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Work Centers

Understanding work centers in SavantPLM

Work Centers represent the machines or areas where manufacturing operations are performed. They are used in part routings to calculate manufacturing costs.

When creating a routing operation for a part, you select both a Labor Class and a Work Center. The Work Center provides the machine cost per hour, and the Labor Class provides the labor cost per hour. These values are used to calculate the total cost of each routing operation.

Fields

• Work Center Code
  A short unique identifier for the work center.
  Example: CNC-01
• Work Center Name
  The full name of the machine or work area.
  Example: Haas Vertical CNC Mill 01
• Description
  Optional description of the machine or process.
  Example: Haas Vertical CNC Mill
• Machine Rate ($/hr)
  The hourly cost to operate the machine. This is used when calculating routing operation costs.
• Setup Rate ($/hr)
  The hourly cost for setup activities performed at this work center.
• Default Labor Class
  The labor class that is automatically pre-filled when adding a routing operation at this work center. Optional — can be overridden on any individual operation.
• Attended Run %
  How much of an operation's run time a person is actually working it at this work center, from 0 to 100 (default 100). Use 100 for a manual machine or bench where an operator is present for the whole run. Use 0 for a machine that runs on its own, such as a 3D printer: the run is then charged to the machine rate only, with no labor. Something in between (for example 20) suits a machine that needs an operator for loading and checking. Setup hours are always charged as labor, whatever this is. It is pre-filled onto each new routing operation at this work center and can be overridden on any individual operation. Existing operations keep the percentage they were saved with.

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Default Labor Class

Each work center can be assigned a default labor class. When adding a new routing operation and you select a work center, the labor class field is automatically filled in with that work center's default — saving a step for common pairings.

This is especially useful for pure-labor work centers like Assembly or Inspection where the same labor class is used on every operation. For example:

• Work center ASSY (Assembly) — default labor class: Assembler
• Work center WELD-01 (Welding Station) — default labor class: Welder
• Work center CNC-01 (CNC Mill) — default labor class: Machinist

The auto-fill only applies when the labor class field is currently empty — it will not overwrite a labor class you have already selected.

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Example Work Centers

Below is an example of work centers that might be configured in SavantPLM:

Code	Name	Machine Rate ($/hr)	Setup Rate ($/hr)	Default Labor Class
ASSY	Assembly	0.00	0.00	Assembler
CNC-01	Haas Vertical CNC Mill 01	85.00	45.00	Machinist
LASER-01	Trumpf Laser Cutter 01	120.00	50.00	Machinist
WELD-01	MIG Welding Station 01	30.00	20.00	Welder
PRESS-01	Hydraulic Press Brake 01	60.00	35.00	Machinist
INSPECT-01	CMM Inspection Station	75.00	30.00	Inspector