Manufacturing Power BI app
APPLIES TO: Generally available in Business Central 2024 release wave 2 (version 25.1).
The Power BI Manufacturing app gives insights into your manufacturing activities. Its detailed analytics and visualizations of manufacturing data help:
- Streamline manufacturing processes
- Improve decision-making at all levels of the organization
- Optimize production efficiency
Manufacturing analytics for the leadership team
To fit this category, you might have a role such as:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Manufacturing Officer
Example scenario: analyzing current utilization
COOs need to ensure that your manufacturing plant is operating at optimal levels. By analyzing the Current Utilization and Historical Utilization reports, you can get a better understanding of how efficiently you're using your resources and identify areas for improvement.
You can also use the Work Center Load report to identify bottlenecks in your production process, and make informed decisions to increase efficiency and productivity.
Manufacturing analytics for the management team
To fit this category, you might have a role such as:
- Manufacturing Manager
- Operations Manager
Example scenario: improving resource usage
Manufacturing managers ensure that all production orders are completed on time and within budget. Using the Finished Production Order Breakdown and Average Production Times reports, you can analyze the production time for each order and identify opportunities to optimize the production process.
The Allocated Hours report provides a detailed breakdown of allocated hours and aggregates them by work center. This report can help you catch unexpected spikes in resource usage.
By using the Released Production Orders report, you can also identify discrepancies in production patterns across different orders and make decisions.
Manufacturing analytics for warehouse staff
To fit this category, you might have a role such as:
- Manufacturing Supervisor
- Production Operator
Example scenario: tracking production lines
Manufacturing supervisors ensure that goods and materials flow smoothly through the manufacturing facility. Your role is critical in maintaining the production schedule and meeting customer demand. The Current Utilization report shows the use of work centers in real-time, which helps you spot bottlenecks and optimize production processes.
You notice that one work center is consistently operating at full capacity, while others are underused. You use the Historical Utilization report to analyze the historical use of work centers and find trends and patterns. This report helps you plan for future capacity needs and balance production across work centers.
To improve production efficiency, you track the allocated hours for each work center using the Allocated Hours report. This report helps you understand workloads and adjust staffing levels accordingly.
Use the reports
The following table describes how you can use the reports in the Power BI Manufacturing app.
| To... | Open in Business Central (CTRL+select) | Learn more |
|---|---|---|
| Analyze the current use of work centers and optimize production processes. | Current Utilization | About Current Utilization |
| Analyze historical use of work centers and identify trends and patterns and plan for future capacity needs. | Historical Utilization | About Historical Utilization |
| Gain insights into work center load and capacity and find bottlenecks and balance production across work centers. | Work Center Load | About Work Center Load |
| Track allocated hours for each work center to understand workloads. | Allocated Hours | About Allocated Hours |
| Monitor expected capacity based on production orders to plan for future capacity needs. | Expected Capacity Need | About Expected Capacity Need |
| Analyze finished production orders by item and work centers and gain insights into important metrics of production orders. | Finished Production Order Breakdown | About Finished Production Order Breakdown |
| Track consumption variance for each item and production order and improve production efficiency. | Consumption Variance | About Consumption Variance |
| Analyze capacity variance for each work center and production order and identify capacity constraints. | Capacity Variance | About Capacity Variance |
| Monitor average production times for each item and work center to improve your production planning. | Average Production Times | About Average Production Times |
| Analyze released production orders by item, work center, and time period so you ensure they complete on time. | Released Production Orders | About Released Production Orders |
| Track production scrap by item, work center, and time period to identify production waste and reduce costs. | Production Scrap | About Production Scrap |
Tip
You can easily track the KPIs that the Power BI reports display against your business objectives. To learn more, go to Track your business KPIs with Power BI metrics.
See also
Installing Power BI apps for Business Central
Track your business KPIs with Power BI metrics
Built-in production reports
Manufacturing overview