Work center, station, qualification — what is what?

During setup, Gantway asks for work centers, stations, and qualifications. The three sound similar but describe different things: where the work happens, what is being worked on, and who can do it.

All three are maintained in one place: sidebar bottom → Settings → "Master Data". That page has the tabs "Slots", "Stations" and — for the Admin role only — "Qualifications". By default, admin and planner may create work centers and stations; the team lead can only view them.

Work center — the place

A work center is an area in your company: the assembly hall, the workshop, a construction site.

Its capacity is called "Capacity (concurrent orders)". It answers: how many orders can run here at the same time? If it says 1, the work center already counts as fully occupied with a single order.

Only two entries are required: a name with at least two characters and the capacity (at least 1).

Station — the spot for the work step

A station is a specific spot for a work step: the CNC mill, the paint booth, the chop saw.

Its capacity is called "Capacity (concurrent tasks)" — so it counts work steps, not orders. That is the real difference from the work center.

In addition, you can store a machine hourly rate on the station, separated into purchasing and sales. Gantway uses that later in the costing.

Qualification — the skill

A qualification is something a person can do: welding, CNC programming, measuring. It is tied to the employee, not the place.

Here too, you can store an hourly rate for purchasing and sales.

Why the distinction matters

When scheduling, Gantway checks all three together: Is the work center free? Is the station free? Is there someone with the matching qualification? Only when everything fits does Gantway suggest a date.

What you need at minimum

To get started, one work center or one station is enough. You do not have to create both, and you do not have to record all qualifications right away — you can catch up at any time.