Running a production job

Start to finish: starting a job, watching progress, logging errors, and marking it done.

A production job is the unit of work in PrintERP. It carries the products being printed, the machines printing them, the materials they consume, and the cost that comes out the other end. This is the whole lifecycle, in order.

Before you start

A job can only consume what it knows about. Make sure the products on it have recipes, or the job will finish without deducting anything.

• Each product has a recipe in Products — materials, paper and ink per unit.
• Each printer has a Production Speed in Machines, otherwise there is no time estimate.
• Each printer has ink tanks linked to the right inventory items — see How ink works.

1. Creating the job

There are two ways in, and both land on the same kind of job:

On the production floor you tap products into a cart, set a quantity and a machine for each line, then check out. From a quotation you approve it first, then convert — the convert dialog is where you pick the machine for each line.

Either way the job is created Queued and appears in Production Jobs, on the Queue board, and in the process rail down the right-hand edge of the Production screen.

2. Starting production

Open the job from Production Jobs and press Start Production. Three things happen at once:

1. 1The job moves to In Production and the clock starts.
2. 2Ink is drawn from the tanks of the machines that are starting — not from your ink stock. Nothing leaves the shelf here.
3. 3A time estimate is worked out per machine from its production speed. The job's estimate is the slowest machine's, because that is what you are really waiting for.

If a printer is missing a tank for an ink the recipe calls for, the job still starts and you get a warning listing which machine and which colour. It never blocks you — but it does mean that ink was not accounted for, so it is worth fixing.

3. Watching it run

The process rail on Production refreshes on its own and shows a progress ring per machine, with the time remaining underneath. When elapsed time passes the estimate, the icon changes to a flag meaning probably done.

If a machine has no usable speed, PrintERP shows that the estimate is unavailable rather than inventing a number. Set the Production Speed in Machines to get estimates on future jobs.

4. Logging an error

Jams, misfeeds, smudges and bad prints happen mid-run. Use the Error action on the job rather than adjusting stock by hand — it keeps the cost attached to the job that caused it.

1. 1Choose what went wrong — paper jam, invalid print, misalignment, ink smudge, or other.
2. 2Enter how many paper pieces were spoiled.
3. 3Check the ink millilitres, which PrintERP works out from the pieces using the product recipe. Adjust if the real loss was different.
4. 4Save. The job stays in production — you carry on printing.

The spoiled paper comes off your stock straight away as waste. The ink is costed but not deducted, because it already left the tank when the job started. Both raise the job's waste cost. Full detail in Recording errors and waste.

5. Marking it done

When the work is physically finished, press Done. This is the step that settles the books:

• Paper is deducted from stock according to each product's recipe, including its waste allowance.
• Any materials that were reserved but not used are released back.
• A cost record is written against the job — materials plus any waste you logged.
• For a job that has a customer, a delivery is opened automatically at Pending.
• The job moves to Completed and the finish time is stamped.

Unlike a manual paper consumption, finishing a job never stops to ask whether a ream is finished. The paper is physically gone, so a whole ream rolls off the books automatically when its last piece is used — see Partial reams and bottles.

6. After it is done

Jobs with a customer continue into Deliveries: pack, dispatch, then deliver. Marking a delivery delivered moves the job itself to Delivered. Counter jobs simply stay Completed.

The cost written at the Done step is what feeds Reports and the cost of goods sold line in the Financial Report. A job that is never marked done contributes nothing to either.

Cancelling a job

Cancel releases any reserved materials and closes the job. It can be used on a job that has not been completed or delivered. Nothing is deducted, so cancel is the right action for a job created by mistake — it is not a way to reverse a job you already finished.