Glossary · MES and ISA-95
Work master
Also known as: Work definition template
German: Arbeitsstamm
In ISA-95 / IEC 62264 models for Level 3 activities, a work master is a template that defines how a specific piece of work is done, including the required resources, parameters and work instructions. Job orders are created from work masters.
- MES
- Standards
In one sentence
In ISA-95, a work master is a template defining how a piece of work is done, with resources, parameters and instructions; job orders are made from it.
Example
The work master for "assemble valve body" lists the assembly station class, the torque parameters and the work instruction; each job order for that step is created from it.
How it applies
- Engineering: Work masters are defined at Level 3 and are often derived from business-level definitions; in batch industries, master recipes play a similar role.
- Operation: When work is dispatched, the system creates job orders from the work master and presents the instructions and parameters to operators or machines.
- Change control: Work masters need versioning and approval because they drive what happens on the shop floor.
- Documentation: The work instructions referenced by a work master are technical documentation. Keeping them as structured, reusable units, similar to a DITA task, makes it easier to link the right instruction version to each work master.
Work master vs. job order
The work master is the template. A job order is a specific instance of work, created from it and dispatched to a resource at a specific time.