Work Centers
A Work Center is a shared definition that routings point at and rates live on — visible to every company in the tenant, while the machines inside it are owned per company. It's the bridge between a routing's "where does this happen" and the actual capacity available to run it.
Overview
- Shared, Not Duplicated: One work center definition (e.g., "Laser") is visible tenant-wide, so routings reference a consistent name and rate structure no matter which company is scheduling against it.
- Per-Company Ownership: The machines and people assigned to a work center are added under Resources and belong to a specific company, even though the work center itself is shared.
- Capacity Source of Truth: Rated hours, OEE target, availability, and default setup all live here, feeding directly into scheduling and the Capacity Planner.
Click through the walkthrough below to see a work center get configured, including assigning a resource to it.
Where to Access
- Users (admin / common) can access it via Equipment → Resources → Work Centers tab
- Related tabs on the same page: Floor, Resources, Resource Pools, Work Centers
- Click Add New to create a new work center
Creating a Work Center
To create a new work center:
- Navigate to Equipment → Resources, then select the Work Centers tab.
- Click Add New.
- Enter the basic information — Name, Code, Location, and Work Center Type.
- Configure Hourly Cost Rates and Capacity Parameters.
- Assign the machines or people this work center will use.
- Save.
Work Center Components
Basic
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The work center's display name (e.g., "Laser"). |
| Code | Unique identifier for the work center. |
| Active (toggle) | Controls whether the work center is available for scheduling. |
| Location | The physical site this work center belongs to. |
| Department | Optional department link — the only path by which departmental overhead reaches an item's standard cost. |
| Work Center Type | Classifies the work center (e.g., Manufacturing, Assembly). |
| Status Override | An optional manual state for the whole work center; if left unset, status is derived from its resources. |
| Description | Free-text description of the work center. |
Hourly Cost Rates
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Rate Scope | Whether rates come from the Tenant default or a specific company scope. Company rates override tenant defaults, and selecting a scope loads that scope's own rows for editing. |
| Rate rows | The actual hourly rates configured for this work center, added via the + button; shows "No hourly rates configured" until at least one is added. |
Capacity Parameters
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Machine Speed | Theoretical maximum throughput at 100% efficiency. |
| Rated Hours / Day | The work center's operating window per day. |
| OEE Target | Planning OEE factor — a target used for planning, not a measured value. |
| Availability | Expected availability after planned downtime. |
| Default Setup | Default changeover time used in capacity calculations when an operation doesn't specify its own. |
| Critical for CAPA dashboard (toggle) | Includes this work center in the nightly capacity snapshot and dashboard heatmap. |
Current Status
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Status | Rolls up automatically once assets are linked to this work center; shows "No status yet" until then. |
| Current Utilization | Live utilization percentage for this work center. |
Resources in This Work Center
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Assign machine or person | Opens a New Resource form to add a machine or person directly to this work center. |
| Resource chips | Each assigned resource is shown with its code, name, and scheduling role (e.g., "TITAN LS1630 · PRIMARY MACHINE"). |
Work Center Cost Calculation
Work centers are essential for accurate cost calculation in manufacturing:
- Configure Hourly Cost Rates on each work center, scoped to the tenant default or overridden per company.
- These rates flow through to routing operations and ultimately to work orders — Reference Hourly Rate on an individual resource is metadata only; Work Orders absorb the Work Center's rate, not the resource's.
Work Center Scheduling
The system uses work center information for production scheduling:
- Available capacity is determined from Rated Hours/Day, Availability, and OEE Target.
- Operations are assigned to work centers based on routing specifications.
- From Production Scheduling's Resources view, operations can be assigned to a specific resource within the work center, or left on "Any resource" for the scheduler to pick from what's available.
- Current Status and Current Utilization give a live read on load, helping identify bottlenecks before they cause delays.
Assigning a Resource to a Work Center
Clicking Assign machine or person opens a full resource record rather than a simple picker, so you can create a new resource on the spot:
| Section | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Basic | Name, Kind, Code, Scheduling Role (e.g., Primary Machine), Critical toggle (downtime here takes the whole work center offline). |
| Placement | Work Center (pre-filled), Parent Resource, Location, Department, Asset link, Workforce link (for people). |
| Capacity | Parallel Jobs, Rated Hours/Day, Efficiency, OEE Target, Default Setup, Speed, Reference Hourly Rate — leave any of these blank and the resource inherits it from the work center. |
| Service | Operating Hours (accrues automatically while Running), Cycle Count, Last Inspection, Next Service, Warranty Until. |
Integration with Other Features
Work centers connect with other manufacturing functions:
- Resources & Resource Pools : The machines, labor, and tools owned per company and assigned to a work center.
- Routings : Define which operations are performed at which work centers.
- Production Scheduling : Schedule production using the work center's capacity and its individual resources.
- Cost Accounting : Calculate accurate manufacturing costs from work center rates.
Best Practices
- Create work centers with the appropriate level of granularity for your operations.
- Regularly update Hourly Cost Rates to maintain accurate product costing.
- Use Critical for CAPA dashboard on the work centers that genuinely can't afford downtime, so they surface in the nightly heatmap.
- Configure realistic Rated Hours/Day and Availability to prevent over-scheduling.
- Let individual resources inherit capacity from the work center by default — only override Rated Hours/Day, Efficiency, or Setup on a resource when it genuinely differs from the rest of its work center.
Related Features
For more detailed information on advanced work center management techniques and optimization, please refer to the specific sections in this documentation.