Who is your favorite character in Wall-E? Mine is the Manufacture Order. You know… the little boxy-shaped robot with an attitude who is constantly trying to clean up after Wall-E’s messes. He’s a great long-suffering companion to the main characters. And he’s very effective at what he does.
You probably know him as MO. I prefer to call him Manufacture Order.
I call him that because he performs a variety of tasks with a single goal in mind: To rid the spaceship of all dirt and germs. That’s exactly what manufacture orders do in the present-day world of manufacturing.
According to the Fishbowl Wiki, “The Manufacture Order is designed to be a module where Work Orders, or the manufacturing of items, takes place.” This means that a manufacture order is like a big tent that encompasses a number of different work orders. A work order is basically a blueprint for doing a specific manufacturing job.
Here’s an example of how manufacture orders and work orders work. If a customer places an order for a bicycle from a manufacturer, the manufacturer must take that sales order and create work orders for building the frame, handlebars, wheels, gears and pedals. However, those work orders must be coordinated to ensure the overall project gets completed.
Thus, work orders are placed under a manufacture order, which helps manufacturers organize their efforts and keep track of the big picture while working on the little details.
With the right manufacturing inventory software, you should have the ability to:
- Manufacture, repair, disassemble and maintain items.
- Set up and complete work orders.
- Tie sales orders to work orders.
- Assign multiple finished goods per work order.
- Provide a bill of materials within a work order.
- Create multilevel work orders and bill of material lists.
Manufacture orders are helpful tools for manufacturers. Without them, you might face snags in your production lines, like when MO got stuck on his little lit line. He had trouble leaving it, but he eventually jumped off so he could go in a diagonal line and clean up Wall-E’s trail of dirt.
Be flexible and adapt to changing situations by using manufacturing inventory software and manufacture orders. Take a quick tour of Fishbowl today to see how it can help your business reach for the stars.
The image of MO is the copyright of Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures.
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