Production management
Without precise management of your production, you quickly lose your grip on both capacity, delivery times and resource utilization. Dependencies between materials, machines and employees create complexity, and small deviations can have major consequences.
With production management in Business Central, you collect the entire production flow in one data basis. It gives you better control over processes, faster responsiveness and the opportunity to optimize capacity and output with greater precision.
Handling in Business Central
The production module in Business Central is designed for both discreet and process-based production, and can be used for both order-based manufacturing, series production and project production. The system allows you to control the entire process from forecast and planning to completion notification and post-calculation.
BOMs and routes
- Create multi-layered BOM (BOM) lists with variants, subcomponents, and dependencies
- Define production routes with operations, cycle times, work centers and resource groups
- Use routing link codes to control which components are consumed in which operations
Capacity and resource planning
- Plan based on fixed and variable setup times, cycle times and overlapping operations
- Assign work centers, individual machines or employees
- Use capacity plans and load summaries (Gantt-like) to visualize bottlenecks and distribution
Materials management and MRP
- Calculate net needs for raw materials, components and semi-finished products via material accounting and MRP
- Automatically propose and create production orders and purchases via planning runs
- Take into account lead time, security stock and min/max stocks when calculating needs
Production types and order flows
- Manage simulated, planned, released and completed production orders
- Support both make-to-order (MTO) and make-to-stock (MTS)
- Customize workflows with approvals, reservation and inventory locations
Completion and post-calculation
- Actual record consumption of time, materials and waste directly from production
- Compare planned and actual resource consumption in production calculations
- Generate accurate item usage, update stocks and accounting automatically
Examples of typical industries and flows
- Food production: batches, durability, deviations, hygiene documentation
- Metal and machine production: tool control, scrap, operation time and multiterminals
- Pharma/medico: requirements for validation, logging, double documentation, traceability
- Project production: unique BOM structures, ad hoc planning and inventory reservation
What business value does it create?
Production management in Business Central is more than system support — it is a management tool that increases predictability, reduces errors and makes you less dependent on key people.
Operational effects:
- Lower lead time through better coordination and resource allocation
- Increased delivery precision and fewer urgent orders
- Clear identification of bottlenecks and possibility of redeployment
- Automatic linking of purchases, storage and production without manual intermediate bills
- Higher quality and compliance via traceable production
Business gains:
- Better decision-making basis based on real-time data and simulated scenarios
- Sharper cost management and precise production calculations
- Greater flexibility in the event of fluctuations in demand or material availability
- Scalability — from one production to several locations or product lines
This is how we work
Our approach to production management is not about pressing buttons, but about getting the system to support your real flow. This requires an understanding of both the technical possibilities and the organizational everyday life.
We help e.g. with:
- Mapping of existing production setup and key figures (capacity, lead time, scrap, OTD)
- Setting up BOMs, routes, work centres and planning parameters
- Adaptation of standard processes to your needs: manual vs. automated approvals, reservations, batches etc.
- Integration with storage, purchasing and finance – including setting up planning flows and automatic documents
- Development of reports and dashboards for load, output, propulsion and deviations
Shall we contact you?
Getting started should be easy. Enter your information and we will grab the bone and have a non-binding first chat about how we can best help you.
The right materials
Even the best planned production comes to a standstill if the materials are not there. Therefore, production management is inextricably linked to disposition, where MRP calculates the real need based on orders, forecast and stock status.
When the two play together in Business Central, production and purchase orders are automatically created based on the need — without manual intermediate bills. This results in fewer urgent orders, less waste and production that is not slowed down by missing components. At the same time, you get a clear picture of what needs to be started, when and where it is most urgent.