Charge codes
Introduction
In manufacturing, charge codes identify where to allocate labor time, materials, machine usage, and expenses. Charge codes are essential for cost accounting, production tracking, project management, compliance, and operational reporting. Charge codes are commonly used in ERP and MES systems including FactoryLogix.
A charge code links work activity to a specific item, for example:
Manufacturing order
Customer job
Product line
Department
Cost center
Engineering project
Rework activity
Non-production activity
Capital project
R&D effort
Think of a charge code as a financial and operational “bucket” that captures costs and effort linked to manufacturing work.
Example: PCB Manufacturing Scenario
In electronics manufacturing, you can use charge codes to track various operations in a process flow as shown in the following table.
📋 Process steps and charge codes
Process step | Example charge code | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
SMT Assembly | SMT-220541 | Track placement labor |
AOI Inspection | AOI-220541 | Inspection cost |
Rework | RWK-220541 | Failure analysis |
X-Out Handling | XOUT-220541 | Scrapped circuits |
Final Test | TEST-220541 | Validation labor |
This becomes especially important when individual circuits on a panel are scrapped or “X’d out,” because manufacturers need to separate the following:
Good-unit cost
Scrap cost
Rework cost
Yield loss
This information often feeds directly into ERP and quality reporting systems.
Where charge codes are used in FactoryLogix Office
In FactoryLogix Office, assign charge codes to operations, activities, and indirect time tracking codes:
Operations - Use the New Operation/Update Operation dialog (Advanced Options tab)
Activities - Use the Settings dialog (Activity Details tab)
Indirect time tracking codes - Register charge codes against them