Creating a New Disassembly

In any production environment, particularly for for-stock manufacturers, job shops, and custom-build retailers, occasionally you'll have an order cancellation or return that will necessitate breaking an Item back down into its base components. The Disassembly form can help you do just that. To start a new Disassembly, just select New Disassembly from the Production menu.

You'll find the user interface of the Disassembly form remarkably similar to that of the Work Order. The only difference is that the process is flowing in reverse. Rather than taking components to build an Item, we're disassembling the Item into its original components.

Every Disassembly consists of a number of Steps / Operations. This describes the labor and manufacturing involved with breaking down the Item in question. All Steps are drawn from the Steps Profile List. Just select the Step from the drop-down menu.

Each Step can contain one or more Components. These are the Items that will be added to inventory as a result of the disassembly.

At the top of the screen, you must first select the Item to be disassembled as well as how many disassemblies were ordered. As you go into production, you can also tally how many of the ordered units have actually been produced (broken down) thus far:

In the upper right-hand corner, you can enter both the order date and the date the order is due. You can alter these dates using the drop-down calendar control.

Also, if you do not wish to record this transaction within QuickBooks, just click NC Only, which will prevent it from ever going to QB. If you do wish to record the Work Order in QuickBooks, click the Record to QuickBooks button on the Work Order's tab:

Of course, you must first finish all steps before it can ever be recorded in QuickBooks. This brings us to our next point...

You have the standard Details column at the end of each row that gives you control over adding, deleting, and inserting new line. But just as with the New Work Order form, you also have control over the status:

You can select Comment to add a comment about that particular step, for example why the step took longer than expected, or about how a particular component broke during breakdown. Within the Change Status submenu, In Production means that you are currently working on this particular step.

To finish this step, choose Finished, and you'll be able to begin the next step. Note how the date and time is recorded for you, both the Started time and the Completed time. Of course, since you not always be right at your computer while in production, you can also manually track the duration required for each step:

The budgeted duration (that which is stipulated on the Item's Bill of Materials) is listed under budget, and you also have the UOM (hours, minutes, etc.) listed as a reference. The Actual field is editable, and it enables you to record the actual time taken to complete the step. With the Disassembly form, it's much more likely that the actual time will deviate from the budgeted time, since an assembly typically doesn't take anywhere near as long to break down as it does to assemble.

Keep in mind that you have a number of Disassembly-related commands on the toolbar. First, let's examine the commands available from the Activities drop-down menu:

Additionally, you can pull up other information via the Details drop-down list:

As always, you can click the Save button at any point to save off your Disassembly and its progress. Once a Disassembly has been finished, click the QB Record button to send it on to QuickBooks. If you ever change your mind, a button will replace it called QB Undo. Click it to wipe the bill from QuickBooks.