Production

A production business turns materials into products, or raises crops and animals. It plans what to make, issues the materials, records what was made and what was lost, and puts each batch into stock with what it really cost. Farms keep each field and herd’s costs, and record the milk and the harvests.

How Kila works for production

• Each person opens on the screen of their job. The plant manager and the production supervisors open on Today at the branch, operators on the Line screen, QA on Quality and release, the materials store on Intake and tests, the maintenance technician on My jobs, and farm managers and herdsmen on the farm.
• Your day revolves around the production order. One order is one run of one product: its materials reserved, then issued by batch, then closed with the good units and the scrap. The good units go into stock as a numbered batch carrying the whole cost.
• The words Kila uses: a branch is a site, and on a farm a farm. Products are what you make; the materials and packaging are products too.

Kila treats these kinds of business as production. Food businesses start with the Food safety rules:

• Food productionFood safety rules
• Light manufacturing
• Assembly
• Farm
• Livestock
• Food processingFood safety rules
• General production

A day at the plant

1. Milk and materials arrive. Each load is tested at the platform and accepted or sent back: Receive a delivery at intake.
2. Plan. Kila works out what each site should make: See what to make. Each run is planned with its materials reserved: Plan a production order.
3. Issue. The store hands the materials to the run, batch by batch: Issue materials to a production order.
4. Make. Operators count the output, the scrap and the stops on the line screen: Operator.
5. Close. The supervisor records the good units and the scrap with its reasons: Record output and close a production order.
6. Release. QA checks each held batch and releases it for sale: QA officer.
7. Watch. The owner’s and plant manager’s home page shows yesterday at the plant, today’s orders and the lines now; the numbers over time are in Read production results.

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For farms

A day on the farm. The herdsmen record each milking cow by cow: Record a milking. The farm manager keeps each field and herd’s inputs: Follow a field or herd’s costs. The home page has Farm today: milk, withdrawals and seasons instead of the plant’s lines and QA cards.

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The home page’s cards

Kila arranges a production business’s home page with these cards. Each shows when its feature is on and your role may see it:

• Yesterday at the plant
• Production orders today
• Lines now: running and stoppedNot for: Farm and Livestock
• Intake today: received and rejectedNot for: Farm and Livestock
• Shift handoverNot for: Farm and Livestock
• Output against plan; yield and scrap
• Batches waiting for QC releaseNot for: Farm and Livestock
• Shift log today: output, scrap and downtimeNot for: Farm and Livestock
• Materials short for planned orders
• Finished goods and days of coverNot for: Farm and Livestock
• Cost per unit against standard
• Machines: maintenance due and breakdowns
• Checks and logs today
• Orders to make and dispatch
• Payments waiting for confirmation
• Approvals and reviews waiting
• Licences, permits and returns due

For food processors and food producers

A food business also has HACCP: readings and deviations today.

Who does what

Role	What Kila says it is for
Owner	Full access to the business, including billing.
Plant manager	Runs production across the branches: plans and orders, recipes and their approval, costs and variances, machines and maintenance, quality and the shift log.
Production supervisor	Runs production orders at their branch: plans, issues materials, records output, scrap and downtime on the shift log, completes checks and closes orders. No costs or recipes.
Operator	Works on the line: records output, scrap and downtime on the shift log, in-process checks and their checklists. No costs.
QA officer	Quality checks, holds and releases, recalls, the HACCP plan and its records, audits and issues, and tracing batches. No costs.
Storekeeper (materials)	Receives, stores and counts materials and packaging, and issues them to production orders. No planning, output or costs.
Maintenance technician	Machines and their maintenance: plans, work orders, spares used and downtime. No stock or costs beyond spares.
Farm manager	Runs the branch: fields and seasons, herds and animals, treatments and withdrawal periods, milk, inputs and harvests.
Herdsman	Records milk, births, services and treatments of the animals. No costs or stock.

A production business also has Kila’s standard roles, such as the storekeeper, procurement officer, accountant and cashier for a factory shop. The farm manager and herdsman come with farms. The owner gives each person their roles under Users and roles.

Tasks for production

The Make section of the menu holds the plant’s screens, each in Kila’s words:

• Today at the branch: each line with its runs, the handover from the last shift, what is held for QA and due today.
• Line screen: for the operator on a phone; it asks “Which line is this?” and “remembers it on this device.”
• Intake and tests: “Milk and raw materials as they arrive at the site: each delivery’s tests, what is accepted and what is sent back, with the reason.”
• Production orders: the orders by stage, with What to make, Recipes, Results and Cost centres.
• Planning and materials: “What to make, and what to buy for it.”
• Quality and release: “The day’s intake tests, batches waiting for release, the critical control points and recalls. Each released batch has its certificate of analysis.”
• Shift log and handovers: “What each shift makes and scraps, and the time lost, with its reason; and what each shift hands to the next.”
• Trace and recall: “From a lot to what was made from it and who bought it, and back to the materials and suppliers.”
• Machines and maintenance: “Preventive maintenance by machine, work orders when due or after a breakdown, spares used and downtime.”
• Daily report: one day at a site on a printable page.
• Cost variances: “Standard against actual for each order closed: positive costs more than the standard.”
• Levies: “What the month’s figures give for the KEBS standards levy and the Kenya Dairy Board levy. Kila works them out; you file them on KRA iTax and with the Board.”

For food processors and food producers

HACCP: “Critical control points, their limits and the records: readings, corrective actions and verification.”

For farms

Fields, herds and milk: “Seasons, inputs and harvests by field; animals by tag with their treatments and withdrawal periods; milk by milking.”

The plant’s pre-start checks and logs are filled in like any business’s: see Fill in a checklist. Licences and permits, with their renewal dates, are on the compliance calendar: see How the compliance calendar works.

Set up a production business

Kila’s set-up list for a new production business, in order. Kila ticks each step off from what you record:

1. Business details and KRA PIN
2. Sites and stores
3. Licences and permits (KEBS, county, DOSHS)
4. Materials, packaging and finished products
5. Lines and machinesNot for: Farm and Livestock
6. Recipes or parts lists with yields
7. Quality checks for each productNot for: Farm and Livestock
8. Pre-start checks and logsNot for: Farm and Livestock
9. Suppliers
10. First production order

For food processors

Three more steps: Intake checks for milk and raw materials, HACCP plan: critical control points and limits and Pack labels: ingredients, net quantity, KEBS mark.

For farms

A farm adds Fields, herds and houses, and leaves out the quality checks, the lines and machines and the pre-start checks.

For livestock farms

A livestock farm adds Herds and houses and Animals by tag, and leaves out the quality checks, the lines and machines and the pre-start checks.

Start with Set up a recipe or parts list for each product, and Choose how labour and overheads are costed.

Reports that matter here

Production’s own figures are on its screens: Results on Production orders, Cost variances, the Daily report and Levies. Under Money › Reports, start with these:

Report	What Kila says it shows
Sales by product or service	What sells: quantity, revenue and cost for every product and service.
Stock valuation	What the stock is worth at cost (FIFO or average, per legal entity), by branch and category.
Expiring stock	Batches that expire soon or have expired, with their value.
Low stock	Items at or below their reorder point, with a suggested order.
Product profitability	Gross profit and margin for every product and service, best to worst.

Common questions

Why can I not sell a batch we just made? A food business holds each finished batch until QA releases it. The order says The batch is held until QC releases it: see Record output and close a production order.

Why does the order say materials short? Planning checks the recipe’s materials against the stock at the site: see Plan a production order.

Where do I see what a unit really cost? On each closed order, and over time in Read production results.

Try it in the demo

These demo businesses run on Production, with made-up data. Each link fills in the person’s email: add the demo password the Kila team gave you.

• Shamba Fresh FoodsFood processingSign in as Daniel Kiplagat (plant manager) (opens in a new tab)
• Kinangop Dairy FarmDairy and crop farmSign in as Joseph Mwaura (farm manager) (opens in a new tab)