Getting Started with Production

Production in P4 is designed as a flexible, production control flow.

Instead of forcing production into a rigid process, P4 separates:

This guide walks you through the complete production flow, step by step, using the same logic you would follow in real production.

You do not need to configure everything or understand all details to get started.
You only need to understand how the pieces fit together.

The production flow at a glance

Production in P4 follows a clear sequence:

Outbound Delivery
→ defines what needs to be produced

Production Items
→ define what will actually be produced

Production Lines
→ define where production happens

Planning & Queue Management
→ define when and in what order

Execution
→ turns the plan into real production

Monitoring & Reporting
→ evaluates what really happened

Each step builds on the previous one.
Skipping a step usually leads to confusion later.

P4 intentionally separates production into distinct layers:

Demand layer
Outbound Deliveries represent customer demand and delivery requirements.
Execution layer
Production Items are the operational units that move through production.
Capacity layer
Production Lines represent real manufacturing resources.
Control layer
Planning, queues, and priorities define how production runs day to day.
Insight layer
Monitoring and reporting turn execution into measurable results.

This structure allows you to:

This Getting Started guide is intended for:

It is not:

Its goal is simple:

Help you understand production well enough to start using it confidently.

You can follow this guide in two ways:

Start at the first page and follow the flow in order.
This builds a complete mental model of production in P4.

If you already know parts of the system, you can jump directly to:

Each page stands on its own, but works best as part of the full story.

To keep Getting Started focused, this guide does not cover:

These topics are covered in dedicated documentation once the basics are clear.

If you are new to production in P4, start here:

This is where every production process begins.