Workstations

Overview

Workstations are the designated locations within your laboratory where similar work activities and production steps are performed. They serve as organizational units that group related tasks, manage technician assignments, and control workflow routing throughout your manufacturing process.

What are Workstations?

A workstation represents a physical or logical area in your facility where specific types of production work occurs. A more traditional term for this concept is "a workbench". Each workstation can accommodate multiple technicians and is configured to handle particular categories of manufacturing steps. Workstations provide structure to your production workflow by defining where work happens, who performs it, and how tasks are assigned.

Creating a Workstation

Navigation

To create a new workstation in Pilot:

1. Navigate to Admin → Manufacturing → Workstations
2. Click the "Add Workstation" button

Required Configuration Information

When creating a workstation, you must specify the following essential information:

• Name
  • Provide a descriptive name that clearly identifies the workstation's function or location. Examples might include "Design Station," "Milling Center," "Finishing Booth," or "Quality Control."
• Sequence
  • Specify the numerical order in which this workstation should be scheduled within your production workflow. This sequence number determines the chronological order of operations. Workstations that share the same sequence number will be scheduled to run in parallel, allowing for simultaneous processing of different aspects of production.
• Work Assignment Type
  • Select how work will be distributed to technicians at this workstation. There are four distinct assignment types available, each with specific characteristics for task management:
    • Automatic Assignment: Pilot takes full control of work distribution based on intelligent algorithms that consider technician availability and capacity settings. Technicians cannot self-assign tasks to themselves, and managers cannot manually assign specific steps to individual technicians. Pilot automatically optimizes task distribution to maximize efficiency and workload balance.
    • Manual Assignment - Push Model: This assignment type gives managers complete control over task distribution. Managers can assign specific production steps to individual technicians based on their judgment, expertise requirements, or workload considerations. However, technicians cannot self-assign tasks and must wait for management to distribute work to them.
    • Manual Assignment - Pull Model: In this configuration, technicians have the autonomy to self-assign available tasks from the workstation's queue. They can review pending work and choose which steps to complete based on their availability and preferences. Managers cannot override this process by assigning tasks directly to specific technicians, as the system relies on technician initiative to pull work from the available queue.
    • Custom Assignment: This flexible option combines elements of both manual assignment types. Technicians retain the ability to self-assign available tasks from the workstation queue, while managers also have the authority to assign specific steps to particular technicians when needed.
• Department
  • Choose the department that this workstation belongs to within your organizational structure. This association is primarily used for reporting purposes and helps organize workstations into logical groupings for management and analysis.
• Location
  • Enter the physical location of the workstation within your laboratory facility. When you specify a location, Pilot provides an additional benefit: whenever a technician completes a production step at this workstation, Pilot will automatically update the case's location to reflect where the work was performed, providing real-time tracking of case progress through your facility.
• Users (Technicians)
  • Assign the technicians who will be responsible for performing production steps at this workstation. You can assign multiple technicians to a single workstation, and the system will automatically distribute work among them based on their availability and capacity settings. Only the technicians you assign to a workstation will have access to view and work on steps associated with that workstation when using the Technicians' View interface.

Assigning Production Template Steps

After successfully creating and configuring your workstations, you can begin assigning production template steps to them. This process connects your defined manufacturing processes with the physical locations where the work will be performed, creating a complete workflow mapping for your production operations.

Workstation Routing Configuration

You can configure specific routing relationships that define which workstations should follow the current workstation in your production sequence. This routing configuration becomes particularly important in complex manufacturing environments where multiple possible paths exist for cases to flow through your facility.

When Routing Configuration is Needed

Routing configuration is especially useful in situations where there are multiple possible workstations available at the next sequence number, creating parallel processing paths. Without explicit routing configuration, Pilot may not be able to determine the correct path for a case to follow through your production workflow.

Prerequisites and Dependencies

The routing configuration you establish is essential for Pilot to accurately determine the prerequisites for each subsequent step in your production schedule. When cases move through your workflow, Pilot uses these routing relationships to understand which previous steps must be completed before a technician can begin work on the next step in the sequence.

Benefits of Proper Workstation Configuration

• Workflow Organization: Creates clear structure for your manufacturing process by defining where different types of work occur.
• Resource Optimization: Enables efficient allocation of technician time and skills based on workstation assignments and capacity settings.
• Real-time Case Tracking: Automatically updates case locations as work progresses, providing visibility into production status.
• Flexible Work Assignment: Supports various management styles through multiple work assignment types, allowing you to choose the approach that best fits your operational needs.
• Scalability: Easily expand and modify your production workflow as your business grows or processes change.
• Real-time Tracking: Provides automatic location updates as cases progress through your facility, improving visibility into production status.
• Flexible Assignment Models: Supports different management styles and operational needs through multiple work assignment types.
• Scalable Structure: Allows for easy expansion and modification of your production workflow as your business grows or processes change.

Best Practices for Workstation Management

• Choose descriptive names that clearly indicate the workstation's purpose
• Assign sequence numbers that reflect your actual production workflow order
• Select work assignment types that match your management style and operational requirements
• Regularly review technician assignments to ensure optimal resource utilization
• Configure routing relationships for complex workflows with multiple possible paths
• Update location information to maintain accurate case tracking throughout your facility
• Periodically assess workstation efficiency and adjust configurations as needed

Integration with Production Templates

Workstations work in conjunction with production templates to create a complete manufacturing workflow system. When production template steps are assigned to workstations, they establish the connection between what work needs to be done (the template steps) and where that work will be performed (the workstations), creating a seamless production scheduling and tracking system.