There are many items which you can create and setup in here but not all of them are crucial, however some are, and so is the order in which you create them.

Production Orders are the main item in Fusion Operations.

A Production Order is an order to produce a certain quantity of a given product, essentially the overall job, and are what contain and control the production work to be carried out and tracked by Fusion Operations.

To create a Production Order you must define some other items first.

Workers are the first thing that needs to be defined. A worker is an individual who performs activities related to production or inventory management, and all workers who perform these activities must be included in Fusion Operations. Workers are anyone who will be interacting with the mobile app, whether that be on the shop floor, in the warehouse, or at any other stage when production and fabrication data will need to be tracked.

Adding a Worker can be done by selecting Workers from the side menu on the left. From here you can select to +Add Worker, and fill in the relevant information for each. We’ll look at how to fill out this page in more detail in a later video.

With workers defined, the next step is to then create the Products which they will work on. Products can be thought of as an individual component or the full assembly of a finished product. They consist of a series of operations through which a raw material goes to produce the end product.

Access the Products page from the side menu, and select +Add Product, filling out the relevant information. We’ll also look at the details of creating a product in a more specific video later on.

Once a product has been created the Operations needed to manufacture this product must be defined. The Operations are all the steps which Workers will take to complete the work, similar to what you might have on your existing paper traveller or work instructions. Again, Operations are found on the side menu, and the +Add Operation icon is used to create them.

On this page you must then select which Product the Operation is for, which is why we needed to create this beforehand. Like with the other items this page is then used to fill in all other required information, the specifics of which we’ll also cover in another video.

With the Workers, Products and related Operations defined, you will now have the minimum required information needed to create a Production Order. Much more information can be defined if you choose, but these three must be setup first to do so. The most useful of the optional items to create are Machines, which if you intend to track your production on a machine or equipment basis will be key, however not mandatory for everyone.

Machines can be linked to operations to specify how and where they should be completed.

These can also be created from the side menu.

Production Orders are found at the top of the Management list, select this and then +Add Production Order to open the Create Production Order form. In here you must then select the Product and Workers which we have defined beforehand. You must also input the quantity ordered and a Code, which is the given name for the Production Order, and the start and due dates.

If you would like for the Production Order to be available to Workers instantly you must also set it as Active. There are further optional fields which can be included, but these are the minimum required to create a Production Order.

With a Production Order now in place the relevant information will display in the mobile app. You can check this by opening the mobile app or the Smartphone simulator. Here you’ll see an option for Insert Production, select this and you’ll be prompted to enter a Worker ID, which is a unique ID number which is assigned when creating a Worker.

Enter this and you will now see the list of Active Production Orders which have been assigned to that worker.

After selecting one you’ll then view the Products contained within the Production Order, and finally the Operations which they can select from for the Product.

If a Worker is not intended to be carrying out operations on a Product they will not see these as an option, and will only be able to view those which have been assigned to them, either directly or by being part of a Worker Group.

With the relevant Product and Operation selected a message will show stating “Production started”, meaning this operation will now show as in progress. At this point the Worker can close the mobile device and carry out the operation on the factory or warehouse floor.

With work now in progress the management interface will provide some data on the production through the Dashboard. We’ll have a look at how to use the Dashboard and check the status of your production in the next video.