Best Software for 2025 is now live!

How do operators allocate materials to products in Katana?

Hello, I have a question about inventory movement within Katana. It was our impression that operators would be able to pull materials from inventory to construct products and allocate them in the app, but that's proving to be difficult. We had planned for there to be a tablet (signed in as an operator) in each inventory room. The Tasks would be a list of products. When operators go into the inventory room they could click on the product (task) they were constructing, and then add the materials/ingredients they were pulling. I realize that the ideal method would be for we (the office folk) to make this material list before hand, except we don't always know what the operators use because each product is customized. And there are so many materials used in each product that it would be impossible for us to get it right. So our thinking that there must be a way for operators to specify what they use. This is the problem. Once operators add a material to the products (tasks) ingredient list, they can't edit the quantity that they're pulling, or delete it to try again. Is there a way within Katana that operators (people on the floor actually building our products) to be able to specify what they're using, how much, and for which product, in the app? How do other businesses that create custom products allocate which materials go into which product without needing someone trained with Katana to walk around to each products and count what was used? And if Katana can't do something like this at the moment, are there any integrations we can use with Katana? We still like all of the other features. Sorry for the long question. I hope it makes sense and if not I can answer any questions. Thank you! -Ryan
1 comment
Looks like you’re not logged in.
Users need to be logged in to answer questions
Log In
Katana Cloud Inventory
Official Response
Katana Cloud Inventory
Kurt S.
KS
ASO Specialist
0
Hi Ryan, 

 Thanks for the question - I understand where you are coming from and it sounds like you are referring to floor-level pick lists functionality which would enable operators to take items from inventory when they are going from the storage to the shop floor. At the moment, this functionality which would be considered a floor level inventory control feature and hasn't fully been built but would be something likely on our roadmap. Current floor functionality allows operators to choose what they consume in the manufacturing process based on the materials required for production in the MO. Custom make to order manufacturers normally need to edit the specifics of the manufacturing order prior to release to production floor, and this would require a Katana back office user to facilitate that workflow, so that the material list is up to date when the Operator pulls materials from inventory. 

In the future please feel free to ask these types of questions inside of the Katana app so our customer consultancy teams can guide you best.
They will be more than happy to document your use-case and also share it with our internal teams for feedback as well. Cheers!
Looks like you’re not logged in.
Users need to be logged in to write comments
Log In
Reply