| Business Case Solutions - 20 - Work Order Numbering |
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| Business Case Solutions
The choice between adding intelligence to Work Order Numbers and letting the system maintain the numbers may not be as obvious as it first appears. Companies must weigh the "costs" of each method and determine if they are greater than the benefits and savings created. Although far from comprehensive, the outline below will detail some of the pros and cons of each method.
INTELLIGENT WORK ORDER NUMBERS
PROS:
- It can allow production workers to more clearly identify and associate a Work Order to a Sales Order or a Customer
- It can provide separation between standard, prototype, and rework jobs within the order number
- It can indicate how many times a particular assembly has gone through production
- It may facilitate shortage, labor, and purchase reporting at many levels (product, customer, sales order, etc)
CONS:
- Depending on system capabilities, it may require additional and/or separate tracking and maintenance to ensure the correct number is used on the job
- It can add unneeded complexity to a system with a proportionally small return
- It may be difficult and time consuming to implement
- Users must be trained on the meaning behind the numbers
- May require changes to SOPs for ISO (re)certification
- Increased crossing visibility may enable production to share components off the books reducing tracking accuracy
GENERIC WORK ORDER NUMBER
PROS:
- Easy to implement
- Easy to maintain - requires no additional monitoring or tracking
- Keeps ISO SOPs simple and straightforward
- Work Order Number is just a number so employees do not need additional training to understand and use
CONS:
- May limit reporting capabilities
- Increases difficulty for linking disparate jobs
- May require additional fields or processes to indicate the type of job and importance
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| Article ID: 3281 |
