Preparing mixes

Why a mix is two things

A bath bomb recipe says "0.5 kg of base mix per unit". That base mix is not bought, it is prepared in the factory from its own ingredients. So it lives twice:

• As a raw material, so recipes can consume it and stock is deducted when the finished product is received.
• As an artefact, with its own recipe and its own job orders, so the preparer has work to do and a batch to receive into stock.

The link between the two is one field on the raw material: Made in-house as. Set it to the mix's artefact. That is the whole setup.

Setting up a mix

1. Create the artefact for the mix under Factory → Crafts → Artefacts, with its recipe steps and its own raw materials, like any other artefact. Give it a stock (SKU) so received batches have somewhere to go.
2. Create or open the raw material for the mix under Factory → Crafts → Raw materials. Edit it, set Made in-house as to the artefact from step 1, and give it the same stock (SKU).
3. Use the raw material in recipes. On each product that needs the mix, add the mix to the right recipe step with the quantity per unit.
4. Attach the preparer to the mix artefact, or to a category holding all the mixes, under Usually made by. Job orders for mixes then go to that person.

The Mixes tab

Factory → To produce → Mixes is a small board with four lanes: Needed, Assigned, Mixing and Done. It only shows in-house raw materials that an open job order needs. A job order is open from the moment it is created until it is received into stock.

A card in Needed is a mix the factory is short of. The red number is the shortfall: what the open job orders need, from their quantities and the recipe's quantity per unit, minus what is on hand, minus what is already being mixed. Under it, for lists the product codes that are waiting, so the preparer knows what is blocked, and the name of the usual preparer if one is attached.

Drag the card from Needed to Assigned. aiku asks for the quantity, proposing the shortfall so you can round it to a sensible batch, and Who mixes it?. Pick the preparer and a job order is created in draft, addressed to them, with its reference on the card. Open it and press Release to floor when it should start.

Mixing and Done move on their own: the card goes to Mixing when the preparer presses START, and to Done when the last task is done. It leaves the board when the batch is put into stock.

What the preparer does

The preparer runs their own line, so they hold the Mix preparer position for the factory. That lets them open the Mixes tab, create and release their own job orders, and receive them into stock, without waiting for anyone. They cannot touch job orders addressed to other people; that stays with the planner. On the floor they work like any artisan: their tasks appear on the floor screen, they press START and DONE, and when the last step is done the batch is put into stock with a batch code, either by the warehouse from Dispatching → From production or by the preparer from the job order's page. From that moment the mix shows as on hand and the artisans' products can be made.

If the preparer is not paid by piece rate, that is a payroll setting, not a reason to skip the floor. The record of who prepared which batch and when is what gives traceability from the finished product back to its ingredients.

Things worth knowing

• A mix cannot need itself. If the mix artefact's own recipe lists the same raw material, that line is ignored.
• The Mixes tab only reads job orders in this factory. A product made in another factory does not create demand here.
• A mix job order counts as being made until it is put into stock, even if every task is done. Put batches away promptly and the shortfall stays honest.