JobBOSS2 Work Centers, Work Resources and Scheduling Setup

How to set up work centers and scheduling

1. 1List your real constraints: machines, cells or departments where work queues. Group identical machines into one work center unless operators need to schedule them individually.
2. 2Create each work center with a clear code and description, the department, and cost rates for setup and run so job costing reflects reality.
3. 3Define available hours using a shop calendar: shifts, days worked and holidays, plus how many machines or people each center has.
4. 4Add resources such as individual machines or people where you need finer scheduling than the whole work center.
5. 5Update the routings so every operation points to the correct work center, with setup time and run time per unit, and any queue or move time you want to plan around.
6. 6Release a few real jobs, then use the scheduling view to see load per work center and move operations to resolve overloads.
7. 7Compare scheduled against actual after a week and adjust the standard times, because stale standards break every schedule.

Making the schedule believable

Sanity check for a routing operation
Setup hours + (run time per unit x quantity) = operation hours
Operation hours / (work center hours per day x units available) = days of load

Common pitfalls

• !Creating a work center per machine when nobody will maintain a schedule at that level.
• !Leaving routing times at placeholder values, so every job looks like it fits.
• !Ignoring shop calendar changes such as holidays and overtime.
• !Scheduling without shop floor reporting, so finished operations still occupy capacity.
• !Scheduling outside purchasing: a job cannot start if the material arrives later.