📘 Related article: This guide is a companion to Manufacturing & Work Orders: Key Features. Start there for a full tour of how to create and manage a manufacturing order.
Video walkthrough: Working Through Work Orders in Sutton: From First Step to Finished Goods
This video shows how to assign a work order, log your output, and complete each step through to finished goods.
Each manufacturing order is split into work orders, one for each step in your item’s routing. A work order is where your team logs time, records what they produced, and marks the step done. Working through them in order gives you a clear view of where each job stands, and the last one adds your finished goods to inventory.
Find your work orders
Sutton creates work orders automatically from your item’s routing steps. To find them, open the manufacturing order and scroll down to the Work orders table. The WOs for this MO tab lists this order’s work orders, and the All WOs for linked MOs tab shows work orders from any linked manufacturing orders.
Column | What it shows |
WO # | The work order number. Click it to open the work order. |
Routing step | The step in your item’s routing this work order covers. |
Target qty | The target quantity set on the manufacturing order. |
Output qty | The quantity this work order has produced so far. |
Gap | The difference between the target qty and the output qty. |
Assigned to | The operator who will run the work order. You can assign an operator from here. |
Action | A Buy button for external work orders. Work orders done in-house show None. |
Scroll right to see more columns, including Status, Job type, Job priority, Work center, Equipment, Tool, Connected SO, Connected customer PO #, Yield %, and External cost. The WO # column stays pinned on the left, and the Action column stays pinned on the right.
📘 Sutton Tip: Work orders with an External tag are steps done by a vendor. To learn more, see External Manufacturing Orders: Outsourcing Production Steps.
Get to know the work order
Click the WO # to open a work order. The Production tab opens by default and lists every batch logged on this step. The Materials, Quality, and Costing tabs work the same way as on the manufacturing order.
The details panel on the right is organized into these sections:
Section | What it shows |
Item and progress | The routing step, the item you’re making, and a progress bar showing the share of the target produced so far. Click … next to the item name to print item labels. |
WO details | Assigned to, Work center, and Yield % that shows how much of the target quantity has been produced so far. |
WO custom fields | The custom fields set up for your organization. Click + New to add one. |
WO time breakdown | Your time and Total time, the time logged by you and by everyone on this work order. |
MO details | The manufacturing order this work order belongs to, its Location, and its Target qty. |
The Save and Complete work order buttons stay at the top right, whether the panel is open or closed.
Start the job timer
Once you start working on the WO, you can track the time spent on it:
At the bottom of the details panel, click Start job.
When you finish working, click Stop job.
When the timer starts, the work order status changes to In progress, and your time is logged in the WO time breakdown.
ℹ️ Note: You can leave the work order while the timer runs. A My active WO timers widget follows you to other screens. Click the work order number in the widget to jump back, or drag it anywhere on the screen.
Log your output in batches
Log what you produce as you go, rather than all at once at the end. This keeps the work order’s progress accurate for anyone checking on the job.
To log a batch:
In the Quantity box at the bottom of the details panel, enter the amount you produced.
Click Make batch.
The batch appears in the Completed batches table, and the progress bar and Yield % update to match.
ℹ️ Note: If the work order shows a Backflush enabled tag, Sutton picks the required materials for you when output inventory is created. Materials are picked first-in, first-out (FIFO), starting with the oldest available label. Anything already picked for the job counts toward what’s needed, so it picks only the remaining quantity.
Review, edit, or delete batches
The Completed batches table lists every batch with its Quantity, Created by, and Created at.
To edit a batch:
Click the pencil icon on the batch.
In the Edit work order batch modal, enter the new Quantity.
Click Save.
To delete a batch:
Click the trash icon on the batch.
In the Delete batch modal, click Delete.
⚠️ Heads up: Deleting a batch is permanent. If you only need to fix the amount, edit the batch instead.
Complete the work order
To complete a work order once all output is logged:
Click Stop job to stop the timer.
Click Complete work order at the top right.
A success message appears, and the work order status changes to Completed. Back on the manufacturing order, the Output qty and Gap for that work order update in the Work orders table.
The manufacturing order itself shows In progress as soon as any of its work orders is in progress or completed.
ℹ️ Note: If the incorrect material picking alert is turned on, a warning appears when materials were under-picked or over-picked. Click Continue to complete the work order anyway, or Cancel to correct the picks first.
To keep working on a completed work order, click its Completed status and select In progress. Repeat these steps for each work order until you reach the last one.
Work through the last work order
The last work order is where finished goods go into inventory, so it works a little differently. With Standard or Nested packing, you set up a container before logging output. With No packing, each batch gets its own label and no container is needed. To learn more, see Manufacturing Order Job Types and Packing Types
Set up a container
To set up the first container on the Production tab:
Select a Container type: Box, Item, or Pallet.
Check the Location, which comes from the manufacturing order.
Select the Bin where the finished goods will be stored. The list shows the bins available at that location.
Click Create container.
The container appears under Containers, showing its quantity, label number, and status. Each container is its own label, so everything you add to it is tracked on that label. To add another container, click Create container above the list.
📘 Sutton Tip: Don’t see the container type or bin you need? Click Edit options in the Container type list to add package types and default tare weights, or click Add a bin location in the Bin list.
Add output to the container
On the last work order, Make batch is replaced by Add to container. To add finished goods:
In the Quantity box, enter the amount you produced.
Click Add to container.
The system logs the amount under the container with its timestamp, who added it, and the quantity. To correct an amount:
Click Remove quantity on the container.
Enter the Qty to remove.
Click Log qty removal.
The system logs the removal as a negative entry in the container’s history.
Edit and print the label
To review or update the container’s label:
Click Print label on the container.
Review the label details, such as Bin, Package type, weights, Lot number, and Expiration date, and edit any field you need.
Click Update and print label to save your changes and print, or Print label to print it as is.
The label’s Details tab shows the item and its Status, Created by, Item type, Label category, and Tags, followed by inventory fields: Qty in stock, Location, Bin, Package type, Gross weight, Tare weight, Net weight, Lot number, Expiration date, Cost per UoM, Value in stock, and Serial number. A History tab sits next to it.
⚠️ Heads up: Only Update and print label saves your edits. If you click Print label after making changes, the label prints without them.
Complete the last work order
When you've added all finished goods, click Complete work order. The system then marks the manufacturing order as Completed.
ℹ️ Note: The manufacturing order’s progress bar only fills in as output is added on the last work order. Progress on earlier work orders shows in the Work orders table.
Your production run is complete
You can now take a manufacturing order from its first work order to finished goods. Logging time and output as you go gives your team an accurate view of every job, from the shop floor to inventory.
If you have additional questions, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or contact us at [email protected].