Routings are a feature in standard Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central used to help outline production processes. A defined routing specifies the sequence of operations necessary to manufacture an item or group of items. They are particularly well-suited to discrete manufacturing environments, in which separate parts of the manufacturing process can be clearly differentiated from one another and the production planner must schedule each part of a production process.
While the basic manufacturing features in Food Manufacturing & Distribution are designed for a batch processing environment, in which production operations often function as a single continuous process, the routing capabilities in the program can still be beneficial. In particular:
Capacity ledger entries are created when routings are used, enabling direct and indirect capacity costs to be obtained.
Routings afford greater control over production scheduling, as you can specify a production process's setup time, run time, wait time, and move time.
It is therefore possible to link a production BOM's equipment and activity based costs to routings.
Note
While there are advantages to using routings in production, their inclusion in the production process requires more work on the part of the user, both in terms of initial setup and day-to-day data entry. Before deciding to use routings, consider the impact on the efficiency of data entry.
Equipment and activity based costs
When defining a formula, item process, or package BOM, production equipment can be assigned to the production BOM. If routings are used in the production process, assign them to pieces of equipment.
You can also assign activity based costs to production BOMs. These activity based costs can be linked to the pieces of equipment assigned to the production BOM. In this way, the same activity based cost can be assigned to a production BOM several times, but with different quantities based on equipment. If two pieces of equipment are assigned to a formula, for example, you might assign the cost to operate the machinery as an activity based cost for each piece of assigned equipment.
Activity based costs can also be linked to specific routing operations through routing link codes.
Production
When a production order is created for an item, it must be scheduled to a piece of equipment. If the piece of equipment is linked to a routing on the production BOM, the program assigns the appropriate routing steps to the production order. In addition, the program calculates the cost information for each operation from the activity based cost line on the production BOM linked to the operation. In this way, the program can obtain a different cost for a manufactured item based on the piece of equipment on which it was produced.