Intended learning outcomes: Present the work-center business object. Describe the attributes of the work-center master record relating to capacity, concerning costs, and for calculating the lead time.
The work center business object is introduced in Figure 1.2.4 together with the other business objects. This section provides a detailed description of the object, particularly its most important attributes.
The work center object class generally comprises different types of information relating to capacity and costs, plus information used for scheduling, particularly for calculating lead times. These different types of information may, in turn, be administered by different people, depending on how the company is organized.
The information relating to capacity includes the following attributes:
- Work center ID
- Work center description
- Position within the hierarchy of workshops (see also Section 17.2.5)
- Work center type (store, parts production, assembly, external, etc.)
- Number of work centers or machines
- Number of working hours per shift and per day (often measured in 1/100 hour or industrial periods)
- Capacity unit (see Section 1.2.4)
- Number of capacity units per shift and per day (machine capacity or labor capacity, depending on the work center type
- Number of shifts per day
- Various factors: capacity utilization, work center efficiency, or the efficiency rate; see Section 1.2.4)
Capacity may change its value after a certain date. Capacities that change over the course of time are administered in a separate object class.
The information concerning costs includes at least the following attributes (see also Section 16.1.4):
- Fixed labor costs per capacity unit for personnel
- Variable labor costs per capacity unit for personnel
- Fixed labor costs per capacity unit for machinery
- Variable labor costs per capacity unit for machinery
This information is needed in order to analyze the standard or actual times for cost estimation or job-order costing. Conversion factors and different overhead rates are also needed when operating multiple machines or if the machines are operated by several people. It may also be necessary to specify different overhead rates for the setup time.
The following attributes are administered for time management (see Section 13.1), particularly for calculating the lead time (see Section 13.3.2):
- The move time from and to the work center. This time incorporates both the actual handling time (administration and transportation) needed to move a commodity from one work center and another and the time needed to move it between two successive operations. See also Section 13.1.5.
- The nontechnical wait time before the operation or queue time, that is, the average time a job remains in the queue upstream of the work center before being processed.
Other attributes concern alternative work centers, for example. As for the item, it is also possible to record the most recent modifications.
Course section 17.2: Subsections and their intended learning outcomes
17.2 The Master Data for Products and Processes
Intended learning outcomes: Describe master data of products, components, and operations. Explain the data structure of item master, bill of material, and where-used list. Disclose the data structure of work center master data, the work center hierarchy, as well as for operation, routing sheet, production equipment, bill of production equipment, and bill of tools.
17.2.1 Product, Product Structure, Components, and Operations
Intended learning outcomes: Present the concept of master data. Explain the production order as a collection of master data. Describe a simple product structure.
17.2.1b The Intermediate Part
Intended learning outcomes: Identify the intermediate part used simultaneously as a component in higher-level products.
17.2.2 Item Master Data
Intended learning outcomes: Present the concept of the item master record. Describe the attributes of the technical information and the stockkeeping information of the item master record. Identify attributes of the item master record for information on costs and prices.
17.2.3a Bill of Material, Bill-of-Material Position, and Where-Used List
Intended learning outcomes: Present the concepts of the bill of material, of the bill-of-material position, and the where-used list.
17.2.3b Single-Level Bill of Material, Multilevel Bill of Material, and Summarized Bill of Material
Intended learning outcomes: Differentiate between the single-level bill of material, the multilevel bill of material, and the summarized bill of material.
17.2.3c Single-Level Where-Used List, Multilevel Where-Used List, and Summarized Where-Used List
Intended learning outcomes: Differentiate between the single-level where-used list, the multilevel where-used list, and the summarized where-used list.
17.2.3d The Bill-of-Material Position and the Where-Used-List Position as a Logistical Object
Describe the bill-of-material position and the where-used-list position as logistical objects. Identify its most important attributes.
17.2.4 Work Center Master Data
Intended learning outcomes: Present the work-center business object. Describe the attributes of the work-center master record relating to capacity, concerning costs, and for calculating the lead time.
17.2.5 The Work Center Hierarchy
Intended learning outcomes: Present the concepts of workstation and cost center. Explain the work center hierarchy.
17.2.6 Operation and Routing Sheet
Intended learning outcomes: Present the operation business object in association with the routing sheet. Describe its attributes. Identify the work center where-used list.
17.2.7 Production Equipment, Bill of Production Equipment, and Bill of Tools
Intended learning outcomes: Present the concepts of bill of production equipment and bill-of-production-equipment position as well as production equipment where-used list. Produce an overview on collective tool, bill of tools, bill-of-tools position, and tool where-used list.
