Easily manage employees, workstations, or other production Resources in Katana. Resources are essential for assigning tasks, calculating production costs, and managing workloads efficiently.
What are resources?
A Resource in Katana can be:
A person (e.g. an operator)
A workstation (e.g. Assembly bench, Cutting table)
Resources are assigned to Production operations within a product card and play a key role in generating accurate costs and task tracking.
Where to manage resources
You can:
Assign and create Resources directly in the Production operations tab of a product.
Edit, delete, or reorder Resources from Settings → Resources.
You can also:
Track tasks by Resource in the Tasks tab of the Make screen.
Set default Costs per Hour per Resource from the Settings page.
Creating a new resource (from the product card)
Go to the Items screen.
Open a product (or create a new one).
Make sure "Make" is enabled.
Click the Production operations tab.
In the Resource field, type the name of a new Resource.
Press Enter or click "Create new 'resource'" from the dropdown.
Your Resource is now saved and can be reused.
Tip: This is useful when setting up operations for a specific product.
Tip: This is useful when setting up operations for a specific product.
Managing resources from settings
For broader management:
Navigate to Settings → Resources.
Here you can:
Edit a Resource name
Delete a Resource
Set a default Cost per Hour (used to calculate manufacturing costs)
Reorder Resources via drag-and-drop (affects order in the Tasks tab)
The same order is reflected in the Tasks tab of the Make screen, making it easier to follow task priorities.
Use case example
Let’s say you have a workstation called “CNC Machine”. You:
Add it as a Resource in the Production operations tab.
Assign it to a production step like “Milling”.
Set a Cost per Hour of $50 in Settings.
Now, whenever you use “CNC Machine” in operations, Katana will automatically use that cost and include it in your manufacturing cost calculations.
Your feedback is always appreciated. Let us know your thoughts on this article or anything else in Katana that you'd like to see improved: [email protected]