Category: Business

Of interest to business enterprises.

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Manufacturing using webERP

This post is #4 in a series on using webERP. Search for “webERP” to find other posts in the series and please visit the demo on dalescott.net.

Features of using webERP for manufacturing include:

  • Efficiency. Items, Vendors, Work Orders, etc. are managed within one controlled system. Fix a problem once and it’s fixed everywhere.
  • Visibility. A visible, trusted, change management process and a chain of truth.
  • Scalable. Readily scales with users, items, vendors and orders, and adapts as your processes change over time.

In this tutorial, I will explore using webERP for manufacturing using the Swift Construction Company’s development of the Aircraft Wireless as an example.

Goals

The goal of this exercise will be to:

  • Manufacture a sub-assembly with auto-issued child (input) items.

Manufacturing Cycle

The general manufacturing cycle in webERP is:

  • Enter a Work Order to manufacture an item according to its bill of materials (BOM).
  • Receive the finished manufactured items (the output from the work order) into stock. Input items listed on the bill of materials to auto-issue input items will be transacted to the work order at this time.
  • Issue any additional input items used in in the manufacturing process to the work order).
  • Close the work order.

I will be manufacturing quantity 10 of item 20000001-00, a custom electrical coil. The assembly tree is shown below. I covered how to configure an item as Manufactured, and how to create a BOM, in the Product Lifecycle Management using webERP tutorial.

20000001-00,"IND,830UH,AIRCRAFT WIRELESS"
|-- 90000001-00,"WIRE,MAGNET,38AWG,POLY"
|-- 90000002-00,"MAG,FERRITE ROD,1/4IN X 4IN,MATL=61"
\-- 90000003-00,"TAPE,ELECTRICAL,3/4"",BLUE,VINYL"

The manual process that will be followed is:

  • Manufacturing scheduler creates work order and assigns to assembly technician.
  • Assembly technician prints work order and kits required input materials from stock room. The technician initials each input item quantity as removed from stock.
  • Technician completes finished coils.
  • Technician initials work order as complete and returns to scheduler.
  • Scheduler receives the output items into the work order, which also causes the input items to be transferred from stock.
  • Scheduler closes work order.

TODO add swim-lane diagram(s).

TODO describe the accompanying parallel paperwork process.

Setup

If you have been following my previous tutorials,  there should be no further setup required. However, if not, it may be helpful tog review building a BOM in Product Lifecycle Management using webERP, and purchasing items in Purchasing Using webERP.

Create Work Order

A work order essentially converts the list of raw material required to manufacture an item (the Bill of Materials, or BOM) into one or more outputs. The work order can be printed and used to kit the necessary raw materials, and also used as a traveller for the Work in Process (WIP).

  • Create a new work order.
  • Enter optional Reference and Remark. TODO explain why
  • Search & select output item 20000001-00. Update.
  • Enter Qty 10 and comment for output 20000001-00. Update.

The work order can be printed and signed as record of kitting, and also as a record of additional input items to enter before closing the work order. A printed copy of the work order often travels with the WIP as identification (e.g. a traveler for a tote of material). Labels can also be printed for later attaching to the manufactured items. 

Main > Manufacturing > Transactions > Work Order Entry

If you search for work orders you will see that the new work work is in the system.

The  work order status shows demand for the raw materials needed to manufacture the inductor, which indicates they have not been issued.

You will also see that there is qty 10 of 20000001-00 on order from its item screen.

Receive Output Goods

When the output items have been manufactured they are received against the work order. For simplicity I will assume the manufacturing process was flawless, with no waste and all the manufactured items meet spec (see the manufacturing and test procedure filed in the Knowledge Base).  

Items listed on the BOM as auto-issue will issue to the work order at this time.

Process Manufactured Items Received

Close Work Order

Close the work order after all raw material has been issued to the work order and all manufactured items have been received against the work order. Review the work order costing,

Main > Manufacturing > Transactions > Select a Work Order > Select > Costing

and close the work order.

Summary

This completes the overview of manufacturing using webERP. 

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webERP at Calgary EPTECH 2017

Search for “webERP” to find other posts on webERP.

I will be at the EPTECH electronics exhibition in Calgary on March 9 to present webERP as the ideal platform for engineering PLM and to manage parts and orders for engineering prototyping and small-volume production. Watch for me if you’re going to be there, I would love to hear about the challenges facing you, and what strategies you have found work best.

Engineering teams need to manage part numbers for off-the-shelf and custom parts, and bills of materials for assemblies, including keeping track of selected COTS OEM part numbers and vendor information for purchasing, and the current revision of a custom part (and why it’s the current version). Engineering teams must also control source documents for custom parts, such as mechanical drawings, schematics and PCB fabrication files, and also often manage prototype and small-volume purchasing and manufacturing.

webERP is the ideal platform for an engineering team to organize and manage this information with trust and transparency, providing controlled access to anyone in the organization who needs it. webERP is a fully-featured enterprise-grade ERP system, but it is equally suitable for use at an engineering department level.

EPTECH is Canada’s only series of coast-to-coast national electronics shows, targeting electronics designers, engineers, technicians, technologists, purchasers, technical managers and researchers. A broad spectrum of the electronics industry will be on display, including passive and semiconductor devices, electro-mechanical components, test equipment, contract test and manufacturing services…. EPTECH is also a place where the local community can cross paths on an annual basis, the significance of which is often under-estimated. 

 

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Installing webERP

This post is #1 in a series on using webERP. Search for “webERP” to find other posts in the series.

webERP is a complete web based accounting and business management system that requires only a web-browser to use. weberp.org

webERP is mature web-based open-source ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software that supports best practises and multi-user business administration, purchasing, sales, manufacturing and standard double-entry accounting.

webERP can also be used with a wiki CMS (Content Management System) to provide an integrated Knowledge Base. I will be using WackoWiki, one of the supported wiki engines.

Goals

  • Install webERP software.
  • Install MediaWiki software.
  • Configure webERP and MediaWiki for use.

Install Applications

I will install webERP and MediaWiki on FreeBSD, a Unix-like operating system (GNU/Linux is another popular Unix-type operating system). The server has already been configured with the Apache HTTP server and MariaDB database server.

webERP

Copy the webERP software files to the server and configure the Apache web server.

  • Extract distribution to /usr/local/www/
  • Rename extracted directory webERP/ to weberp-4.13.1
  • Create soft link “weberp” to weberp-x.y.z
  • Create Apache virtual server e.g. http://weberp.dalescott.net

Access http://weberp.dalescott.net with a web browser to run the installer.

  • Language: US
  • Db user and password: root (only for install, future access will be changed to a dedicated user after installation)
  • Company name: e.g. Swift Construction Company
  • Install demo data: YES
  • User “admin” email: e.g. dale@dalescott.net
  • admin user password: (keep this safe)

After the installer has completed, change the database access user to a new database user with privileges to webERP databases only.

  • Create a new database user “weberp” with all privileges to the weberp and weberpdemo databases.
  • Edit the webERP configuration file weberp/config.php and change the database access user and password to the new dedicated user.

MediaWiki

Copy the MediaWiki software files to the server and configure the Apache web server.

  • Download a release archive.
  • Extract the distribution to /usr/local/www/ (which will create mediawiki-x.y.z/) 
  • Create a soft link “wiki” to mediawiki-x.y.z/
  • Create an Apache virtual server http://wiki.dalescott.net

Access http://wiki.dalescott.net/mw-config/index.php with a web browser to run the installer.

  • Name of wiki: webERP
  • User rights profile: Authorized editors only (public viewing is allowed)
  • Enable file uploads

Configure Applications

webERP

Log into webERP using the admin user credentials entered into the auto-installer and create new named user e.g. dalescott. The new user will be used for all subsequent work to identify the administration user specifically for audit purposes. 

  • email: e.g. dale@dalescott
  • system administrator privileges

The original admin user (created by the auto-installer) cannot be deleted due to a now existing audit trail.

Location

I will create a new location “Shopton” for the SCC headquarters.

Main > Setup > Inventory Setup > Inventory Locations Maintenance

Note: Delivery Address 1 must be given a value, otherwise a “missing delivery address” error will occur when later attempting to create a purchase order.

After creating the new location, change the location of the administration user to the new location (and of any other users). 

Currencies

I will create a new CAD currency as some items will need to be purchased in Canadian dollars. webERP will obtain currency exchange rates from either Google or the European Central Bank (Main > Setup > General > System Preferences).

Main > Setup > General Setup > Currencies Maintenance

“USD” is shown as the “Functional Currency” because United States is set as the SCC company currency in the Company Preferences.

Company Preferences

Operating practices for a specific company are configured in the Company Preferences screen (webERP supports multiple companies and the desired company is selected at login). 

Main > Setup > General > Company Preferences.

System Preferences

General system-wide behavior is configured in the System Preferences screen. I will quickly review some interesting parameters, and get into a bit more detail with a few specific parameters.

  • Date format: Y-m-d. I prefer ISO 8601 dates for clarity over familiarity (e.g. 2017-03-08 for March 8, 2017), which avoids the ambiguity of d/m/Y and m/d/Y.
  • Frequently Ordered Items: 0. I left this disabled but may experiment with it once the system has some orders entered.
  • Sales Order Allows Same Item Multiple Times: Yes. I will revisit this later, but at least initially I don’t want anything to block operation.
  • Languages to Maintain Translations for Item Descriptions: None. Don’t complicate things at least initially.
  • Picking note must be produced before an order can be delivered: No. I don’t want to complicate the process too soon.
  • Auto Update Exchange Rates Daily: Automatic. Source Exchange Rates From: Google. 
  • Create Debtor Codes Automatically: No. I want to use my own mnemonic codes, but set to Yes if you don’t care and would prefer to let the system assign a sequential integer.
  • Create Supplier Codes Automatically: No. I prefer to use my own mnemonic codes.
  • Country of operation: United States (used when calculating shipping costs).
  • Purchase Order Allows Same Item Multiple Times: Yes. I will revisit this later, but at least initially I don’t want anything to block operation.
  • Automatically authorise purchase orders if user has authority: Yes. I will disable this later so I can follow the approval process.
  • Financial year ends on: December (if only to avoid having to answer of why not calendar years).
  • Maximum Size in KB of uploaded images: 300. I left this at its default value, although some images and screenshots will likely require re-sizing before uploading.
  • Directory to store images: part_pics (directory already exists)
  • Directory to store reports: reports (directory already exists)
  • Wiki application: MediaWiki (I’m already familiar with MediaWiki), Wiki Path: http://wiki.dalescott.net/ 
  • Inventory Costing Method: Standard. webERP also supports weighted average, but Standard Costing behavior will be more obvious to start with.
  • Auto issue components: Yes. Automatically decrement items from stock according to the BOM for an Item when it is manufactured to reduce admin effort.
  • Prohibit Negative Stock: No. I’m pretty sure I will set this to Yes later, but prefer no blocking operations at least initially.
  • Log Severity Level: All, Path to log files: log. I want to see all possible log entries initially and can be reduced later (I also had to create the “log” directory and set ownership of the directory to the www:www, which is the Apache http server user on FreeBSD).
  • Controlled Items Defined At Work Order Entry: Yes. When set to yes, controlled items are defined at the time of the work order creation. Otherwise controlled items (serial numbers and batch/roll/lot references) are entered at the time the finished items are received against the work order
  • Auto Create Work Orders: Yes. Setting this parameter to Yes will ensure that when a sales order is placed if there is insufficient stock then a new work order is created at the default factory location
  • Default Factory Location: Shopton. This will be the default location for automatically created work orders.
  • Factory manager email: dale@dalescott.net, Purchasing manager email: dale@dalescott.net, Inventory manager email: dale@dalescott.net. I’m setting all email addresses to me for convenience so I see the traffic.
  • Using Smtp Mail: No. My server will route email from webERP out through my ISP’s mail server.

Main > Setup > System Preferences

Wiki Application

In particular, note the setting for “Wiki application”. When enabled by selecting a particular Wiki dialogue (MediaWiki, WackoWiki or DokuWiki), a link to the “Wiki Product Knowledge Base” will be shown in the Inquiries column of the main Items, Vendors and Customers screens (once an Item/Vendor/Customer has been selected).

You also need to set the root path to the wiki (that webERP will append to) in the system parameters screen. In my case, I needed a trailing “/” in the Wiki Path, but YMMV.

Database Maintenance

webERP can be configured to lock out users by setting Perform Database Maintenance at Logon to Allow SysAdmin Access Only. Only users with security profile “System Administrator” will be allowed to login or enter data when this is set, which is important when performing maintenance on the application code or database. A maintenance notice also appears on the login prompt when Allow SysAdmin Access Only is set.

Main > Setup > General > System Parameters

This parameter can also be used to periodically run the query “OPTIMIZE DATABASES” at set intervals. It is not clear how often this should be run, or even if there is a significant benefit. However, users will notice a slight delay during login when the it runs, it might have been a half-second with an almost empty Swift Construction Company database (on a older dual-core desktop PC with 4GB memory). If periodically running OPTIMIZE DATABASES is desired, you may consider creating an entry in the cron table to run the mysql command line interface, giving the query as a command argument.

MediaWiki

The webERP Knowledge Base, MediaWiki in my case, is a completely separate system from webERP, including separate users, user permissions, etc. webERP simply provides structured links into the Knowledge Base (with some variation depending on the wiki protocol selected in webERP Main > Setup > General > System Parameters > Wiki application).

I intentionally configured MediaWiki during install for public access, but required that a user be logged-in to create a new page, edit an existing page or upload a file. This allows anyone to see information, and in most cases get on with their job, without having to be concerned with logging into the Knowledge Base. For me, this is a nice balance of visibility and trust within a homogeneous organization. Users can also set their browsers to remember their login credentials and once set won’t be inconvenienced again (I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this when there are shared workstations, but then again many people use shared workstations and don’t control who the user is, it all depends….).

Upload File Types

I configured the permitted upload file types to include OpenOffice/LibreOffice files, dwg files and zip archives (see MediaWiki documentation).

$wgFileExtensions = array( 'png', 'gif', 'jpg', 'jpeg',
 'odt', 'ods', 'odp', 'odg',
 'txt', 'pdf', 'zip', 'dwg'
);

Site Logo

I also uploaded the SCC logo as a media file and edited LocalSettings.php to use new logo.

Summary

This completes basic webERP and MediaWiki installation and configuration.

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Is open-source right for you?

I was asked recently to quote installing a 5-user open-source ERP system. Unfortunately, as with anything technical and complicated, “it depends”. Open-source software provides an incredible opportunity, but both client and vendor business models are still not familiar to most people outside the open-source community, who largely perceive open-source software as simply a less expensive alternative to traditional proprietary software.

Try asking yourself these questions:

  • Are you familiar with open-source software, its goals and philosophies, and licenses, business models, and support channels?
  • Is there a strategic benefit for using open-source software in your enterprise? Does using open-source software enhance your competitive position? Will you be “doing things” that are impossible otherwise, and will it be core to your business model?
  • Have you yourself installed the demo version, figured out the basics of how to use it, and have demonstrated it to anyone else?
  • Do you understand the technology involved? E.g. ERP, PLM, the internet, IoT, cloud hosting, change management, etc.
  • Do you understand the software development process? Change management? Agile? DevOps? Bug tracking? Workflow and data pipelines?
  • Is your finance person tech-savvy?
  • Do you have internal IT group, or do you already have a relationship with an IT services provider, or hosting provider?
  • Will you be configuring the software yourself?

You should have many more “yes” answers than “no” answers if open-source is right for you. More “no” than “yes” either means you have more boot-strapping to do, or you should buy a commercial product or service (which may possibly use open-source software behind the curtain).

To simply install open-source software on a server at a hosting provider generally costs practically nothing, typically at worst a couple hours for someone qualified. Add to that operating hosting costs, internal or external. The real costs are learning how to configure and use the software for your unique business, how to live with, work-around or develop the missing features (that you and least one other person insist are essential <wink>), customizing reports, etc.

As with any software, it’s important to uncover areas of friction as soon as possible. Finding out late that meeting a hard requirement will be extremely disruptive does no one any good. Prototype your basic business workflows and get quick validation by pretending you are various users performing their typical work tasks. However, it’s the confusing tasks, the ones “that depend”, or the ones that “we don’t need to deal with that now” that will likely determine in the end whether there’s a good fit or not, and also the implementation effort that will be needed. You may not need solutions for what you find, but you do need to know where you stand.

Fundamentally no one else can do this for you, because no one else understands your business like you do. The alternative is to have a proxy, which can turn the project into a 6-month to 18-month effort, with multiple people, requirements gathering, competitive product research, shortlist, deep-dive prototyping critical workflows with each shortlisted product, etc., which often is then beyond the ability of an SME to support.