output item quantity. Based on the update to one attribute, the other is recalculated.

Pick Materials for Work Orders

On the Manage Work Orders page, you can select one or more work orders and click Release to release them to the shop floor for production. You can also click Release and Pick Materials to directly initiate the scheduled process Pick Materials for Work Orders. A dialog box with the following picking parameters is displayed. The parameters are defaulted from the plant parameters.

  • Pick Slip Grouping Rule, which is a required parameter

  • Print pick slips

  • Hours Ahead

  • Hours Behind

  • From Operation Sequence

  • To Operation Sequence

  • Pick a work order only if all eligible materials are available

You can integrate Oracle Manufacturing with Warehouse Management System to pick material for work orders and execute movement requests in WMS. For more information about picking of materials for work orders refer to the Using Inventory Management guide.
Note: Pick Slip Grouping Rule, and Print pick slips parameters are not applicable if Oracle Manufacturing is integrated with Warehouse Management system.

This dialog box is also displayed when you click the Release and Pick Materials action on the Manage Material Availability Assignments page to initiate the scheduled process. You can review and update the parameters as required and click OK to start the process.

This will ensure that a movement request is created for materials to be either directly issued to the work order from inventory or to be transferred to a destination subinventory from where it can be used. You can take this action for work orders that are in released status so that materials are available on the shop floor during production.

You can also route the pick slip report to the output devices such as fax, printer, and email, based on the plant parameters defined up in the Manage Inventory Document Output Preferences task in Inventory. You can configure these output devices through the Manage Inventory Document Output preferences inventory task for the Pick Materials for Work Orders scheduled process.

For more information about picking of materials for work orders refer to the How You Pick Materials for Work Orders topic in this guide.

Note: You can manage work orders using a REST API. However, you can't add, update, or delete attachments of a work order, operations, materials, and resources using a REST API.

Attachments

Attachments for work order entity can be used to readily access files such as work instructions, drawings, checklists, standard operating procedures, and so on. Work orders support attachments at the following levels:

  • Work Order Header

  • Operations

  • Operation Items

  • Operation Resources

  • Operation Output (applicable only for process work orders)

During work order creation, if a work definition is specified, all attachments from the work definition which correspond to the earlier mentioned levels are copied into the work order. When a standard operation is added to the work order, the operation and operation resource level attachments are copied to the work order. Once the attachments are copied, they reside independently within the work order. You can add more attachments, or delete existing attachments as required.

Attachments belonging to the Miscellaneous category are always displayed by default. However, other user-defined attachment categories may be configured and displayed based on the security setup. Security can be enabled using the standard attachment security framework provided in the Setup and Maintenance work area and the Security Console.

Descriptive Flexfields

Descriptive flexfields enable you to configure the work order entity to capture additional information. Work orders support descriptive flexfields to capture user-defined data for the following levels:

  • Work Order Header

  • Operations

  • Operation Items

  • Operation Resources

  • Operation Output (applicable only for process work orders)

Descriptive flexfields if enabled are available as Additional information in the user interface. You can also manage descriptive flexfields through work order import.

Social Collaboration

Work orders are enabled for social collaboration using Oracle Social Network. The production supervisor can use this framework to collaborate with stakeholders. You can enable the following attributes for the work order object, so that it's shared on the OSN object wall and the subsequent streaming updates.

  • Work Order Number

  • Start Date

  • Completion Date

  • Item

  • Item Description

  • Quantity

  • Unit of Measure (UOM)

  • Status

  • Actual Completion Date

  • Customer

IoT Production Monitoring Integration at Work Order Level

Internet of Things (IoT) Production Monitoring can be deployed in manufacturing environments to monitor production flow and equipment health.

You can drill down from a specific work order in Manufacturing to view a KPI dashboard and digital twin simulation of the real time and predicted status of a work order or equipment in IoT Production Monitoring. Quick access from Manufacturing to IoT Production Monitoring insights is provided in multiple pages:

  • Manage Work Orders page

  • Edit Work Order page, in the History tab

With anomaly detection and predictive analytics of IoT Production Monitoring, you can decide what actions to take in Manufacturing or IoT Production Monitoring. Using the IoT Insights button provided in the Manage Work Orders page, drill down to the work order view in IoT Production Monitoring to view work order details, factory-level metrics, and machine-level details.

Related Topics