Reduce Variability and Optimize Routing Accuracy in Business Central

Variability in production isn’t just a scheduling headache—it’s a hidden cost driver that impacts everything from labor efficiency to product quality and financial accuracy. In a world where lean operations and predictable outputs are the norm, high variability can silently sabotage profitability.

Routing Analysis for Business Central, is designed to help manufacturers identify, analyze, and resolve deviations in routing execution—ensuring that standard times reflect actual shop floor performance.

Let’s break it down from both a technical BC perspective and a real-world manufacturing view.

What Is Variability and Why Does It Matter?

In manufacturing, variability refers to the inconsistency in performing the same routing step across different production orders or employees. While your routing might say it takes 2 hours to run a laser cut, if the actual execution swings between 30 minutes and 4 hours, you’ve got a problem—likely several:

• Costing inaccuracies (your standard costs are off)
• Unreliable scheduling (you can’t forecast capacity)
• Quality risk (inconsistency can indicate training or process issues)

Reducing this variability requires data visibility, and that’s exactly what Routing Analysis provides.

A Look Inside Routing Analysis

Here’s the Routing Analysis screen within Business Central, showing real-world variance and standard deviation metrics:

In this case, we’re analyzing a routing used across two production orders. Each operation line shows:

• Actual Standard Deviation – The variability of actual times reported
• Mean Time per Quantity – The average actual runtime per base quantity
• Avg. Actual Difference – Difference between expected and actual time
• % Difference – Efficiency gap
• Setup, Run, Wait, and Move Time – Editable values to correct your routing

Let’s hone in on Operation 20 – 4000 WATT LASER.

Identifying the Problem: Large Deviations

Clicking into the explanation for Avg. Actual Difference, we get this detailed formula view:

This tells us:

• The configured routing time is 2 hours.
• The average actual time? Only ~0.10 hours per unit.
• Resulting in a whopping 1.89 hours of discrepancy per unit.

This isn’t just academic—it’s costing you money, overbooking your schedule, and under-utilizing your resources.

Digging Deeper: Understanding Variability

Clicking the Standard Deviation value opens this statistical breakdown:

Here, we see:

• Multiple entries for the same operation
• Each shows hours per line, finished quantity, deviation, and squared deviation
• A standard deviation of 0.02517 hours

In simpler terms: we have data precision that shows the range of fluctuation—not just the average. This is where Routing Analysis shines beyond standard Business Central functionality.

Taking Action: Adjusting the Routing

Once the issue is identified, you can modify the run time directly:

With just a few clicks, you can:

• Align the routing with actual times
• Certify and publish the changes
• Propagate accurate timings to future production orders

This means better planning, costing, and resource utilization—fast.

Industry Perspective: Why This Matters on the Shop Floor

For production managers and industrial engineers, this isn’t just data—it’s ammunition:

• Cost Accountants can reconcile actual vs. standard costs for margin accuracy.
• Schedulers can allocate resources based on truth, not theory.
• Quality Teams can use standard deviation flags to uncover inconsistent training or flawed SOPs.
• Continuous Improvement Leaders get quantifiable insight into process stability.

Key Takeaways

• Track what matters: Real-time performance compared to plan
• Reduce variability: Standard deviation highlights inconsistency
• Fix the root cause: High % differences indicate over- or under-estimations
• Improve margins: Accurate routing = accurate costing
• Optimize scheduling: Your MRP is only as good as your routing data

Final Thought

Routing Analysis turns Business Central into a proactive tool for continuous improvement. Rather than reacting to missed deadlines or profit shortfalls, you’re now equipped to diagnose and adjust routing processes before they impact your bottom line.

If you’re serious about lean manufacturing and precision planning, start with the truth—start with Routing Analysis.