Materials and Execution
Three sections on the Production Batch carry what the floor needs to actually run the batch: Materials, Work Instructions, and Logistics. Plus a fourth, Labels, that handles printable identifiers.
Materials
The Materials section (Production Batch Material child table) lists every raw material the Batch will consume — fabric, trims, labels, threads — with the planned quantity per item. The numbers are inherited from the Production Order's BOM × the Batch's Size Plan, so you usually don't type them in.
What's worth understanding:
- Issuance happens against the Batch. When the warehouse issues materials, a Stock Entry is posted with the Batch as reference. The materials leave the Raw Material warehouse and land in the WIP warehouse.
- Actual consumption is recorded through the Operation Ledger. Each Ledger entry with consumption records what was actually used at that operation. Over time, the Materials section shows planned vs actual.
- Variances are visible. If actual consumption deviates from the BOM, the Material Reconciliation dashboard surfaces it. The Materials section is where the variance shows on this particular Batch.
Work Instructions
The Work Instructions section (collapsible) is a free-form area for floor-facing notes specific to this Batch. Special construction notes, brand-specific QC asks, anything the supervisor needs to see when they open the Batch on the Production PWA.
Most Batches won't have anything here. When they do, it's usually because the Tech Pack has a construction note that this batch needs to follow more strictly than usual, or because a quality issue from a previous batch is being explicitly avoided this time.
Logistics — the Operation Ledger view
The Logistics section embeds the Operation Ledger Entries posted against this Batch, in chronological order. Every Start, Transfer, Handoff, Reprocess, End, and Scrap is here, with the operation, unit, quantity, and user who posted it.
This is the audit trail. When someone asks "what happened to this Batch on Tuesday," the Logistics section answers it. You don't usually post entries from here — entries are created from the PWA, from the Operation Ledger form, or from supervisor workflows — but the chronological view is invaluable for understanding what a Batch actually did.
Labels
The Labels section produces the printable identifiers for the Batch — barcodes for cut bundles, line cards for the supervisor, batch ID stickers for the WIP shelf. Each label format is configurable; the standard set covers what most factories need.
Image: The Logistics section of a completed Production Batch, showing the full Operation Ledger timeline with Start, Transfer, Handoff, and End entries across multiple operations.
What to do next
Once you understand what the Batch does, look at how it costs — Cost rollup explains where every number on the Cost tab comes from.