How to Add a Material Step to a Routing in EDGEBIC

To add a material step to a routing in EDGEBIC by User Solutions you add a row, switch the item picker from Workcenter to Product, choose the component, and give it a per-unit quantity and a lead time. The row books no machine capacity. Its job is to record what is consumed, where in the flow it is consumed, and how long it takes to have available.

This is the one row type in a routing that has nothing to do with hours, which is why its columns behave differently from everything else. For the routing as a whole, read the bill of routing explained.

Before You Start

• The component must exist as a product. Raw materials, purchased castings and bought-in brackets are all products in their own right.
• Know the per-unit quantity. Two brackets per finished unit is 2, not the 200 a 100-unit order needs. The scheduler multiplies.
• Know which operation actually consumes the part. That step is where the row links to, and it decides which part of the plan the lead time affects.

Adding the Material Step

1. Open the BOR tab and select the product's routing. The grid loads in Data Grid mode.
2. Click Add Step, or right-click near the consuming operation and use Add Step Above so the row sits where it reads naturally.
3. Click the 📝 button in the new row's WC/Product Id column to open the item selection popup.
4. Select the Product radio instead of Workcenter. This is the whole difference between a machine step and a material step.
5. Highlight the component and click Confirm. The WC/Product Name column fills in with the component's unique number.
6. Fill the two columns that apply:
   • Quantity: how many of this component are consumed per unit of the finished product.
   • Lead Time (days): days needed to have the component available, if it needs procurement time.
7. Click the 📝 button in Next In Sequence and point the row at the step that uses the component. Click Confirm.
8. Give the row a Sequence number that reads correctly beside its neighbors, and a Description if the part number alone is not obvious to the next planner.
9. Click Update Standard BOR.

Notice what you did not fill in. Hours Required, Setup Time (hrs), Queue Time (hrs) and the lot-streaming columns all show N/A on this row, because none of them apply to a component. They are not editable, and that is the confirmation that the row registered as material rather than machine work.

Where you place the material row in the chain is the decision that matters most, because a component's lead time only reaches the finish date through the step that consumes it. A casting linked to the first operation puts its whole lead time at the front of the job, on the critical path. The same casting linked to final assembly can be sourced while the earlier operations run, and if it arrives in time it costs the job nothing. So the question is not just which component is consumed, but exactly when, and the link answers it. Attach the row to the operation that actually uses the part, not to a convenient spot in the grid.

The same material relationship can be built in Designer mode by dragging the component from the Products group in the Toolbox and drawing an arrow from it into the consuming step. The Designer makes the "feeds into" relationship visible as an arrow, which is a clearer way to confirm you linked the component to the right operation.

What Changes When You Save

The absence of movement in Estimated Hour per unit = surprises planners who expect every new row to add time. It is correct: material rows are consumption, not capacity. Total Cost = is where a component shows up, because the routing's cost estimate covers material as well as machine time.

How to Check It Worked

Look at the row itself first. N/A in the timing columns is the positive signal that the row is a material step. Values you can edit in those columns mean a work center is still attached and the scheduler will treat the row as an operation.

Check the header totals: Estimated Hour per unit = should be exactly what it was, while Total Cost = should have risen by the component cost times the quantity.

Then check the link. The row must point at the step that consumes it, and no row should carry a ⚠ marker in the WC/Product Name column. Switch to Designer mode if you would rather see it: the component appears as a product node with an arrow into the consuming operation.

If the component turns out to carry a routing of its own, a ★ marker appears next to its name with the tooltip Sub-assembly (this product has its own BOR and is exploded at schedule time), and a View Subs button lets you preview the child routing read-only. That is a different animal, covered in adding a sub-assembly to a routing.

Common Mistakes

Leaving a work center on the row. A row with a work center is an operation, whatever you meant. Re-open the picker and choose the Product radio.

Entering the order quantity instead of the per-unit quantity. Two per unit is 2. Typing 200 for a 100-unit order multiplies again and consumes 20,000.

Setting transit days on the consuming step as well. Component availability already absorbs its own travel time. Adding transit again on the step that uses it double-counts the journey.

Linking the component to the wrong operation. The link decides where in the plan the lead time bites. A part linked to the first step delays the whole job, and the same part linked to final assembly may cost nothing at all.

Expecting hours. Material steps are assigned instantly and consume no capacity, so they never appear as machine time on the Gantt. That is the design, not a missing bar.

Next Steps

If the component has a routing of its own, read adding a sub-assembly to a routing next, because the scheduling behavior is substantially different. For building the machine steps around it, see how to create a routing step by step. The full task library is at the EDGEBIC how-to hub, and the platform overview is at EDGEBIC.