Factories

Factories can be setup within VU's OMS to identify, group, segment, and route orders.

What is a Factory?

A Factory is used to group, segment, and route orders. Rather than strictly representing a physical manufacturing site with inventory tracking, a Factory acts as a logical bucket within the system to manage workflow and data visibility.

From the system's perspective:

• It is a grouping mechanism: It is a way to place orders into specific "buckets" based on production location or any reason to group a set of orders together.

• It is a routing destination: Once orders are imported, routing logic can be applied to place orders to certain factories based on a criteria of choice. Examples include product category, decoration techniques, or quantity.

• It is not about inventory: VU does not track physical stock or inventory within a factory.

Key Functions of a Factory

1. Order Segmentation & Routing

The primary role of a Factory is to serve as the destination for Order Routing Rules.

• Using SKU matching or Regex patterns, the system determines which orders belong in which "bucket."

• This allows a brand to separate orders by category, production type, or fulfillment partner without manual intervention.

2. Access Control and Visibility

Factories are the primary method for controlling what operators can see within the OMS. This is critical for brands working with multiple partners or locations.

• Restricted Views: You can restrict a user's access so they only view orders assigned to their specific Factory.

• Operator Focus: Operators within a single Factory bucket do not see orders that don’t belong to them, ensuring data privacy and reducing clutter on the production dashboard.

3. Factory-Specific Documents & Criteria

While a Factory is a logical group, it allows for specific localized configurations. Each Factory can be set up to generate its own specific documentation, such as:

• Travelers: Instruction sheets that accompany an order through its lifecycle.

• Labels: Specific shipping or identification labels tailored to that particular workflow.

Summary

When setting up a Factory, the goal is to define a clear boundary for where orders go and who has permission to see them. By treating a Factory as a bucket for segmenting orders rather than just a physical location, you can more effectively manage complex routing workflows and multi-operator production environments.