Tool Management

Purpose

This page describes tool management in BE-terna Manufacturing. It explains how tools and complete tools are structured in master data, assigned to operations, logged automatically during output reporting, maintained through repair orders, and posted directly through tool journals where required.

Business Value

• Manages tools and complete tools with their own history and optional tool BOM structures.
• Transfers tool assignments from the routing into the production order.
• Logs tool usage automatically through tool ledger entries when output is reported.
• Supports repair orders with fault coding, new service life values, and status updates.
• Integrates tool posting and tool usage with Business Central dimension logic.

Area: Tool Management

Content Focus

Provide tools, complete tools, and the right role center

Tool management comes with a dedicated role center. From there, users can open master data and setup data for tools, complete tools, tool groups, fault codes, and supporting tables. Tools represent self-contained units, while Complete Tools combine several components into one productive configuration through a tool BOM and its versions.

This separation is important when individual tools must be maintained separately, while a complete configuration is still used as one unit in the routing operation.

Before productive use, maintain at least these master data elements:

• tools
• complete tools and their versions
• tool groups
• fault codes, fault causes, and solutions for repair orders
• number series for repair orders and finished repair orders

In day-to-day operations, tool management usually follows this sequence:

1. Prepare the master data and tool configuration.
2. Assign tools or complete tools to the routing operation.
3. Let tool usage be logged automatically during output reporting.
4. Carry out repairs or service-life corrections where needed.
5. Handle exceptions or manual corrections through the tool journal.

Assign tools to operations and transfer them into production orders

Tools or complete tools are maintained directly on the routing operation. When a production order is calculated, the system compares this assignment with the tool-to-item assignment and transfers matching tools into the production order.

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You can use real tools as well as descriptive lines without a tool reference. The assignment can even be changed while the routing is certified, which keeps maintenance practical in live operations. For complete tools, productive usage always refers to the currently configured tool BOM version.

Assign tools on the routing operation as follows:

1. Open the Routing.
2. Set the focus on the required Operation.
3. Choose Operation > Tools.
4. Maintain Tool Type, No., Description, and for real tools the automatically displayed Tool Family.

The distinction between Tool, Complete Tool, and a descriptive line without tool reference is important here.

Log tool usage automatically during output reporting

If an operation in a released production order contains tools or complete tools, the output reporting process creates internal Tool Journal Lines and posts them into tool ledger entries. The system transfers the order reference, routing reference, and operation context and calculates usage quantities based on cavities.

For complete tools, the system also checks which installed components are flagged to be posted during output reporting. Those components receive their own Usage tool ledger entries, which makes it possible to trace exactly which tools or subcomponents were used in a specific production step.

For tools, the usage quantity is calculated from the reported quantity divided by the number of cavities. For complete tools, the active cavities of the installed tools are considered.

Control repairs and service life

Repair orders help document faults, fault causes, and solutions in a structured way while restoring tool availability. When a repair order is posted, the system creates tool ledger entries, updates the tool card, and moves the order into the list of finished tool repairs.

Important repair fields include Order Type, Repair Status, New Service Life, New Number of Cavities, Posting Date, and New Tool Status, optionally supported by predefined fault codes. If the same number should be kept in open and finished repair records, use identical number series.

For the business interpretation of these fields, the following effects matter most:

1. Order Type already determines the later entry type: Repair Order creates a tool ledger entry of type Repair, while Service creates an entry of type Resetting.
2. Repair Status starts as New and can be changed to In Process when the actual work begins. The field improves planning visibility, but it does not technically block or release posting.
3. New Service Life is defaulted from the current service life. When the order is posted, exactly that value is written into the tool history as of the Posting Date.
4. New Number of Cavities is also defaulted and updates the tool card during posting. This matters when cavities are permanently closed or reactivated after the repair.
5. New Tool Status is usually suggested as Production when the tool is entered and is transferred into the tool card status during posting.
6. Posting Date is not just formal data. It directly affects the service life result because service life changes are always calculated as of that date and can therefore differ from the currently visible service life on the tool card.

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Recommended sequence:

1. Open Tool Repairs and create a new repair order.
2. Select the affected Tool.
3. Maintain Order Type, Starting Date, Due Date, Repair Status, New Service Life, New Number of Cavities, Posting Date, and New Tool Status.
4. Enter fault codes, fault causes, and planned solutions where needed.
5. When the repair actually starts, set Repair Status to In Process and, where useful, document the responsible person through Started By.
6. Document the performed work in the lines.
7. Before posting, review Posting Date, New Service Life, New Number of Cavities, and New Tool Status once more.
8. Post the repair order through Process > Post.

When posted, a tool ledger entry is created, the tool card is updated, and the order is moved to the finished repairs.

At that point, the repair lifecycle is completed intentionally: the finished repair remains available as history, but it can no longer be changed. The posted tool ledger entries preserve when each service life, status, or cavity change became effective.

Use tool journals and dimensions deliberately

The Tool Journal supports direct postings such as usage, service life estimates, commissioning, resetting, or repair. Before posting, lines can still be changed freely. After posting, the resulting tool ledger entries are protected from further editing.

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Tool management is also integrated with dimensions. Default dimensions from tools and complete tools can flow into tool ledger entries, repair orders, and, when enabled in Manufacturing Setup, even into output reporting lines and their resulting postings. Pay attention to the maximum number of transferred dimensions per output reporting line if many tools are involved.

Important notes for the Tool Journal:

• The quantity is interpreted differently depending on Entry Type. For Usage, it is posted with reversed sign as the consumption quantity. For Service Life Estimate, Commissioning, Resetting, and Repair, the quantity sets the service life as of the Posting Date and the entered value is additionally stored as the original service life on the entry.
• If a Complete Tool is posted with Usage through the tool journal, the journal does not know the current productive configuration from the production order. Therefore, only the complete tool itself is posted manually, not its installed components.
• Because the reference service life is always calculated as of the Posting Date, a backdated repair or resetting entry can differ from the currently visible service life on the tool card.
• Separate recurring journals are available for recurring postings.
• During output reporting, the system supports a maximum of 10 dimension values per line from tools and complete tools. Additional values are not transferred.

Result

• You can integrate tools and complete tools into routing operations and production orders in a controlled way.
• You know how usage, repairs, and direct tool postings are historized.
• You can carry service life, status, and dimension information through the production process in a traceable way.

This keeps tool management consistent and traceable in day-to-day operations, from master data maintenance through repair and journal posting.