Significance of a Single Order in Batch-Oriented Production for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Editor's Note: Join Dr. Scott Hamilton at Decisions Spring 2012 on June 18 at 9am EDT for the session Managing Food Products Manufacturing Using Dynamics AX 2012.

The significance of a single production order can vary in different manufacturing scenarios, especially those involving batch-oriented production.  A single order may represent a single physical batch or production run in some scenarios.  In other scenarios, it may represent multiple physical batches/runs within a time period such as a given shift, day or week.  When using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the decision between these two basic options must consider several key factors.  These key factors include batch number assignment and batch tracking, the approaches for reporting started quantities and finished quantities, and the approaches for reporting material usage and resource consumption.  This article explains how the two different options impact these key factors, so that you can decide on the significance of a single order.

Single Order Represents One Physical Batch 

When a single order represents one physical batch, you would typically assign a single batch number to the finished quantity for the parent item.   The batch number may be assigned as part of recording the finished quantity, or assigned beforehand.  Most scenarios employ automatic creation and assignment of a batch number based on a batch number mask, but it can also be manually created and assigned.  Manual creation is typically employed to reflect a meaningful identifier. 

Several additional considerations apply to this approach.  For example, the entire order quantity would be reflected in the started quantity, the generation and posting of picking lists about material usage, and (when using routing data) ...