Table of Contents

Manage production drawings for timber manufacturing

In timber manufacturing, machine operators need precise visual specifications to produce the right product — whether it is a planed board, a profiled beam, or a custom-cut component. Production drawings capture those specifications in a central library: dimensions, quality demands, required tools, and an image of the finished product. By linking drawings to standard tasks and processing types, you ensure that every production step carries the correct instructions.

Before you start

Before you create production drawings, configure the number series and storage options.

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Manufacturing Setup Wood, and then choose the related link.

  2. On the Production Drawings FastTab, fill in the following fields:

    Field Description
    Production Drawing Nos. Select the number series used to assign codes to new production drawings.
    Prod. Drawing Storage Choose Database to store drawing images inside Business Central, or File Account to store them on an external file account.
    Prod. Drawing Folder Path If you selected File Account, use the assist-edit to pick the target folder on the configured file account.
Tip

If you switch from Database to File Account after drawings already contain images, the Move Drawings To File Account action appears. Use it to migrate existing images to the external storage in one step.

Set up drawing types

Drawing types let you categorize your production drawings (for example, Profile, Cross Section, Assembly).

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Drawing Types, and then choose the related link.
  2. For each type, enter a Code and a Description.

Create a production drawing

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Production Drawings, and then choose the related link.

  2. Choose New to create a production drawing.

  3. On the General FastTab, fill in the fields:

    Field Description
    Code Assigned automatically from the number series, or enter a code manually.
    Description / Description 2 A short description of what the drawing represents.
    Processing Type The processing type this drawing belongs to. When the drawing is later selected on a routing, this value is filled in automatically.
    Standard Task Code The standard task this drawing is connected to. Filtered by Processing Type if one is set.
    Drawing Type An optional category from the Drawing Types list.
    Quality Demands Free-text quality requirements for the operator.

  4. On the Measurements FastTab, enter the net dimensions of the product:

    • Length (Net), Width (Net), Thickness (Net), and Diameter (Net).

  5. On the Tools FastTab, add the tools (items) that operators need to produce this drawing. For each line, enter the tool No. or select an Item No. from the item list. The description and current inventory are shown automatically.

Tip

Use the Where-Used action on a tool line to find all other production drawings that use the same tool.

  1. On the Related Information FastTab, optionally set the Customer No. if this drawing is specific to one customer. The customer connection is also tracked automatically when production orders that reference this drawing are finished.

Add a picture to a drawing

  1. Open a production drawing card.
  2. In the FactBox pane on the right, locate the Picture FactBox.
  3. Choose Import and select an image file.

You can also Export the current picture to a file or Delete it.

Note

The Picture FactBox is also available on the Production Worksheet, Production Planning, Work Center Planning, Work Center Group Planning, and Planning Overview pages, so operators always see the drawing image in context.

Review drawing usage

The production drawing card shows several counters that help you understand where a drawing is in use:

  • No. of Tools — number of tools assigned to the drawing.
  • No. of Routing Lines — number of routing lines that reference this drawing. Drill down to see the routing lines.
  • No. of Prod. Order Routing Group — number of active production order routing groups using this drawing. Drill down to see the production orders.
  • Used by No. of Customers — number of customers for whom this drawing has been used. Choose Used by Customers to see the full list including last-used dates and usage counts.

You can also access drawings from the Customer Card using the Production Drawings (customer-specific) and Used Production Drawings (all drawings ever used for the customer) actions.

See also