Manufacturing vs. assembly management
Other than manufacturing, another method is available for turning components into a new product in Business Central: assembly management. Assembly management supports companies that supply products to their customers by combining components in simple processes without the need of manufacturing functionality.
Similarities
Manufacturing and assembly management have several similar functions:
The ability for you to create multilevel BOMs with components and subassemblies.
You can create orders that specify the items to produce or assemble.
Both integrate with existing features, such as sales, planning, reservations, and warehousing.
Both support make-to-order and make-to-stock policies.
One advantage of these similarities is that they can help make it easier for you to switch between both functions. For example, if you know how to set up production BOMs, then you'll find that getting familiar with assembly BOMs isn't difficult.
Differences
Manufacturing and assembly management have a few differences. To determine if a company would benefit most from manufacturing or assembly management, make sure that you have a good understanding of the differences between them.
Assembly management is often described as a light version of manufacturing. However, that definition falls short of the application that offers a full-fledged solution to companies that need the ability to assemble products efficiently.
The most important difference between both functions is that assembly management doesn't have routings and capacity features, such as work centers and machine centers. In other words, with assembly management, you can only specify what you need to assemble and not how you should assemble. Essentially, for companies with more complex production processes, assembly management isn't the best option; they're better off with manufacturing, where they can create routings of their production processes.
Another difference is that assembly management doesn't include more advanced manufacturing functions, such as subcontracting and scrap management.
If you compare the functions that they have in common, assembly management offers a simpler version compared to manufacturing.
This notion is particularly evident with the following features:
BOMs:
A production BOM can have several versions. With a Status field, you can manage whether a BOM can be used in production orders or not. On the production BOM lines, you can use calculation formulas.
An assembly BOM only exists in one version. It has no Status field, which means that you can use an assembly BOM anytime.
Orders:
Several types of production orders are available, such as simulated, planned, firm planned, released, and finished. The planning function in Business Central can use these types of production orders to create the best possible supply plan. For example, the planning function can change planned production orders when demand changes, and only released production orders can go into production.
An assembly order doesn't exist in several types. When an assembly order is created, it's available for the assembly department. This approach could result in a less precise loading to the shop floor.
While you'll experience functional differences, you'll also have organizational differences between manufacturing and assembly management. Manufacturing personnel might not perform assembly management tasks. In many companies, those tasks are the responsibility of warehouse personnel.
You can use manufacturing and assembly management together in the same company. For subassemblies that don't require a complex production process, you could use assembly management. As a result, some component items that you specify on a production BOM could be assembly items, whereas some of the component items that are specified on an assembly BOM could be manufactured items.
For more information, see Assemble items in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.