Creating a Work Cell

Now that we have the Lean Manufacturing codes defined, we can start defining our work cells. These are just the normal Resource Groups that are used in the traditional manufacturing models, except we configure a few additional pieces of information required for the Lean Manufacturing process.

NOTE: This is part of the Configuring Lean Manufacturing blueprint series where we show how to configure production processes using the Lean Manufacturing functionality that is built into Dynamics AX 2012.. If you want to see all of the other posts in this series, click here.

How to do it…

To define a new Resource Group and mark it as a Work Cell, follow these steps:

1. From the Organization Administration area page, select the Resource groups menu item from the Resources folder of the Common group.
2. When the Resource groups maintenance form opens, click on eth Resource Group button in the New group of the Resource group ribbon bar to create a new record.
   
3. Enter a code for your Resource Group into the Resource group field, and a description of the resource group into the Description field.
4. Also select the main site for the Resource Group from the Site drop down box.
   
5. Check the Work cell box within the General tab to turn the allow it to be used by Lean Manufacturing as a work cell.
6. Within the Locations group of the General tab, add the Input and Output warehouse and location for the work cell.
   
7. Expand the Calendars tab on the form, and click on the Add button.
8. Then select a calendar for the work cell to operate on.
   
   One thing to check is that on the Calendar that you are using, make sure that there is a value in the Standard work day hours field. If you don’t have a value here, then you will grind to a halt later on in the process.
   
9. Finally, open up the Work cell capacity tab within the Resource Group and click the Add button to add a new record.
10. Select the Production flow model that was set up earlier on in the process.
    
11. Select the Capacity period that you want to use for the work cell. In this case, we will use the Standard work day.
12. Then define the Average throughput and unit for the work cell.
13. Once you have set an Effictive date for the Production flow model, click the Close button to exit out of the form.