Production plan

The production plan tells the bakery what to make tomorrow. Pick a production date and the department that bakes, and it adds up every finished item the customers need that day — from sales orders, from standing orders, and from the shelf stock you want to keep for walk-in sales — takes off what is already in stock, works out how many recipe batches cover the rest, costs them, and lists the raw materials to buy by the evening.

When you are happy, Approve turns the suggestions into Draft production runs. Nothing is consumed and nothing is posted until someone releases and completes those runs in the ordinary way.

Before you start

• Each item you make needs a recipe (Bakery → Recipes) with that item as an output. The recipe's output quantity is treated as one batch.
• Customer orders for the day should be entered as sales orders with a Required date, or as standing orders for regular customers. Online-store and pay-link orders count automatically.
• Items with Manage expiration ticked are netted against unexpired lots only, so keep lot expiry dates up to date.
• You need the Consume production right (the same right that starts a production run).

Steps

1. Open Bakery & Catering → Production plan.
2. Choose the production date (tomorrow is pre-selected) and the department.
3. If you want extra stock on the shelf for walk-in customers, add shelf stock lines: pick the item and the quantity.
4. Click Build plan. Each item shows:
   • Sales orders, Standing orders and Shelf stock — where the demand came from. Click a row to see the individual orders and customers.
   • On hand — usable stock already in the department.
   • Net — what still has to be made.
   • Recipe, Batches and Make — whole batches, always rounded up, and the quantity those batches will produce.
   • Cost — the costed run, exactly as the run form would cost it.
5. If an item can be made by more than one recipe, pick the one to use in the Recipe column and click Build plan again.
6. Check the raw materials panel: Required, On hand and To buy. Print the pick list for the storekeeper.
7. Click Approve. A Draft production run is created for every item with batches. The run numbers appear on the plan; open them under Bakery → Bakes to release and complete them as usual.
8. Print the production sheet for the floor.

Re-planning

You can rebuild and approve the same date and department as often as you like. The plan updates its own Draft runs instead of creating new ones, removes its Drafts that are no longer needed, and never touches a run that has already been released, completed or cancelled — those are reported under Skipped so you can decide what to do.

Tips

• Give each sales order a Required date. Without one, the plan assumes the goods are due on the order date.
• A standing order only counts on the weekdays it has a quantity for, and only while it is active and within its dates.
• Negative stock is treated as none, so a bad stock figure can only make you bake more, never less.
• Covered by stock on hand means nothing needs baking — the demand is already met.
• Open Bakery & Catering → Plan history to see what was planned on any past date, who approved it, and the runs it created.

Common problems

• "No recipe — make manually" → the item has no production recipe with it as an output. Create one, or make the item without a recipe.
• "Several recipes make this item — choose one" → pick the recipe in the Recipe column, then rebuild.
• "The recipe yields nothing of this item" → the recipe's output quantity for this item is 0. Fix the recipe.
• A run is skipped on approval → it has already been released or completed. Edit or cancel that bake under Bakery → Bakes if the plan has changed.
• The pick list shows a shortfall although the stock is there → the stock is in a different department. The plan only counts the producing department.
• The menu is missing → the production plan is part of the Bakery & Catering edition and needs the Consume production right. Ask your administrator.