Batch orders are an advanced feature suitable for operations involving multiple products or production orders. Instead of selecting individually the products entering the operation, the operator needs to select only one batch order. Batch orders can be made either via tablet or back office. Follow the steps below to understand how to set up this recently developed feature and how to use it on the shop floor.

On the example below, we are modelling the production of 3 different cakes: chocolate, strawberry and orange. They have all the same operation codes: MIXING, BAKING and PACKING.

The batch orders will be created on the checkout of operation MIXING: after this process, cakes are organized on trays and afterwards go to the BAKING operation.

1.1. The first step is made via back office. You need to go to the Operations tab and set the operation MIXING by activating the flag Prepare Batch Order for the three products.

Afterwards, you must define the operation BAKING as a Multi-PO operation, since there are multiple products and/or production orders being made simultaneously.

1.2. You're ready to go. Now, on the tablet, at the end of operation MIXING, you can define in which tray you want to place the products. Trays can be created either at this moment or via back office (see 2.2 & 2.3).

You can take a look at what batch order entries have been created on the back office, under the tab Production Orders - Batch Order Entries.

2. Setting up on back office

2.1. Making the previous process on the back office doesn't require changing the settings of the operation. However, you need to create Batch Orders first. To do so, click on Production Orders and then on Batch orders (1).

Batch orders represent a set that is being grouped to enter the multi-PO operation. It may consist of different products, associated with different production orders and different lot numbers. Click on + Add Batch Order (2) to create one.

2.2. You can now define the Code and Name for your batch order. The option Reusable allows using the batch again. If not activated, the batch won't be available when the multi-PO operation ends. On the image below, batch orders model trays. Since these will be used again, the Reusable option was activated for all of them.

2.3. The following step consists of defining the products that are entering each Batch Order. To do so, click on Batch Order Entries, on the Production Orders dropdown, and click afterwards on + Add Batch Order Entry. You'll see the image below, where you can define the batch order, quantity, lot/batch number, production order, and product.

A set of batch orders were created. On the example below, we are baking 500 Strawberry Cakes, 200 Chocolate Cakes, and 475 Orange Cakes on 3 different trays.

You must use the tablet to take full advantage of this feature. Performing the batch operation requires selecting the batch order before starting the operation.

In this case Tray 1 was selected first.

Please note that before starting a batch you can confirm its products, production orders, and lot numbers.

After we can select Tray 2 by clicking in 'Start new production' and both batch's will be ongoing.

Or we can choose 'Close Open Productions' and it's possible to choose which one.

As you can see on the image below, the selection of tray 1 started the two records on the bottom at the same time, and the selection of tray 2 started the six records on the top, also at the same time.

Since only the production on tray 1 was closed, the records for tray 2 are still open.

We hope this was helpful. Let us know in case you have any further questions :)

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