Material Flow and output placement
Material Flow tracks identified physical output on holders and positions. It helps the next station find material and records placement/collection history. It does not automatically book Warehouse stock or establish full assembly genealogy.
Understand the objects
| Object | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Material | Catalog definition |
| Material Object | Identified physical output, with quantity, unit and producing work context |
| Material Holder | Physical container/carrier with optional named positions |
| Material Location | Place referenced by a holder |
| Placement | Quantity assigned to a holder/position |
A holder can contain output from several orders. Current occupancy differs from cumulative production and historical evidence that output was placed.
Prerequisites and setup
An authorized administrator configures holders, positions, codes and locations in Operations Studio. These records use direct revision-checked Save/Cancel rather than a separate publish lifecycle. App authors then configure and publish Place Output, Holder Overview or an order table with Material Flow enabled.
Your published App defines allowed holders and actions. Access to that App authorizes its configured operational workflow; it does not grant general master-data or correction powers. Independent administration and API actions use separate Material Flow permissions.
Place output at the producing station
- Open the assigned App and select the correct production order.
- Check the producing operation and selected split. A bound work center may resolve this context; choose explicitly if more than one operation is possible.
- Open Place Output, directly or through the order drawer.
- Select or scan the permitted holder/position, enter the output quantity and add further placements if needed.
- Review the destinations and submit.
- Verify the holder/position and quantity in the refreshed summary.
The order table's optional Material column can show the current holder, slot and quantity without a separate overview panel. Placement records exact producing context; an operation-level placement does not automatically become evidence for every split.
Find and collect at the next station
Open the configured Holder Overview or order material summary. Select a holder card to inspect contents, order, producing step, position and quantity. The overview can show upstream output for the selected order while occupancy still includes other orders.
Use collection, transfer, correction or clear controls only when the published component enables them. Select the exact material/quantity and permitted destination. Collection reduces current contents; historical placement evidence remains. Correct a digital error separately from reporting a real physical move.
Placement required for progress
A published production App can require output placement before progress reporting. The requirement is checked against the exact producing operation/split and already-reported quantities. Separate batches need distinct material-instance identities; the same batch cannot repeatedly satisfy extra output beyond its quantity.
The first piece-count prerequisite uses pcs, assuming one physical piece per reported unit. Other units can be tracked but do not satisfy that piece-count requirement automatically. Current holder contents and historical valid placement coverage are different: collected output may still have placement evidence, while corrections can reduce it.
Recovery and boundaries
If no holder appears, check the published App's holder allowlist and current workspace. If scanning fails, verify the holder/position code rather than scanning an unrelated label. If placement is ambiguous, select the correct operation/split and ask the App author to correct its station binding if needed.
For stale contents, refresh after successful changes and inspect history before repeating. For an uncertain progress response, continue the original retained invocation where offered. Empty, loading and failed reads are different states; do not clear material because a request failed.
Nexus can explore available Material Objects, Holders and Locations outside station execution. Its map shows accessible current relationships and retained evidence. Full split/assembly lineage, unit conversion and Warehouse booking require their own supported contracts.
See running Apps, production execution and Operations Studio.