It is no secret that accurate costing and review is vital to the profitability of any subcontract precision engineering business.
PSL Datatrack offers an optional Job Costing module, the purpose of which is to advise the current expenditure on any works order. It enables management to review all financial aspects of a job – process, material, subcontract and tooling, and ultimately decide whether that job is making (enough of) a profit.
The module consists of three tabs. The first is the ‘Operations’ tab, which details how much time was spent on the production of the components including any process deviations (additional or unplanned operations).
A separate line is added for each operation to track how much time has been spent on each one and the total cost of each operation is calculated based on the costing rate defined for the cost centre within the Cost Centres module.
The second tab is the ‘Purchases’ tab, which details all purchase orders raised for the works order for material, bought out items and tooling in addition to specifying a value of any components that were allocated to the works order from Component Stocks.
The third and final tab is the optional ‘Pending Allocations’ tab, which details all component and material allocations that are outstanding. This is intended to highlight an expected but not confirmed cost.
PSL Datatrack’s flexible approach to production control software means the user can decide whether to run the module in ‘manual’ or ‘automatic’ mode. If manual is selected, the user adds costing entries line by line to the Operations and Purchasing tabs.
Alternatively, Job Costing can be configured to accept automatic updates from the Shop Floor Data Collection (SFDC), Deliveries, Component Stocks, Works Orders and Purchase Invoicing modules, using real time information that has already been entered into the system elsewhere.
Job Costing can also be linked with the CRM/Tasks module, providing management with a reminder to review jobs as often as they deem necessary.
By providing profitability information for each time a job runs, including actual time taken for comparison to quoted time, Job Costing helps you to identify profitable/non-profitable jobs. The necessary quotation can then be updated so any repeat jobs run more efficiently and cost effectively in future.
Finally, a job costing details report shows all the information displayed on the screen for fast and simple reference. If you’re wondering how PSL Datatrack can help YOUR business to become more profitable, contact us for a free, no obligation demonstration today!
