Note: Matics equipment must be installed on the machine you want to monitor and connected to Matics in the cloud.

Step 1: Create a product

Add a new product to your Matics product catalog

In Matics, the outcome of every isolated manufacturing process is a 'product' - whether it is a final product, manufactured precursor or an intermediate Work-in-Process.

Click Production > Products.
In the Products page, click the plus button in the top-right corner to open the Product dialog.
Fields with blue titles are required.
1. Product Name - note that afterwards you will enter the product's name in English, so you can enter here the name in your local language if it's not English, or enter an internally used shorthand in English and in the following field its official name.
2. Product English Name -the product's name in English.
3. ERP Catalog ID - if you don't have an ERP system, simply enter the product catalog ID.
4. Machine Type - select the type from the list (this list was created during initial system installation and setup). Later on, when creating jobs for the product, it will only be possible to allocate machines of this machine type.
5. (optional) Product Group - useful for QA/QC.
6. (optional) Include in Material Group - if you set the product as a material it can be used later on as potential input.
7. Final Product - Select this check box if the product is a finished good.
Click Add. The product will be created and automatically assigned a Matics ID.

Register the product recipe

A Matics 'recipe' includes production manufacturing parameters, desired outputs and materials requirements, organized into channels and sources. All process parameters other than material planning are gathered in the production parameters section (previously called 'Channel 0'). These parameters specify key manufacturing process parameters and target output specifications. The other three channels are used for materials planning. This tutorial only considers required steps, therefore we will be satisfied with a partial recipe.

Refresh the Products page and click the hyperlinked index number of the product you just added.
Click the Recipe tab.
Fill in the required production parameters.
Note: Above each channel section you have the overarching configuration labels of Value (previously called 'Set Point'), Lower Limit, and Upper Limit.
1. Required parameters are indicated with a blue label. Fill in the value of the recipe's required parameters. Leave the lower and upper limits blank and Matics will automatically fill in the upper and lower tolerance limits of ±5% by default after you save settings.
2. Scroll down and click Save Changes. The product recipe is now updated with default tolerance limits.
  As long as all required fields are filled-in, you can move on to the next step, but keep in mind that the product recipe is still incomplete.

Pre-approve required tools

Note: Any tools and molds used in your factory must be cataloged in your Matics infrastructure database before they can be allocated for production.

The next step after registering a product recipe is to pre-approve required tools, if any. This step may or may not be necessary depending on the machine type selected for the product. For example, an injection machine always requires a mold.

To pre-approve one or more molds for a product made on an injection machine:

On the product page, click the Primary Tools (molds) tab. If no molds have been approved for this product, you will see an empty table.
Add molds to the table to approve them for production of the product.
Click the add icon in the menu bar above the table to open the Molds from form dialog.
Select molds. You can use filters to find the right molds.
The molds you selected will be added to the table. Click Save Changes to confirm your selection.

Now the molds are pre-approved and will be available for planning of jobs for the product.

The mold set as the top priority will be selected by default for future jobs.

Step 2: Create a job

Job Status 01: Identify the product, set production target & assign a department

What is a Job?

A production 'Job' in Matics - equivalent to a work order - conveys a wealth of information about a production run. To help manage production data, every job in Matics is assigned a Job Status which corresponds to its stage in production. At pre-production stages a job can hold Status 01 through Status 03. A new job is launched at status 01 and progresses to status 03, as it progresses through the planning process:

Job status in Matics	Stage in planning
Status 01	Product ID, production target and a department have been assigned to the job
Status 02	Resources have been allocated (machine, tool, mold, etc.)
Status 03	Recipe to be executed for the job has been approved

It is now time to create a new job for the product. A new job is launched from the Product page.

On the Product page, click the flash icon to open the Actions Menu (this icon is available from any tab).
In the Actions Menu, choose New job.
In the Create Job From Product dialog, assign the job to a Department and set your production Target (units to be produced).
Click Finish to confirm.

The new job will be added to your Matics Job Catalog.

The newly created job will be assigned Job Status 01, corresponding to its stage in the planning process. A few more steps will be necessary before the job is ready for production. Next, allocate resources for the job.

The system will automatically continue to the page of the newly created job, unless it is blocked by your browser.

Job Status 02: Allocate resources for the job

The new job has Status 01, yet it needs to reach Status 03 before it is production-ready.

The job page opens to the General tab.

In this tab, allocate resources for the job to advance to Status 02:

Select a machine from the Machine ID list. The machines that appear in the list are determined by the machine type and department assigned for the job. You can still change the Department if necessary (but NOT the Machine Type).
Select a mold, if applicable for your machine type. The mold or tool with the top priority will be selected by default, but you can change the selection. Note that only molds pre-approved for the product will appear in the Mold ID list (see step 1 - Create a Product).
(optional) Job Type. Specify whether the job is a special run such as a trial run to test a product, or a short run for a limited number of samples.
Scroll down and click Save Changes. Now that the necessary resources have been allocated for the job, the job has reached Status 02.

Job Info

Job ID is the Matics Job ID corresponding to the ERP Job ID.

The Local Identifier is a secondary Matics ID that includes a time stamp of when the Matics Job was created.

The PConfig ID is used for family molds. The PConfig Job ID is the Job ID for the main (primary) job of the Configuration.

Job Status 03: Approve a job recipe for production

About job recipe approval

The recipe to be used for the job must be reviewed and approved before the job can be sent to production. Over time, Matics will compile a database of recipes for comparison and optimization. This is particularly important for determining variance between machines that share molds or tooling. In this example, we will simply copy the product recipe to the job recipe and approve it for production.

You will now select the product recipe and copy it to the job recipe. Saving a job recipe will automatically approve the job recipe for production.

On the job page, click the Recipe tab. You will only be able to access the job recipe tab if the job is in Status 02 or higher (once resources have been allocated). The job recipe screen displays the job recipe alongside a reference recipe.
Under the title Reference Recipe, select Product Recipe to view it.
Under the title Job Recipe, scroll down and click Save Changes. Now the reference recipe is confirmed and can be copied.
Scroll back to the top area and click Copy from reference recipe.
Click Save Changes a second time. This time, the job recipe will be copied from the product recipe.

By filling in the job recipe and saving it (when clicking Save Changes), the job recipe has been approved for production and the job status has advanced to Status 03 - Active Recipe. The job is now ready for activation. Proceed to the next step, to learn how.

Matics monitors the rate of production using sensors attached directly to machinery on the production floor, so it is essential that the target rate of production specified in the job recipe is correct. For an injection machine, the cycle time value is used as the benchmark for production rate.

Step 3: Activate the Job on the Machine

Activate the job in Matics when production is set to begin on the shop floor

What does it mean to activate a job?

Activate a Job to signal to Matics to begin monitoring and recording production activity. The system uses sensors and other methods to measure and record machine activity. Production rate and other metrics and KPIs are calculated based on the targets defined as the Set Points in the Job Recipe.

There are 2 ways to activate a job:

Operators using the Operator App can use the tablet attached to their station to activate a job.

Managers in charge of multiple stations can use their Online department view to activate a job for any of the stations in their department.

Once activated, the Job status will change to Status 10 - Active. As long as the job is active on the machine, Matics will collect performance data and parse it by shift and other various parameters.