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Manufacturing Power BI app

APPLIES TO: Generally available in Business Central 2024 release wave 2 (version 25.1).

The Power BI Manufacturing app gives insights into your manufacturing activities. Its detailed analytics and visualizations of manufacturing data help:

  • Streamline manufacturing processes
  • Improve decision-making at all levels of the organization
  • Optimize production efficiency

Manufacturing analytics for the leadership team

To fit this category, you might have a role such as:

  • Chief Operating Officer
  • Chief Manufacturing Officer

Example scenario: analysing current utilization

COOs need to ensure that your manufacturing plant is operating at optimal levels. By analysing the Current Utilization and Historical Utilization reports, you can get a better understanding of how efficiently you're using your resources and identify areas for improvement.

You can also use the Work Centre Load report to identify bottlenecks in your production process, and make informed decisions to increase efficiency and productivity.

Manufacturing analytics for the management team

To fit this category, you might have a role such as:

  • Manufacturing Manager
  • Operations Manager

Example scenario: improving resource usage

Manufacturing managers ensure that all production orders are completed on time and within budget. Using the Finished Production Order Breakdown and Average Production Times reports, you can analyse the production time for each order and identify opportunities to optimize the production process.

The Allocated Hours report provides a detailed breakdown of allocated hours and aggregates them by work centre. This report can help you catch unexpected spikes in resource usage.

By using the Released Production Orders report, you can also identify discrepancies in production patterns across different orders and make decisions.

Manufacturing analytics for warehouse staff

To fit this category, you might have a role such as:

  • Manufacturing Supervisor
  • Production Operator

Example scenario: tracking production lines

Manufacturing supervisors ensure that goods and materials flow smoothly through the manufacturing facility. Your role is critical in maintaining the production schedule and meeting customer demand. The Current Utilization report shows the use of work centres in real-time, which helps you spot bottlenecks and optimize production processes.

You notice that one work centre is consistently operating at full capacity, while others are underused. You use the Historical Utilization report to analyse the historical use of work centres and find trends and patterns. This report helps you plan for future capacity needs and balance production across work centres.

To improve production efficiency, you track the allocated hours for each work centre using the Allocated Hours report. This report helps you understand workloads and adjust staffing levels accordingly.

Use the reports

The following table describes how you can use the reports in the Power BI Manufacturing app.

To... Open in Business Central (CTRL+select) Learn more
Analyse the current use of work centres and optimize production processes. Current Utilization About Current Utilization
Analyse historical use of work centres and identify trends and patterns and plan for future capacity needs. Historical Utilization About Historical Utilization
Gain insights into work centre load and capacity and find bottlenecks and balance production across work centres. Work Centre Load About Work Centre Load
Gain insights into machine centre load and capacity and find bottlenecks and balance production across work centres. Machine Centre Load About Machine Centre Load
Track allocated hours for each work centre to understand workloads. Allocated Hours About Allocated Hours
Monitor expected capacity based on production orders to plan for future capacity needs. Expected Capacity Need About Expected Capacity Need
Analyse finished production orders by item and work centres and gain insights into important metrics of production orders. Finished Production Order Breakdown About Finished Production Order Breakdown
Track consumption variance for each item and production order and improve production efficiency. Consumption Variance About Consumption Variance
Analyse capacity variance for each work centre and production order and identify capacity constraints. Capacity Variance About Capacity Variance
Monitor average production times for each item and work centre to improve your production planning. Average Production Times About Average Production Times
Analyse released production orders by item, work centre and time period so you ensure they complete on time. Released Production Orders About Released Production Orders
Track production scrap by production order, source item, work centre, and machine centre to identify production waste and reduce costs. Production Scrap About Production Scrap
Analyse your organization's production order activities. Track production order completion rates, compare planned versus finished output, and monitor actual versus expected and standard costs. Production Order Overview About Production Order Overview
Evaluate efficiency, optimize resource utilization, and improve production outcomes across all work centres. Use KPI summaries and detailed statistics to make data-driven decisions that enhance operational performance. Work Centre Statistics About Work Centre Statistics
Evaluate efficiency, optimize resource utilization, and improve production outcomes across all machine centres. Use KPI summaries and detailed statistics to make data-driven decisions that enhance operational performance. Machine Centre Statistics About Machine Centre Statistics
Analyse current production orders, track key metrics like costs and order counts, and monitor planned versus finished outputs. Prod Order - List About Prod Order - List
Track production tasks and sequence operations across machine and work centres, while keeping an eye on planned durations for efficient monitoring Prod Order Routing Gantt About Prod Order Routing Gantt
Analyse work-in-progress inventory through a timeline of ending balance values and a detailed table of production order-related valuations. Production Order WIP About Production Order WIP

Tip

You can easily track the KPIs that the Power BI reports display against your business objectives. To learn more, go to Track your business KPIs with Power BI metrics.

Installing Power BI apps for Business Central
Track your business KPIs with Power BI metrics
Built-in production reports
Manufacturing overview

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