Beacon how-to · October 2026

What's new: v2.165.0

The last stage of a staged SKU can now have its own crew. Before, it always ran with the SKU's crew — so a 5-person pack stage planned and paced as if the whole line were on it.

  • v2.165.0

1. Patch notes v2.165.0 Oct 26, 2026

  • Finishing-stage crew: on the SKU page under Stages, the last stage has a Crew box. Leave it blank and it runs with the SKU's crew, as before. Type a number and that stage runs with it.
  • Used everywhere the stage runs: Labor Planner blocks, the order tray, Suggest schedule, the crew prompt on Start Line, Changeover and Pull Forward, console and board pace, and Shift Review's planned crew and run time.
  • Clock hours: the finishing stage now shows its clock hours on the SKU page, like earlier stages.
  • Fixed: Shift Review's plan for a finishing-stage order uses the SKU's pallet size instead of leaving planned pallets blank, and the plan saved at WRAP UP PO matches the one Shift Review shows.
Ferrara · Shanklin 60008691Set Stage 1 to Fill inners: unit inner, 12 per finished unit, 420 per pallet, crew 11. Set the last stage to Pack shippers, crew 5. Expect about 441 inners an hour on Fill and about 71 shippers an hour on Pack.

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

2. Set the finishing stage's crew

  1. Open the SKU page (Material Master → the SKU) and go to Stages.
  2. On the last stage (it says Finishing stage), type the crew in Crew. The grey hint shows the SKU crew it uses when the box is blank.
  3. Click Save stages. The line under the stage now shows person-hours and clock hours at that crew.
Stages panel: Fill inners, unit inner, 12 per finished unit, 420 per pallet, crew 11, rate 40 per person-hour, 12,000 units, 300.0 person-hours, 27.3 clock hours. Pack shippers, finished unit, 35 per pallet, crew 5, finishing stage, 1,000 units, 70.1 person-hours, 14.0 clock hours.
Fig. 1Fill inners at crew 11, Pack shippers (the finishing stage) at crew 5.
The last stage is the finishing stageTurning on Build in stages makes two stages: Stage 1 and Finish. Finish is the last stage, not an extra step — rename it (for example Pack shippers) rather than adding another stage before it. A finishing stage with no steps runs at the SKU's own rate, so an empty extra one counts the whole SKU's hours a second time.

3. Where the crew shows up

Checked on the test site with a 200-shipper order, Fill inners at crew 11 and Pack shippers at crew 5 (rate 14.26 shippers per person-hour):

ScreenShows
Labor Planner blockcrew 5, 2.81 h for 200 shippers (14.0 person-hours ÷ 5). Fill inners: crew 11, 5.45 h for 2,400 inners.
Pull Forward71/hr standard (14.26 × 5)
Crew promptStart build — 5 people
Consolestd 71 uph, target 71 this hour, 35 per pallet
BoardUnits per hour goal / 71
Shift Review, PO rowPlanned HC 5; planned run time 14m (1.19 person-hours ÷ 5)

Person-hours and the quote don't change — only clock hours and per-hour rates do. Pre- and post-build blocks keep the SKU's crew.