The third essential process for manufacturing efficiency is to is to release jobs based on material.availability, which automatically adjusts the master schedule to reflect actual receipts from inbound jobs and POs.
All manufacturing companies have the same challenge
All manufacturing companies have the same fundamental challenge -- when can jobs be started and in what order?
Jobs are released to production in the Job Release screen
Jobs are released to production in the Job Release screen within the Job Control Panel. DBA automatically allocates all supply with existing demand according to your plan. Jobs are released on their Planned Start date, provided that material is fully allocated to all job components. Otherwise, job release is delayed until material is fully allocated.
Job release adjusts the master schedule
When a delayed job gets released, the Job Finish date is automatically forward scheduled from the Released date to update the master schedule with a realistic supply date. This is what makes the master schedule self-adjusting without need for manual intervention.
The Late Supply screen helps update your SO line Expected Ship Date
When the job is released it will update the job finish date. When the job finish exceeds your SO line item Required date it will show up on the Sales > Late Supply screen where you can update your SO line Expected Ship date and notify the customer if necessary.
The Released date is considered the actual start date
The job Planned Start date is the original job start date. When the job gets released, the Released date is captured and is considered the actual start date for analysis purposes.
Job release saves time
Job release saves a great deal of time because you always know exactly when jobs can be started without having to manually investigate whether purchased components have been received or subassemblies completed.
Job release is especially useful with multi-level jobs
When you release jobs only when material is fully allocated, jobs will get released in perfect order because subassembly jobs will be finished in order to be available for allocation to higher level jobs.
Material is allocated in a batch process
Whenever the Job Control Panel screen is launched, a batch process allocates component stock on hand (‘Material’) to all open jobs. Material is allocated first to Released status jobs in Planned Start date order and then to New status jobs in Planned Start date order.
Boosting your manufacturing efficiency
Releasing jobs with material is an essential element in boosting your manufacturing efficiency. Instead of guessing or investigating which jobs have material to get started, or having to rob material from some jobs in order to start other jobs – you avoid all this by using MRP to cover all job demand and and by allocating material to jobs so you know exactly which jobs can be released to production at any given time. An additional benefit is that the master schedule gets automatically adjusted without any need for manual intervention.
What to Do
Do not release when Shortage is indicated
When a red icon and ‘Shortage’ is displayed in the Material field, it means that the job is at or past its Planned Start date, but one or more of its components is not fully allocated. Without allocated material, job release must be delayed.
Material Allocation Inquiry
You can click the red icon in the Material field to launch the Material Allocation inquiry, which provides a list of the components that are not currently fully allocated to the job. In most cases an open PO or job exists to supply the component, but has not yet been received. You can get a list of projected supply and demand transactions by clicking the icon in the Stock Status field.
NOTE: Within the Projected tab of the Stock Status inquiry you can click the PO or job number in the Source field to drill down to the PO Schedule or Job Schedule screen to view the underlying details of the supply event associated with the component shortage.
Do not ignore the shortage warning
It is vitally important that you only release jobs for which material is fully allocated. If you ignore the shortage warning and release a job anyway, the released job “steals” allocated material from non-released jobs and the rescheduling function is compromised.
Job release can occur multiple times per day
Job release is not a once a day process. If you have a relatively high volume of multi-level jobs, jobs should be released periodically throughout the day so that higher level jobs can be released in a timely fashion as subassembly jobs get completed. It is common that when you do a Job Receipt for a subassembly, that you will immediately go to the Job Release screen and release the next job level waiting for that subassembly. Releasing jobs is a simple process that is a big time-saver because it eliminates all the manual investigation that would otherwise be needed to determine which jobs are completed and which ones are to be started next.
Job travelers can be printed concurrent with release
Each time a batch of jobs is released, you are prompted to print job travelers for the newly released jobs. This is highly convenient and is the best way to insure that travelers get printed when needed and include timely schedule dates.
