How to Name and Color a Work Center for the Gantt in EDGEBIC

To name and color a work center for the Gantt in EDGEBIC by User Solutions, set its WC ID and name on the configuration, then pick a Back Color for its bars, with optional Fore Color for text and Border Color for the outline. These are display settings: they make the schedule readable at a glance without touching how it is calculated.

A Gantt that all reads the same shade is a Gantt nobody reads. A few minutes assigning colors to machine families turns the board into something an operator can scan from across the shop. This page is the per-machine styling; for the schedule-wide color rules, read Gantt colors and labels in EDGEBIC.

Before You Start

• The work center already exists (how to add a work center).
• You have a naming convention. Function plus number, such as CNC-Mill-1 or Weld-1, keeps IDs readable and sortable.
• You have a small palette in mind, ideally one hue per machine family so the board reads by type.

Step 1: Open the Work Center for Editing

Open the Workcenter tab. On the Work Center Management grid, click ✏️ Edit on the target work center's row. The Work Center Configuration dialog opens on the Basic Information tab.

Step 2: Set the ID and Name

Two identifiers sit at the top of the tab:

Both auto-generate by default. Edit them to your convention.

Step 3: Pick the Bar Colors

Set the colors used for this machine's bars on the Gantt:

The default back color is transparent, so a machine that has never been colored can show near-invisible bars. Pick a solid back color to fix that.

A practical scheme: assign one hue per machine family and vary the shade within it. Give the mills blues, the welders greens, the finishing cells ambers, and let each individual machine take a lighter or darker step of its family color. An operator then reads the board by type at a distance and by machine up close, without hunting for a legend. Keep the palette small and deliberate; a board where every machine is a different bright color is as hard to scan as one where they all match.

Step 4: Save

Click Save. The grid shows the color swatch beside the machine's ID, and its Gantt bars pick up the new colors on the next render.

What Changes When You Save

Because these are display settings, existing bars recolor on the next Gantt render without a reschedule. Only a genuine capacity or routing change requires Drive Schedule. The color also shows as a swatch beside the machine's ID in the Work Center grid, so the palette you choose is visible on the setup screen as well as the schedule.

How to Check It Worked

1. Confirm the color swatch and the ID and name on the machine's grid row.
2. Open the Gantt and find a bar for this machine. It should show the chosen back color with legible text.
3. Scan the board: machines in the same family should read as one color, and different families should stand apart.

Common Mistakes

Leaving the back color transparent. Default-transparent bars look invisible against the timeline. Always set a solid back color.

Fore color that vanishes on the back color. Dark text on a dark bar, or light on light, makes labels unreadable. Pick a fore color with real contrast against each back color.

Changing the WC ID after machines are in use. Routings, schedules, and reports reference the ID. Rename the display name for a clearer label; leave the ID stable, and if it must change, update the routings that point at it.

Using every color in the box. A palette with one hue per machine family reads better than a rainbow. Deliberate beats colorful.

Next

Names and colors are the cheapest readability win in EDGEBIC: a stable ID, a clear name, and one hue per machine family make the Gantt scannable without changing a single scheduled hour. For what the bars can say beyond color, see how to change what a Gantt bar label shows. More single-task recipes are in the EDGEBIC how-to hub, and the platform overview is at /edgebic.