Routings

A routing is the ordered sequence of operations that converts components into a finished product. It tells production where, in what order, and for how long the work happens — the time-and-process counterpart of the bill of materials, which describes what is consumed.

Routings are master data. When a work order is released, it copies the routing’s operations into its own list, freezing the as-released sequence so subsequent edits don’t disrupt in-flight production.

Creating a Routing

To author a new routing:

1. Navigate to Manufacturing > Routings in the sidebar.
2. Click Create Routing.
3. Fill in the header:
   • Routing # — Unique identifier (e.g., ROU-2026-0042).
   • Name — Human label (e.g., Office Chair Pro routing).
   • Version — Engineering version (e.g., v1, rev-A).
   • Status — Start in DRAFT while you build the operations list.
   • Product — Optional. The default product/variant this routing applies to.
   • Default — Mark Yes if this routing should be picked when a work order doesn’t name one. At most one default per (product, variant) is allowed at any time.
   • Priority — For alternate routings only; lower number = preferred.
   • Effective From / Effective To — The date window during which this routing is valid. Leave Effective To blank for open-ended.
   • Alternate Of — If this routing is a second-choice for another routing (e.g., when the primary work center is overloaded), point at the primary here.
   • Supersedes — If this routing replaces an older version, link to the previous version for the audit trail.
4. Click Save. The routing is created in DRAFT status.

Adding Operations

Operations live on the Operations tab of the routing detail page. Click the tab, then Create to open a dedicated page for the new operation.

Each operation is one step performed at one work center. Fill in:

Each operation is its own page — click Save on the operation page to commit it; there is no separate “save the routing” step. Click an operation’s name on the Operations tab to revisit and edit it.

Adding the Operator’s Checklist

Once an operation is saved, open the Instructions tab on its page to build the operator-facing checklist of micro-steps. Use the operation’s Description field for the high-level summary of what the step achieves; keep the step-by-step “do this, then this” content in Instructions.

For each instruction:

Instruction Kinds

The Kind field decides what the operator sees on the shop floor:

• Step — a plain checklist item. The operator clicks Done when the step is complete. Use this for ordinary instructions: “Align the stencil”, “Torque the screws to 4 Nm”, “Apply label”.
• Quality check — a pass/fail gate. The operator clicks Pass or Reject + reason. Pair with Rejection blocks completion when a failed check must stop the operation (e.g., “Visual inspection: no solder bridges”).
• Measurement — a numeric input with optional tolerance. The operator enters a value; if Min value and Max value are set and the reading falls outside, the item is auto-rejected. Use Unit to make the input self-describing (e.g., enter 1.95 with unit mm when the tolerance is 1.9 ≤ x ≤ 2.0).

The Instructions tab is hidden until you save the operation for the first time, since the items need a parent operation to attach to. To reorder, edit a row’s Sequence number — re-sort happens automatically. To delete, click the trash icon on the row.

Once work-order progress tracking is enabled, the items checked off here are how we measure how far along an operator is in a step (e.g., “5 of 7 mandatory steps done”).

How operator results gate completion

When the WO is running, each instruction collects a result as the operator works through the checklist on the shop floor:

• Step → the result is recorded as Done once the operator ticks the checkbox.
• Quality check → the result is Pass or Reject. A reject requires a reason.
• Measurement → the operator enters a number. The server compares against Min value / Max value and resolves the result to Pass (in range) or Reject (out of range, with the value preserved for traceability).

When the operator clicks Complete on an operation, Beelocity checks every instruction whose Rejection blocks completion is on. If any of those still has an active Reject result, completion is refused with a “There are unresolved rejections on this operation” message — the operator must re-record the failing step as Pass (after the rework that fixed it) before the operation can finalise. Re-recording overwrites the previous attempt but keeps the full history for the audit trail.

Instructions whose Rejection blocks completion is off do not gate completion — a reject is logged for the record but the operator can still finish. Use this for informational checks that you want to track without holding production.

Operation Time Math

For an operation with quantity Q and parallelism P running at a work center with efficiency E:

op_setup_seconds = setup_time_seconds                       (independent of Q and E)
op_run_seconds   = (Q × run_time_per_unit_seconds) / E      (efficiency stretches/shrinks)
op_total_seconds = op_setup_seconds + op_run_seconds
op_capacity_hours = op_total_seconds × P / 3600             (parallelism multiplies the constraint draw)
op_cost          = op_capacity_hours × cost_rate_per_hour
                 + (Q × subcontract_unit_cost   if subcontract)

Queue and move times are scheduler-only — they push the next operation’s earliest start later, but they do not consume capacity and they do not absorb cost.

Example

A Cut tubes operation: setup 600 s, run 30 s/unit, parallelism 1, work center efficiency 0.92, cost rate 1200 DZD/hour. For a work order of 50 units:

op_setup_seconds  = 600
op_run_seconds    = (50 × 30) / 0.92 ≈ 1630
op_total_seconds  = 2230
op_capacity_hours = 2230 × 1 / 3600 ≈ 0.62
op_cost           = 0.62 × 1200 ≈ 744 DZD

Use the Cost Preview action on the routing detail page to compute this for the whole routing at any quantity.

Routing Lifecycle

Routings progress through four statuses:

The status transition buttons on the routing detail page reflect the current status:

• From Draft: Submit for Approval (→ Pending Approval) or Activate (→ Active).
• From Pending Approval: Approve & Activate (→ Active) or Reject (→ Draft).
• From Active: Mark Obsolete (→ Obsolete).

Engineering changes are made by superseding, not mutating: end-date the active routing, create a new version with the next version label, point its Supersedes field at the previous version, and activate it. Re-exploding a past work order continues to use the routing it was released against.

Subcontract Operations

When a step is performed by an external supplier (powder coating, electroplating, heat treatment, screen printing, etc.), model it as a subcontract operation:

1. The Work Center must be a work center marked as Subcontract (with a Default Partner).
2. Toggle Subcontract on the operation.
3. Fill in Supplier Lead Time (days) — the cycle time the supplier quotes. The scheduler uses this in place of setup + run time.
4. Optional: Subcontract Partner to override the work center’s default supplier on this operation.
5. Optional: Subcontract Unit Cost — the per-unit price the supplier charges. Flows into the cost rollup as a direct cost, separate from labor + overhead absorption.

The Cost Preview shows subcontract costs broken out from labor and overhead.

Default and Alternate Routings

A product can have multiple ACTIVE routings:

• Default routing: The one Beelocity picks when a work order doesn’t name a routing. At most one default per product/variant. To swap the default, deactivate the current default before marking the new routing as default.
• Alternate routing: A second-choice routing the scheduler may suggest when the primary’s work center is overloaded. Point the Alternate Of field at the primary routing and set a Priority (lower = preferred).

Alternates are never picked automatically at work-order release — they’re explicit operator overrides. The scheduler may recommend an alternate when a capacity check finds the primary infeasible.

Seeing a product’s routings

Open the product from Products. If the product has at least one routing attached, a Routings tab appears alongside Overview / Variants / Units. The tab lists every routing attached to that product, with a Role column that tells you at a glance whether each one is the Default, an Alternate of another routing, or a Primary standalone (a draft or obsolete version). Click a routing number to open it. The list is read-only — create, edit, and activate routings in the Routings module. The tab is hidden for products with no routings, so a missing tab simply means none have been authored yet.

Cost Preview

To preview the cost of running a routing for a specific quantity:

1. Open the routing detail page.
2. Click Cost Preview in the action bar.
3. Enter the quantity (e.g., 100).
4. Beelocity computes the per-operation breakdown and the total — labor + overhead, subcontract, and grand total — using each operation’s work center efficiency and cost rate.

Use this when validating a quote, sanity-checking after a work-center cost-rate update, or comparing alternate routings.

Common Pitfalls

• Activating a routing without operations. A routing with zero active operations cannot be activated — you’ll get an error. Add at least one operation in DRAFT status before transitioning.
• Forgetting parallelism on multi-person ops. A two-person assembly with Parallelism = 1 will under-cost the operation by half. Always set parallelism to the actual headcount drawn from the work center.
• Editing an Active routing. Active routings are read-only. To change the recipe, create a superseding version: end-date the current routing’s Effective To, create a new version with the next label, point its Supersedes field at the old routing, and activate it.
• Mixing standard and subcontract on one operation. An operation is either fully internal or fully subcontract. If a step is partly outsourced (e.g., overflow during peak), model it as two alternate routings — one all-internal, one with the subcontract op — and let the planner pick.