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Factories and Locations
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A location represents a physical place in a factory. Locations identify where inventory is stored, where work order tasks are performed, and where tools are kept. Recording this information helps operators find material and equipment and preserves the physical context of manufacturing activity.
Locations are scoped to a factory. Users can select a factory context in their user settings, and many aspects of the app will respect the factory context to restrict relevant results. Users can select one or more factories to restrict results too. For example if requesting a kit for inventory to fulfill a part requirement for a task in Factory A, by default the inventory listed to fulfill that kit line will be restricted to Factory A. Inventory from Factory B would not appear in the pick list. Most screens by default will filter locations, tasks, inventory, and people to the factory that the entity resides in.
Location Hierarchy
Location folders organize locations from broad areas to specific storage or work positions. For example, a hierarchy may identify a building, warehouse, aisle, rack, and shelf.
A folder with more specific locations beneath it is organizational and cannot itself be assigned to inventory or active work. This prevents records from being placed at an ambiguous level. Filters may still use a folder to include records from all locations beneath it.
Archiving a Location
Archiving removes a location from normal selection while preserving its historical records. Before Factorial archives a location, all current inventory and active tasks assigned to it must be moved to another location.
Completed or canceled tasks remain associated with the archived location. Their location describes where the historical work occurred and does not change when current factory organization changes.
Changing Location Specificity
Changing the level of detail in a location hierarchy requires new locations and the archival of the locations they replace. Factorial requires each current record to be reassigned explicitly so that no inventory or active work is left at an obsolete location.
Increasing Specificity
To replace Rack A with Rack A1, Rack A2, and Rack A3, create the three specific locations and then archive Rack A. During archival, assign each inventory line and active task from Rack A to one of the new locations. Historical records remain associated with Rack A.
Reducing Specificity
To replace several specific racks with one broader location, create the broader location and archive the locations it replaces. Reassign their current inventory and active tasks to the new location. Historical records remain associated with the original locations.