Beacon how-to · October 2026

What's new: v2.163.0

A SKU that is built in more than one pass can now be set up as one SKU with stages — planned, costed and tracked stage by stage. Ferrara quotes now bill the crew at paid hours.

  • v2.163.0
  • v2.163.1

1. Patch notes v2.163.0 – v2.163.1 Oct 24, 2026

  • v2.163.1
    • Stage blocks stay staged: saving the Labor Planner now keeps each block's stage. Before, a saved “Build displays” block came back as a plain block, so its displays would have counted as finished units.
    • Floor waits for stage support: Checkpoint Live doesn't offer earlier-stage work in Start Line or Changeover yet. Line cards say “Stage work starts on the floor in the next release.” Finishing-stage and unstaged work start as before.
  • v2.163.0
    • Build in stages: on the SKU page, name the stages in run order, give each its unit, how many go into one finished unit, how many fit on a pallet and its crew, and pick which steps belong to it. The last stage is the finishing stage. A stage with no steps takes a typed rate per person-hour.
    • Cost per stage: the SKU page and Costing show each stage's hours and labor, then material, fixed roles, markup and the total — the same total as the quote.
    • Planner: a staged order shows one line per stage, in its own units and in run order. A stage block is sized by its window and the stage's crew. Only finished units count toward the order's progress.
    • Hour Tracker: a staged SKU's PO asks which stage. Earlier stages record their own units; only the finishing stage counts finished cases.
    • Paid hours: Ferrara quotes bill the crew at 8 paid hours for every 7.5 worked. Orders already posted keep the price they were charged.
Not on the floor yet. Checkpoint Live, the line boards and Shift Review do not know about stages yet — that comes next. Until then, keep running staged work on the floor the way you do today.
Checkpoint Live line card 1B: No work planned on this line today, Start Line (Off-Schedule), and the note Stage work starts on the floor in the next release.
Fig. 0v2.163.1: a line whose only planned work is an earlier stage offers nothing to start, and says why.

2. Build a SKU in stages

Some SKUs are built in more than one pass with different crews — Shanklin fills inner displays with 11 people, then packs 12 inners into a shipper with 5; Buckner builds empty displays one day and fills them later. Instead of a second SKU or an invented PO for each pass, the SKU now carries its stages.

  1. On the SKU page, open Build Steps and press Build in stages.
  2. For each earlier stage fill in Name, Unit, Per finished unit, Per pallet and Crew. The last stage is the finishing stage: it uses the SKU's own pallet size and crew.
  3. In the step list, pick the stage each step belongs to. Steps you leave alone belong to the finishing stage.
  4. Press Save stages. To undo it, press Stop building in stages.

A stage that has no steps (most Buckner SKUs run on a typed cases per hour) takes a typed Rate / person-hr in its own unit instead. A stage with neither is marked incomplete and cannot be planned.

Stages panel on a SKU page: stage Build displays with unit display, 1 per finished unit, 24 per pallet, crew 4, reading 1,000 units, 30.8 person-hours, 7.7 clock hours; the finishing stage Fill and pack uses the SKU pallet size and crew 12. Below, each step has a stage picker.
Fig. 1Two stages on a demo SKU: Build displays (4 people), then Fill & pack.

Screenshots are from Beacon's test site; the SKU and its figures are demo data.

3. What each stage costs

Under the quote on the SKU page (and in Costing) a table splits the order by stage: each stage's quoted hours and labor, then material, fixed roles and markup, charged once per order. The rows add up to the quote's total.

Per stage table: Build displays 1,000 units 32.4 quoted hours labor 725.17 dollars; Fill and pack 1,000 units 73.6 hours 1,649.04 dollars; Material 0; Fixed roles 489.48; Subtotal 2,863.69; Markup 30 percent 859.11; Total 3,722.80.
Fig. 2The stages add up to the quote: subtotal plus markup equals the total.

4. Planning stages

In the Labor Planner a staged order shows one tray line per stage, in run order and in that stage's units — for example Build displays — 8,000 displays left above Fill & pack — 7,099 left.

Order tray with two tiles for PO 1063461: Build displays 8,000 stage units left of 8,000 ordered, and Fill and pack 7,099 left.
Fig. 3One tray line per stage.

Drag a stage onto a lane. The block is sized by the window and the stage's own crew: a 6-hour window with 4 people offers about 778 displays.

Placement panel for 60170116, PO 1063461, Build displays: window H1.25 to H7.25, 6 hours, this block about 778, running total about 778 of 8,000 displays (10 percent), crew 4.
Fig. 4Placing a Build displays block: 6 h × 4 people ≈ 778 displays.
Lane 1B with a block labelled 60170116 Build displays, crew 4; the day strip shows 1B 6.0 hours, total units 0 and peak crew 8.
Fig. 5On the lane the block names its stage and crew. Total units counts finished units only, so an earlier stage adds none.

Earlier-stage blocks never count as finished units: the order's progress and the day's Total units only move with the finishing stage. Stage units entered in the Hour Tracker come off that stage's units left for days that are posted, the same way finished cases do.

5. Hours by stage

In the Hour Tracker, choosing a PO whose SKU is staged adds a Stage picker.

Hour Tracker order row: Production order 1063461 and an open Stage picker listing Build displays and Fill and pack.
Fig. 6Pick the stage you worked on.
Hour Tracker row with Stage Build displays selected and the units box labelled Displays done.
Fig. 7An earlier stage records its own units — here, displays done.

Only the finishing stage's entries count finished cases toward the order. Earlier stages' hours still count in total hours and cost, and their units count toward that stage's productivity.