Progress Point production allows you to define intermediate points along a production line at which progress against a production schedule can be reported. This is useful if you wish to update component inventory levels more frequently than is permitted by reporting only end items. To utilize progress points, production routings must be defined for the parts to be built on the production line. Progress points are defined to coincide with a range of operation steps on this routing. All products built on the line must utilize similar routings (typically sharing a routing template) such that the operation steps relate to the desired progress point. Components to be consumed at the progress point must be associated with the routing operation on the product structure of the end item.
Once defined, progress points form a fixed routing for the line. Production is reported at each progress point and then at final completion. Backflush is run for each report, consuming any components and machine or labor operations associated with that progress point. The sequence of reporting steps is not strictly tracked by the system, though sufficient quantities of the produced item must be reported through earlier report points before they can be received at later points. Final production reported into inventory from the line reduces the cost balances for the line assuming a FIFO sequence of reports along the line.