The term method refers to the information Match-IT holds about how you manufacture your products or perform your services.

This includes bill-of-material information (what materials are required) as well as routing information (what processes are required) and much more.

Methods can be completely self-contained and just describe how to make a simple ‘widget’, or they can be combined in complex ways to describe huge structures with 100’s or 1000’s of parts and operations.

Overall, a method consists of a series of STEPs. A STEP represents a single operation. Each STEP in the method must be performed in sequence to create the end result.

Each STEP can consist of any number of PARTs and any number of RESOURCEs. A STEP can have other things associated with it too; we’ll introduce those later.

A PART is a reference to a quantity of a material that is required for that STEP. When there are multiple PARTs, it can either mean all are needed or it may mean there are choices.

A RESOURCE is a reference to a machine or a person that is required for a period of time to perform the process required for that STEP. When there are multiple RESOURCEs, it can either mean all are needed at the same time, or it can indicate there are choices.

This basic structure can be depicted like this:

Method (make)
 Step 1
         Part A
         Part B
         …
         Part N
         Resource A
         Resource B
         …
         Resource N
 Step 2
         Part …
         Resource …
 …
 Step N
         Part …
         Resource …

 Method (end)