Manufacturing
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The Production Module is Essembi's manufacturing module for an app. It adds pre-configured tables, fields, reports, and floor workflows for work orders, routings, lines, incidents, sensors, OEE, run rates, labor costing, scheduling, and quality.
Licensed Feature Packs
Depending on your license, the module can include:
- Productivity: Finishes, incidents, sensors, throughput, and related production analytics
- Quality: Centerlining groups/steps, production checklists, and quality audit checklists
- Maintenance: Maintenance part master data
- Production Scheduling: Operating schedules, holiday schedules, and timeline scheduling roles on work orders / routings
Table and Field Structure
The production module includes pre-configured tables and fields for managing manufacturing operations, tracking production data, and analyzing performance.
Master Data Tables
These tables define the fundamental structure of your manufacturing operations.
| Table | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Formula | A unique part and revision combination that can be manufactured. |
| Routing | The manufacturing steps required to produce a formula. |
| Facility | A manufacturing location or plant. |
| Line | A production line or work center. Availability windows come from Operating Schedule and Holiday Schedule, not from fields on the line. |
| Line Component | Equipment or a section within a line that can experience incidents. |
| Incident Type | Categorizes incidents and sets whether they count as downtime. When Machine Downtime is checked, the incident is unplanned downtime that lowers Availability. When it is unchecked, the time is tracked but does not lower Availability. |
| Incident Reason | A specific reason for an incident on a particular line component. |
| Shift | A work shift used to group production and assign shift and date. |
| Run Rate Rule | Optional overrides for routing standards based on work order dataset fields. When a rule matches, its values replace the routing defaults used by OEE, run rate, labor, and active job calculations. |
Production Scheduling Tables
These tables define when facilities and lines are available to run. Schedules cascade from more general to more specific: global to facility to line.
| Table | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Operating Schedule | Recurring weekly availability windows. |
| Holiday Schedule | Date and time overrides for holidays, shutdowns, or special available periods. Times are read in the facility time zone. |
Work Order Tables
These tables manage work orders (jobs) and track their execution through manufacturing routings.
| Table | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Work Order | A production order or other job type. |
| Work Order Routing | Links a work order to a routing step and tracks execution timing and labor. |
| Line Finish | Production output at a specific point in time. |
| Quality Rejection | Defective or rejected parts. |
| Incident | Downtime events and production interruptions. |
| Throughput | Mid-line sensor counts, recorded when a Count sensor has Record Throughput enabled. |
Sensor Configuration Tables
These tables manage the configuration of sensors for collecting real-time data from the production floor. See also Edge Devices for local Pulse collection.
| Table | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Sensor | Automatically records production counts, weight, throughput, and incidents. |
| Line Configuration | Groups sensor configurations that can be applied to different formulas or work orders. |
| Sensor Configuration | Formula or configuration specific sensor settings that override sensor defaults, used when a line is reconfigured for the product being made. |
Under Settings > App Settings > Production Automation, you can control how sensor finishes are rounded (for example, to 1, 5, 15, 30, or 60 minute boundaries).
Quality Tables
These tables support centerlining and production quality checklists (Quality feature).
| Table | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Centerlining Group / Centerlining Step | Master targets assigned to formulas. |
| Production Checklist | A checklist captured against a work order. |
| Centerlining Result / Centerlining Result Detail | The values recorded against centerlining targets. |
| Quality Audit Checklist | An audit checklist scoped by facility, line, and line component. |
Maintenance Tables
| Table | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Maintenance Part | Parts used in maintenance workflows, scoped by facility, line, and line component. |
Table Relationships
Understanding how tables connect helps you navigate and analyze your production data.
| Table | Connects To |
|---|---|
| Formula | Defines the sequence of routings. Links to Line Configuration and Sensor Configuration for product specific sensor behavior, and to a Centerlining Group whose targets flow into Production Checklists. |
| Work Order | Contains multiple work order routings. Links to Line Configuration and Sensor Configuration for job specific sensor behavior. |
| Work Order Routing | Line Finishes, Quality Rejections, Incidents, and Throughput are recorded against it (or against a sensor). |
| Line | Contains line components. Sensors monitor activity on the line or a component. |
| Line Component | Has its own incident reasons. |
| Operating Schedule / Holiday Schedule | Apply to a facility or line for availability and OEE. |
How Formulas and Work Orders Connect
Four tables carry a job from its standard to the line. The formula side holds the standard: what the product is and the steps to make it. The work order side holds the job: one order for that product, and each time a step actually ran.
When you select a formula on a work order that has no routings yet, Essembi creates one work order routing for each active routing on the formula, in the formula's routing order.
If the work order already has routings, changing the formula asks whether to replace that schedule with the new formula's routings or keep the existing rows.
One Work Order or One per Step
How many routings a formula needs depends on how your team issues jobs.
One work order covers the whole job
- Batching
- Compounding
- Packaging
- Batching
- Compounding
- Packaging
The formula has one routing per operation. Each step can still be started and stopped on its own.
One work order per step
- Packaging
- Packaging
Each operation is its own job, so a Packaging formula has a single Packaging routing.
- Use several routings on a formula when one work order should carry every operation (for example, batching, compounding, and packaging).
- Use one routing per formula when each operation is issued as its own work order.
Running the Same Step More Than Once
A formula routing is the step. A work order routing is one time that step ran. A job rarely runs start to finish in one sitting, so the same step can be started and stopped many times.
- Work order routingLine 2, Mon 6:00 AM to 10:00 AMStarted, then stopped
- Work order routingLine 2, Mon 1:00 PM to 3:00 PMStarted again, then stopped
- Work order routingLine 2, Tue 6:00 AM to 9:30 AMStarted again
Starting and stopping the job on the line creates a new work order routing for that same step, with its own actual start and finish. Reports use those start and stop times as the windows when the job was actually running.
Target Run Rates by Formula and Line
The Run Rate Rule table is a matrix of formulas and lines. Each rule sets the target run rate (run time, quantity, and expected yield) for one formula on one line.
| Line 1 | Line 2 | Line 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formula A | 120 / hr | 90 / hr | Routing rate |
| Formula B | Routing rate | 200 / hr | 160 / hr |
- The formula's routing holds the default rate.
- When a work order for that formula runs on a line that has a rule, the rule's rate is the target for that run.
- A formula and line pair with no rule uses the rate on the formula routing.
Work Order Lifecycle
Use Type and Status to manage jobs end to end:
- Create a work order (often Type = Production Job, Status = Planning).
- Assign formula, facility/line, planned quantity, and work order routings (planned start/finish).
- Start the job (Status = Active, Actual Start set on the routing).
- Capture finishes, rejections, incidents, and optional production checklists while Status = Active (or Paused).
- Complete and close the job (Status = Completed / Closed), or cancel if it will not run.
Active work orders and sensor/floor APIs typically key off work orders with Status = Active and production routings that have an Actual Start.
Available Reports
The production module includes reports for OEE, run rates, labor costs, active work orders, throughput, production events, and more. These are available as report data sources when setting up any view in Essembi. See Reports for the full list of report types, dimensions, metrics, filters, and use cases.
OEE Calculations
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) measures manufacturing productivity using three factors: Availability (uptime), Performance (speed), and Quality (good parts).
OEE = Availability x Performance x Quality. Example: 85% Availability x 90% Performance x 95% Quality = 72.6% OEE. Run rate standards used in Performance can come from the Routing, or from a matching Run Rate Rule when one applies.
Step 1: Availability (Uptime)
Availability measures what percentage of your scheduled production time was actually used for production.
Availability = (Run Time - Downtime) / Run Time x 100
How Operating Schedules Affect Availability
Availability can respect Operating Schedule and Holiday Schedule windows resolved for the line (and facility), using the facility time zone. When schedule availability is applied, nights/weekends/holidays marked unavailable are excluded from Run Time so they do not artificially lower Availability.
Example
A Work Order Routing runs from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM (8 hours, or 480 minutes). An equipment breakdown of 30 minutes (Machine Downtime checked) and a planned changeover of 15 minutes (Machine Downtime unchecked) occur. Downtime = 30 minutes (only the breakdown counts). Availability = (480 - 30) / 480 = 93.8%. The planned changeover does not reduce Availability because its Incident Type does not have Machine Downtime checked.
Planned Maintenance
For scheduled maintenance or changeovers, create an Incident Type (for example, "Planned Maintenance") with Machine Downtime unchecked, and record the maintenance as an Incident using this type. The time is tracked but does not reduce Availability.
Step 2: Performance (Speed)
Performance measures how fast you produced compared to your standard speed. Performance = Actual Output / Expected Output x 100.
Example: a routing has a standard of 100 units per hour. Production runs 6 hours and produces 540 units. Expected Output = 100 x 6 = 600 units, Actual Output = 540 units, Performance = 540 / 600 = 90.0%.
Step 3: Quality (Good Parts)
Quality measures what percentage of your production was good parts (not defective). Quality = (Total Produced - Rejected) / Total Produced x 100.
Example: production completes 1,000 units but rejects 50 defective units. Good Units = 1,000 - 50 = 950. Quality = 950 / 1,000 = 95.0%.