📘 Related article: This guide builds on Manufacturing Orders: Key Features. Start there for an overview of the manufacturing order screen.
How labor costs work
Labor is often a big part of a job's total cost. When you log labor on a manufacturing order (MO), you record who worked on it, which routing step they worked on, and for how long. Sutton multiplies those hours by the person's wage and adds the result to the Labor total in the MO's cost summary.
That means two things need to be in place: a wage on each person's user profile, and labor logged on the MO.
Before you begin: set your team's wages
Sutton calculates labor costs from the wage on each person's user profile. If someone doesn't have a wage set, the labor they log won't add any cost to the MO. Set up wages first so your cost summary reflects what each job really costs.
In the sidebar, under People, click Users.
Click the user whose wage you want to set.
In the Details section of their profile, click Set wage next to Wage.
In the Update wage details modal, enter the Amount.
Use the Per dropdown to choose whether the amount is per Hour, per Year, or Custom. If you choose Custom, enter the number of hours the amount covers in the field below the dropdown. This field is required for a custom wage.
Click Update wage.
Repeat these steps for everyone who will log labor on manufacturing orders.
Logging labor on a manufacturing order
Open the MO and click the Costing tab.
Scroll down to the Labor cost table and click + Add labor. A new row appears at the bottom of the table.
Click Select operation and choose the routing step the work was done on.
Click Select profile and choose the person who did the work.
Select the date the work was done.
Enter the start and end times. Sutton calculates the hours for you.
Scroll to the right end of the row and click Save.
Sutton confirms the labor was logged with a success message.
📘 Sutton Tip: The operations in the dropdown come from the routing steps on the item being made. If a step is missing, check the item's routing.
Viewing logged labor
Once you save, the Cost summary at the top of the Costing tab updates. The new labor is added to the Labor total, and the Total cost updates accordingly.
In the Labor cost table, entries are grouped by routing step, with the step's work order number and status shown above each group. Each entry shows:
Column | What it shows |
User | The person who did the work. |
Date | The day the work was done. |
Times | The start and end times. |
Hours | The time worked, calculated from the start and end times. |
Rate | The wage from the person's user profile. |
The total hours logged on the MO appear at the bottom of the table.
Your labor costs are now tracked
With wages set and labor logged by routing step, each manufacturing order shows what the job really cost, not just its materials. Use the Labor cost table to see where time goes at each step, and the Cost summary to track the total as the job runs.
If you have additional questions, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or contact us at [email protected].