How to Choose the Pieces Per Hour Rate for Actuals in EDGEBIC
User Solutions TeamThe Log Actuals dialog in EDGEBIC by User Solutions carries a rate in pieces per hour, and you can choose it: the routing default, or any rate the operation has actually achieved on a logged day. That one choice decides whether the numbers derived on entry look like the plan or look like the machine. This is how to see the options and pick the right one.
For the entry itself, see how to log actual hours and pieces. Every task in this library is mapped on the EDGEBIC how-to hub.
Before You Start
- The operation is scheduled and has an actual start, so the Log Actuals grid opens on real day rows.
- You know which side your shop counts reliably, hours or pieces. That decides which side you type and which side derives.
- The job is not marked complete, since a completed job locks actuals entry until it is reopened.
Step 1: Open the Log Actuals Grid
Right-click the operation's bar on the Schedule View Gantt and choose Log Actuals, or use the Log Actual header button on the Job View tab and pick the work center. The grid opens with one row per calendar day of the operation's window, showing scheduled hours and pieces beside the actual columns.
Note the Auto Calc Hours checkbox, described on screen as deriving the missing side from the rate. Leave it ticked for normal entry.
Step 2: Open the Rate Picker
Click the Rate picker in the dialog. It lists the candidates for this operation:
| Candidate | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| The routing entry, shown as the scheduled or BOR rate | The step's cycle time in the routing, which is the rate the schedule itself was built on |
| One entry per observed daily ratio | Days already logged on this operation where both actual hours and actual pieces are non-zero |
The observed entries are measurements, not estimates. If the operation has run three days at meaningfully different speeds, you get three entries and can see the spread at a glance, which is itself worth a look before you pick anything.
Step 3: Apply a Rate
Select the rate you want and click Apply Rate. From that point on, auto calculation on this operation derives the missing side from the rate you chose.
Rules worth knowing:
- The choice is per operation, not per job and not per work center. Two steps on the same job can carry different rates, which is correct because they run at different speeds.
- Applying a rate does not rewrite days you already saved. It governs values derived from now on.
- If the rate you pinned no longer matches any current daily variant, because the source rows were edited, it still shows as an active daily entry so you can see it is pinned but no longer anchored to a day.
Step 4: Revert to the Routing Default
Open the picker and select the routing entry. The pinned rate is cleared and auto calculation falls back to the routing's cycle time.
One caution: if the routing has no usable cycle time, that entry reads as a rate of zero. Auto calculation on the pieces side then produces zero, so enter hours only on that operation and leave the pieces column alone until the routing is fixed.
Step 5: Enter the Day
Type the side you count and let the other derive, then click Save.
- If you changed values that had already been reported, the dialog asks for a reason, which is stored in the logging history. An empty reason cancels the save.
- To record both sides as measured rather than derived, untick Auto Calc Hours and type both. Both values are stored exactly as entered and the difference between them is preserved as real efficiency variance.
What Changes When You Save
| Surface | Effect |
|---|---|
| The operation's daily rows | Actual hours and pieces are stored beside the plan, never over it |
| The rate on the operation | The applied rate is remembered for future derivations |
| Job View header and progress figures | Actual hours, remaining, and percent complete recompute from the roll-up |
| Logging history | Every entry and edit is recorded with the old value, the new value, the author, and the reason |
| The next reschedule | Remaining work re-plans forward from your last logged position; what you logged is never recomputed |
How to Check It Worked
Type a value on one side of a fresh day and watch the other side fill. Divide the two: the result should match the rate you applied. The dialog footer also reports the effective rate for the entry, which is the fastest confirmation that the picker did what you expected.
Common Mistakes
- Changing the rate to fix an already-saved day. Correct the day itself in the grid, since the rate governs new derivations only.
- Pinning a freak day. One shift interrupted by a breakdown produces an observed ratio that flatters or damns the operation. Pick a representative day.
- Typing both sides with Auto Calc on. The derivation and your typed value will disagree. Untick it if you genuinely mean to record both.
- Ignoring a large gap between routing and observed rates. That gap is the routing telling you it is out of date, and it will distort every future schedule built on that step until somebody fixes it.
- Using the rate to reconcile a piece count. Scrap is tracked separately with reasons, so a shortfall between good pieces and plan is a quality question. See how to record a piece count.
See how logged reality steers the next plan on the EDGEBIC product page.
Expert Q&A: Deep Dive
Q: The routing says four pieces per hour but the cell keeps deriving numbers nobody believes. What now?
A: Log one honest day with both sides typed and Auto Calc off, so you record the real hours and the real pieces without either being derived. That day becomes an observed ratio, and it appears in the rate picker as a daily entry alongside the routing default. Select it, apply it, and every subsequent day you log on that operation derives from the measured rate rather than the predicted one. Then take the gap somewhere useful: if the machine is consistently running at two and a half pieces per hour against a routing that promises four, the routing hours are wrong and every schedule built on them is optimistic. Fix the step, and the next job quoted from that routing tells the truth from the start.
Q: Should I use the rate picker or just enter hours and pieces separately every day?
A: Use the rate on the side your shop actually counts, and reach for separate entry only when you want to capture efficiency variance deliberately. Most shops count one side reliably, usually pieces at the machine or hours on a time sheet, and letting the other side derive keeps entry fast and consistent. Turn Auto Calc off when you want both numbers to stand as measured, for example on a job you are studying, because the discrepancy between them is the finding. What you should avoid is typing both sides by hand every day out of habit, since that mixes measured values with tired estimates and the resulting rate variants become noise in the picker.
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