Draw the path. Bulk runs the job.
Changing how you build should not need an engineering ticket. Draw the path on a canvas and Bulk compiles it into the rules every job runs.
Draw the routing on a canvas.
Bulk is manufacturing workflow software you shape yourself. Your resources become the steps, you wire them from Start to End, and branches and repeat loops are blocks of their own. A change is a new draft and a compile, not a software project.
Your resources are the steps
Each step points at a resource from master data, such as Laser Cutting or Final Inspection, so every job that passes through reports against the same named step. Each site keeps its own routings.
Logic comes from the dock
Conditional Split, Repeat Group and the Invoicing step sit in the dock beside your resources. Drag one onto the canvas and double-click it to set it up.
Problems show where they are
A step that is not connected, an empty formula or a missing review path is marked Needs attention on the canvas, and Save & Compile stays off until it is fixed.
Every step knows what it asks for.
Double-click a step to set its rules: whether it can be skipped, whether finishing it needs a signature, which counting modes and items apply, and which dates it stamps on the job.
Mandatory or optional
New steps are mandatory. An optional step can be skipped on the job with a written reason, but only before any work is recorded on it.
A signature to finish
Turn on Require Signature and completing the step at the station asks for a supervisor’s signature.
Dates stamped for you
Set a job or step date, such as Coated on, to the current date and time when the step is created, started or completed.
Invoicing, once
Where a site bills from the routing, each routing carries exactly one Invoicing step, always mandatory and never skipped. Where it invoices at any time, the step is not allowed.
The first true branch wins.
Conditional routing in Bulk is an ordered list of questions. The split checks each branch’s formula in turn and sends the job down the first one that is true, the Else path when none are, and a review path when the data cannot answer.
Up to eight branches
Each branch has an optional label and a formula. They are checked top to bottom, and Else catches the rest.
A review path for bad data
If a formula cannot be evaluated, for example because a field is missing, the job takes the red Error / Review path instead of guessing. The routing will not compile until it is connected.
Decided when the data exists
Formulas on the job, order, part or process are decided when the job is created. Formulas on the current step, output or quality wait for the step before to finish. One split cannot mix the two.
Saved on the job
Each decision is recorded against the job with its routing version, and only the steps on the chosen path are created.
A small language for every decision.
Conditions are short formulas over the job, its order, part, process and current step, plus counts of recorded output and quality issues. Type @ and Bulk suggests the field, and the editor checks the formula as you type.
Fields from the whole record
Job, order, part, process and current step fields, your custom fields included, grouped under @ with their plain names.
Counts, not just values
quality.count() and output.sum(quantity) add up quality issues and recorded output for the whole job, the current step or the steps before it.
Plain operators
Compare with =, !=, >, <, >= and <=, test text with contains or is empty, and combine with AND, OR, NOT, brackets and arithmetic.
Run it again until it passes.
A repeat group turns a rework loop into something every job can follow. The steps inside run again until the exit condition is true, up to the number of passes you allow, and then take a path you chose.
Checked after the last step
The steps inside run in order once per pass. When the last one completes, a true exit condition follows Complete and a false one runs the group again.
A limit you set
Maximum passes counts the first pass and runs from 1 to 50. New groups start at 3.
The limit has somewhere to go
When the passes run out, or the exit condition cannot be evaluated, the job follows the red Exception / Review path to the review or containment step you connected.
Each pass on the record
A second pass creates the steps again as Iteration 2 on the job, so its time and counts stay with that pass.
Check the routing before it goes live.
Save & Compile checks the whole routing and turns it into the ordered steps a job will run. The flow map it returns reads like a routing sheet: every step in order, with its resource, its requirements and the path it sits on.
What compiling checks
One Start, at least one End, every step reachable, every branch and outlet connected, valid formulas, and no loop outside a repeat group.
A flow map to read
Step order, resource, mandatory or optional, signature, modes and items, dependencies, and which branch or loop each step belongs to.
Errors point at the step
A failed compile lists each problem and highlights the step it belongs to, so you fix it on the canvas and compile again.
Edit it, compile it again
Changing a compiled draft sends it back to draft, so what goes live is always what was last compiled.
One live version. Every change kept.
Each production routing keeps one live version for new jobs and at most one working draft. You change the draft, compile it and publish it, and the version it replaces stays in the history.
One live, one draft
A new draft starts as a copy of the live version, so you only change what is different.
Publish from the list
A compiled draft shows Ready to publish on its tile. If jobs still depend on the live version, the tile says Publish blocked and why.
Nothing thrown away
Version history keeps every version as Active, Compiled, Draft or Archived with who last changed it, and routing changes go to the activity log.
Sign-off when the work needs it
A routing can require approval from any one approver, each in order, or everyone, and documents that use it wait for sign-off before their jobs are made.
Move open jobs forward. Leave started work alone.
A job keeps the routing version it was created with, so publishing never rewrites work on the floor. Jobs that have not started can be moved to the live version together, and a single job can have its own route, with the change written to its audit trail.
Jobs keep their version
Every job runs a copy of the routing version it was created with. Publishing V4 or disabling the routing does not change a job already on the floor.
See who is on what
The routing’s Jobs tab lists every job with its current step and version, and whether it is on the live version, customised or already started.
Move open work forward
Update to live revision moves selected jobs that are open or in production, not customised and not started. Their pending steps are replaced; the rest are skipped.
One job, its own route
Edit routing on a single job adds, removes or reconnects steps that have not started. Earlier and running steps stay locked, and the job shows as custom.
Automate what happens around the route.
Routing decides the steps a job runs. Workflows, in beta, handle the production workflow around them: when a job changes status or work sits too long, Bulk checks your conditions and runs the actions you chose, such as a notification or a task.
Starts from a change
A workflow starts from a business change, such as Production job status changed, or from work that has become overdue.
Steps you can read
Conditions, actions, waits, other workflows and an End on each branch. Actions go through the same operations and permissions a person would use.
Preview before publishing
Preview run checks the draft against a real record with no side effects, and a draft with setup errors cannot be published until they are fixed.
Versioned runs
Publishing pins a version, and runs already started keep theirs. A failed action raises an incident you can retry once the cause is fixed.
What manufacturing routing should settle.
Manufacturing routing is the ordered set of steps a job follows from start to finish, with the decisions, loops and checks along the way. In Bulk every answer below comes from the routing and the job that runs it.
| The question | How Bulk settles it | Where you read it |
|---|---|---|
| What order are the steps in? | Each step is a resource wired from Start to End. Compiling puts them in order and lists them in the flow map. | The routing editor and the compile flow map |
| Which way does this job go? | A split checks its branches top to bottom and takes the first true one, or Else. A formula that cannot be evaluated takes Error / Review. | The job’s steps in Production |
| How many times do we rework it? | A repeat group runs its steps again until the exit condition is true, up to its maximum passes, then follows Exception / Review. | Iteration labels on the job’s steps |
| Which version is this job on? | Each job keeps the version it was created with. Jobs that have not started can be moved to the live one. | The routing’s Jobs tab |
| Who changed it, and when? | Every version is kept with its status and who last updated it, and routing changes go to the activity log. | Version History and the audit trail |
| Does the work need sign-off first? | A routing can require approval from any one approver, each in order, or everyone before its jobs are made. | The routing’s Approval tab, and the document in Inbound |
| How is the work done, not just where? | The process, a revisioned work instruction, is chosen separately from the routing on each item and job. | Processes, in master data |
| When can we bill it? | Where the site bills from the routing, a job becomes billable at its one Invoicing step. | Invoicing |
One routing, read by every job.
Routings sit in master data and the rest of Bulk reads them: inbound picks one, production runs it, planning schedules its steps and invoicing waits at the end of it.
- Inbound & OCREach document item names the routing its jobs will run.
- ProductionJobs run a copy of the live version at the stations.
- SchedulingThe planning board schedules the job steps a routing creates.
- QualityQuality issues can choose a branch or end a repeat loop.
- InvoicingAn Invoicing step can mark where a job becomes billable.
- DashboardsValue Flow shows the work in progress value at each step.
- Tasks & ProjectsWorkflows, in beta, can create a task when a job changes status.
Questions, answered.
What is manufacturing routing software?
Manufacturing routing software defines the ordered steps a job follows, with the decisions, rework loops and checks along the way, and makes every job follow them. In Bulk you draw the routing on a canvas from your own resources, compile it and publish one live version. Each job keeps a copy of the version it was created with.
Do I need a developer to change a routing?
No. Anyone with routing edit rights, such as the Manager or Master data roles, opens a draft, changes it on the canvas, runs Save & Compile and activates it. Branch and loop conditions are short formulas, and typing @ suggests the fields.
How does Bulk decide which branch a job takes?
A conditional split holds up to eight branches, checked top to bottom. The job takes the first branch whose formula is true, or Else if none are. If a formula cannot be evaluated, the job takes the Error / Review path you connected, and the decision is saved on the job.
How do rework loops work?
Put the steps in a repeat group and give it an exit condition, such as no quality issues on this pass. The steps run again until it is true, up to a maximum you set from 1 to 50 passes, including the first. At the limit the job follows the Exception / Review path. A loop drawn outside a repeat group is rejected when you compile.
What happens to running jobs when I publish a new version?
Nothing changes for them. Jobs keep the routing snapshot they were created with, and the previous version is archived. From the routing’s Jobs tab you can move jobs that have not started a step onto the live version; started and customised jobs are skipped.
Can I change the route for just one job?
Yes. Edit routing on the job lets you add, remove or reconnect the steps that have not started. Completed, in-progress and loaded steps, and everything before them, stay locked. The job then shows as custom, and the change is written to its audit trail.
What does compiling check?
That there is one Start and at least one End, every step can be reached, every branch, Else, Complete and review path is connected, the formulas are valid and no loop sits outside a repeat group. A successful compile shows a flow map of the steps in order; a failed one highlights the steps to fix.
Can a routing require sign-off before production starts?
Yes. Turn on Requires approval, pick the approvers and choose whether any one, each in order, or everyone must approve. An inbound document that uses the routing waits for that sign-off before its jobs are created.
Is a routing the same as a work instruction?
No. The routing is where the job goes; the process is how the work is done. Processes are revisioned work instructions with their own approval, and you choose the process and the routing separately on each item and job.
Can a routing send an email or create a task?
Not from the routing itself. That automation lives in Workflows, which is in beta: a change such as a job going on hold can start a workflow that notifies people or creates a task, and you preview it on a real record before publishing.
Does the routing decide when a job can be invoiced?
It can. If the site requires an Invoicing routing step, every routing carries exactly one and jobs become billable there. The timing is set before the site’s first routing and is then locked.
How can I map a process before building its routing?
Use the SIPOC worksheet to agree the process boundary, the spaghetti diagram to record movement, and the standard work sheet to describe the agreed sequence. The value stream map adds queues and handoffs across the flow. Then use the routing guide to set up the sequence in Bulk.
Stop hard-coding the way you build things.
Start a free trial, draw one of your real routings on the canvas, branches and rework loops included, and compile it to see the jobs it makes. No card needed.
