Work Orders

Work Orders are the heart of production management in OpenMES. Every manufacturing job – whether it is a small batch or a weeks-long production run – lives here as a work order. You get full tracking, batch traceability, material usage data, and priority-based scheduling. Planners, supervisors, and logistics teams use this module to manage orders from start to shipment.

Work Order List

The Work Order List is your main screen for viewing and managing all production orders. It shows everything in a table you can filter, sort, and search. Finding a specific order or a group of similar orders takes just a few clicks.

Filterable Columns

Every column has a job to do. You can filter, sort, or search each one on its own:

The Produced column is especially helpful. It shows a progress bar next to the numbers (e.g., "3,200 / 5,000"). You can instantly see which orders are almost done, just started, or stuck. The bar changes from blue to green as it reaches 100%.

You can combine filters for custom views – for example, show only "In Progress" orders with "Critical" priority due in the next 3 days. Save these filter combos so your team can reuse them. A planner might save "This Week's Schedule." A logistics coordinator might save "Orders Ready for Shipping."

Work Order Detail

Click any work order to open its Detail view. This page shows everything about that production job in clear, separate sections.

Order Header

The header shows the key details: order number, customer, product, quantity, production line, priority, dates, and status. The status badge is color-coded so you can spot it at a glance. Quick-action buttons let you change the status, reassign the line, or adjust priority right from the header.

Production Progress

A big progress bar shows how much is done. It breaks down good units, scrap, and rework. Below that, a timeline chart shows the production speed over time. You can see if production ran smoothly or had stops. The system also calculates when the order will finish and compares it to the due date. So you know right away if it is on track.

Batches Tab

Good traceability means tracking each batch, not just the whole order. The Batches tab lists every batch with its number, production date, quantity, quality status (passed/failed/pending), and the operator who ran it. Click any batch to see the full details – raw materials used (with lot numbers), machine settings, and inspection results.

This batch-level traceability is a must for regulated industries like food, pharma, automotive, and aerospace. If there is a recall or quality issue, you can trace every product back to its materials and production conditions. No manual log searching or spreadsheet work needed.

Material Accounting

This section shows every material and component used by the order. It compares actual usage against the bill of materials (BOM). Any difference is highlighted. This helps your team spot waste, yield losses, or BOM errors. For example, if you used 15% more packaging film than expected, it might point to a machine alignment problem – and now you have the data to prove it.

Issues and Activity Log

The Issues section logs any problems during production – quality holds, machine breakdowns, material shortages, or operator concerns. Each issue has a timestamp, description, severity, status (open/resolved), and who reported it. The Activity Log records every action on the order – creation, status changes, line moves, priority updates, and comments. This is great for post-production reviews and resolving disputes.

Customers

The Customers section stores all your customer records. Each one has the company name, contacts, shipping addresses, payment terms, and special requirements (like custom labels or packaging). When you create a new work order, just pick the customer and the fields fill in automatically.

You also get a history for each customer – past and current orders, volumes over time, on-time delivery rates, and quality scores. This helps with sales planning and making sure your biggest accounts get priority when capacity is tight.

Priority Settings

Admins use Priority Settings to set up priority levels and automatic escalation rules. By default, there are four levels – Critical, High, Normal, and Low – each with its own color. You can customize them or add more to fit your factory's needs.

Automatic escalation is really useful. The system can bump an order's priority as the due date gets closer. For example, a Normal order might become High 48 hours before it is due, then Critical if the due date passes. This way, tight deadlines always get noticed – no one has to watch the calendar manually.

CSV Import

If you get orders from an ERP system, customer portal, or planning tool, you can import them in bulk with a CSV file. The import wizard walks you through three steps: upload, column mapping, and validation.

In the column mapping step, you match your CSV columns to OpenMES fields (order number, customer, product, quantity, due date, priority, line). The system remembers your mappings, so repeat imports are fast. Before the import runs, a validation check scans every row for errors – missing fields, unknown customers, bad dates, duplicate numbers – and shows a clear report.

Valid rows come in as Draft work orders. This gives planners time to review and adjust before adding them to the production schedule. You get the speed of bulk import without the risk of mistakes hitting your active plan.