Material requests

Updated Oct 17, 2026

Shop Floor

Material requests

Ask for the parts a workcenter's job needs, worked out from the BOM in Plex, and have them picked and delivered by people or AGVs, with every request followed from the line to the delivery.

Permissions: Material requests need the Shop Floor license feature. Ordering, the /shop-floor/material page and its views, the material requests board and the picking station are open to DataMagik - Shop Floor Viewer, DataMagik - Maintenance, DataMagik - Shop Floor Admin and DataMagik - Material Admin. Working a task also needs membership of the task's fulfiller pool, unless you hold Maintenance, Material Admin or Shop Floor Admin. Material settings (/shop-floor/settings/material) need Material Admin or Shop Floor Admin. A request can be changed or cancelled by the person who raised it, a member of a pool working one of its tasks, or a Material Admin. Material Admin opens the material pages and the two material screens without the rest of Shop Floor. Your company's DataMagik - Security admin assigns these roles in the company user manager.

How material requests work

A material request (numbered MR-n) is a workcenter's ask. It has one line per part, with the quantity ordered and the quantity delivered. The request is fulfilled as material tasks (numbered MT-n), which people claim from a queue or AGVs carry as transport orders.

Each part reaches the line in one of two ways, set by your sourcing rules:

Direct delivery: one delivery task carries the part from its Plex location to the workcenter.
Staged pick: a picker first gathers the part at a staged pick location and scans each container. The pick goes onto one over pack, the request's master unit, which carries the request number MR-n. When the pick is complete, its delivery task is released.

The staged pick location is called a Supermarket unless you rename it. Many plants call it a kitting area or a crib. Set your own name in Name of your staged pick location on Material settings, and the pages, rules and tickets use that name instead.

Set up material requests

Material settings (/shop-floor/settings/material, or the Material settings button on the material page) has five sections. Set them up in this order: pools, supermarkets, sourcing rules, workcenters, then tickets.

Fulfiller pools. A pool is who or what may carry material. Click New pool, give it a Name and a Kind: People, AGVs, or People and AGVs. Then set:
- Loads it carries (Pallet, Container, Cart, Tow), Max weight (kg), Zones (comma-separated) and Equipment (comma-separated).
- Escalate to the rule's next pool after (min): if nobody in the pool claims a task in that time, it moves to the next pool on its sourcing rule.
- Check-ins last (hours): how long a person's check-in counts. 0 means it never lapses.
- For pools with vehicles, choose the Vehicles in this pool and set Vehicle take-over after (min). A vehicle that holds a task for that long without progress loses the task, and the task moves on.
- Add people with Add a person, or tick roles under Members by role. Everyone holding a ticked role is in the pool, as well as the people you name.
Supermarkets. Each site has its own supermarkets. Click Add Supermarket. Choose the Plex location parts are picked from from the site's Plex locations, and optionally a Pick ticket printer and a Pool that picks here. Under Refilled by, choose the pool that is told when a part runs low. Under Parts kept here, click Add a part, choose the part from Plex, and give its Minimum and Target. When a part falls to its minimum, the refill pool is told how much brings it back to the target, in whole packs. Turn on Switched off to stop offering a supermarket to new rules.
Sourcing rules. A rule says where a part comes from, how, and who may carry it. Click New rule and fill in the match: Match part, Match part group, Match Plex attribute (an Attribute and its Value) and Match workcenter. The most specific matching rule wins. A part rule beats a part group rule, which beats an attribute rule, which beats a workcenter rule, which beats a rule with no criteria. Use When two rules match equally to break ties; the higher number wins. Then set:
- Process: Deliver directly, or Pick at supermarket first, then deliver, and then choose the supermarket it is picked at.
- The Plex location it comes from, and the Facility station (for AGVs) if vehicles collect there.
- Load, Pack quantity and Equipment needed (comma-separated). Only pools with all of that equipment carry the part.
- Pools that may carry it, first choice at the top. A delivery goes to the first pool in this order that can take the load and has someone available.
With no rules, every part is delivered directly, by anyone.
Workcenters. Choose a Workcenter and set:
- Line-side Plex locations: the material already here counts against what is ordered, and deliveries are moved here in Plex.
- Plant layout and Delivery station (for AGVs), if vehicles deliver here.
- Target: Finish the job orders what the running job still needs. Minutes of cover keeps Cover (min) at the live rate and orders once stock falls below Order below (min). Min / max orders up to the maximum once stock is at or below the minimum. Min and max are set per part.
- Automatic ordering: Order automatically when running low, Order the kit when a job starts, Pre-stage the next job (with Next job lead (min)). All three are off until you tick them.
- Round up to whole packs: rounds a suggestion up to whole packs.
- Per-part overrides: click Add a part override, choose the part from Plex, and give it its own Target, Min, Max, Pack quantity or rounding. Tick Paused to keep automatic ordering away from that part.
Tickets and the status board. Tickets are off unless you switch them on. Tick Print a ticket for every request and choose a Default ticket printer, or switch tickets on with Print a ticket on a single rule or workcenter. The printer is chosen in this order: the rule's, then the workcenter's, then the company default. A pick ticket goes to the supermarket's Pick ticket printer first. A ticket uses the Built-in ticket or a label template you choose under Ticket template. Open Example data for a ticket template to see and Copy the data a template is filled with, or click Create a starter ticket template to get a template to start from. Ticket language sets the words on built-in tickets (English, Spanish or Chinese (Simplified)); Chinese also needs a Printer font for Chinese. Amber after (min) and Red after (min) set when a waiting request turns amber and red on the board. Click Save.

Standard pack. When a rule or override gives no Pack quantity, the pack is Plex's standard pack: the part's approved container type, or, failing that, the quantity on its last part operation in Plex. If Plex has none, any quantity can be ordered.

Order material

Open /shop-floor/material and use the Order view.

Choose the Workcenter. The page reads the running job and its BOM from Plex and shows each component as a card, the lowest coverage first. A card marked Suggested and Low shows the quantity to order and why. A card marked Covered shows what is on the line and what is already coming. Open Details on a card for the quantity per piece, the quantity required, the quantity line-side, the quantity coming and the quantity in the plant.
Adjust each quantity with the − and + steppers (they step by whole packs when the part has one) or type it. Set a quantity to 0 to leave the part out. To order for the job after this one, tick For the next job. Click Recalculate to read Plex again.
Under Send the request, scan your Badge. If your badge is known at this site, the form already shows you; click Not me — scan a badge if someone else is asking. Then choose the Priority (Urgent, Normal or Low), choose Who delivers (Whoever can (rules decide), People only or AGVs only), and add a Note if you want to.
To order a part that is not on the BOM, open Add a part that is not on the BOM. Search Plex by part number, or scan the part's barcode, then give the Quantity and click Add. A part is always chosen from Plex, never typed freely.
Optionally open More options: due time, pins to set Due by. A Material Admin can also pin the request to a pool (Carried by pool), a Vehicle, or a sourcing rule per part (Where each part comes from). A pin applies to this request only.
Click Request material. The request is routed by the sourcing rules at once, and Open requests at this workcenter lists it.

Use the Manual entry view to order without a BOM: choose where to Deliver to, add each Part number and quantity, and click Request material. Each part is checked against Plex as you add it and shows In Plex once it is found.

As you set a quantity, the page asks Plex what the part's supermarket holds and says whether it is enough. If a part is already open at the workcenter for the same job, asking again tops up the open line instead of making a second one.

Follow your requests

The Requests view lists every request, with its Workcenter, Parts, Status, how long it has been Waiting, who it is With, and how it was Raised by. Tick Open only to hide finished requests. A wait under an hour reads in minutes, and a longer wait in hours and minutes. The wait is banded On time, Waiting long or Late by your amber and red minutes.

A request is Open, Being filled, Delivered, Partly delivered or Cancelled. Click a request to see its lines, its tasks and their stage, and its History. If you are allowed to change the request, you can:

Change quantity or Skip a line that is still open.
Change the Priority, or Set due time and Clear due time.
Cancel request, giving a reason. Cancelling also cancels any vehicle order for it.

Anyone who can see the request can Print ticket. If you may not change a request, its detail says who can.

Pick and deliver material

The My tasks view is the material handler's queue.

Choose your Zone and click Check in. Checking in tells your pools you are available. Use Change zone when you move and Check out when you leave. If you are not in a pool, ask your Shop Floor Admin or Material Admin to add you.
The Queue shows the tasks you can work, your zone first. A task you hold is marked Yours. Choose a task and click Claim. If a vehicle holds the task but has not picked up the load, click Take over from the vehicle; the vehicle's order is cancelled and the vehicle is told to drop it.
Scan each container into Scan a container. The page looks the serial up in Plex, which says which part it holds and how many, unless you type a quantity. A container of a part that is not on the task is refused. To put a container on a particular line, open Scan onto part by hand on that line, then click Add container. Click Remove to take a scan off.
On a pick, if a bulk container holds more than the line still needs, the page asks how much to take from it, with the quantity the line needs filled in. Change the quantity if you need to, then click Take it, or Cancel to take nothing. What you take goes into its own new container on the over pack when the pick is completed, and the rest stays in the bulk container.
Click Pick complete on a pick or Delivered on a delivery. If less was scanned than was ordered, you are asked to confirm: click Complete short, or Keep scanning. Completing a pick releases its delivery.

To give up a task you hold, use Hand it back: To people, To AGVs or To anyone. A pick can only go back to people, because vehicles do not pick. If a vehicle's order fails, its task comes back to people with the reason. A Material Admin or Maintenance can Reassign a live task to a named person or vehicle.

The Fulfillment view shows, for each pool at the site, the people checked in and when their check-in lapses, the vehicles and their state, and the task each one holds now.

Pool members can get a push notification on their phone when a task becomes open to them.

Automatic ordering

For each workcenter where you switched it on, DataMagik looks at Plex about every five minutes and raises requests by itself:

Order automatically when running low: when coverage falls below Order below (min), it orders up to the target.
Order the kit when a job starts: a new job, or a setup, orders that job's kit.
Pre-stage the next job: when the running job has Next job lead (min) or less left, it orders the next job's kit once. The next job is the first one in Plex's dispatch list.

Paused parts are skipped, and what is already ordered and not yet delivered is netted out, so nothing is ordered twice. These requests show as Automatic: running low, Automatic: job started or Automatic: next job under Raised by. A pool member working one of the request's tasks or a Material Admin can change or cancel them like any other request.

Screens

Material requests board (/shop-floor/screens/material-requests): every open request, oldest first, colored green, amber or red by how long it has waited, and labeled On time, Waiting long or Late. Urgent requests are marked URGENT. Choose a Pool to show only one pool's work. The board refreshes itself; if it cannot, it dims and says what time it is showing.
Material picking (/shop-floor/screens/material-queue): a picking station for one pool's queue. Choose the Pool, then claim, scan and complete tasks there.

Both are canned screens, so you can put them in a kiosk rotation. A display can be set to one pool. Two more pages help you run the supermarket. The supermarket stock page (/shop-floor/material/supermarkets) shows what each part has on hand against its minimum and target; a Material Admin or a member of the refill pool can click Check now to ask Plex. Material lead times (/shop-floor/material/lead-times) shows how long requests take at each stage.

In the extension and the mobile app

In the DataMagik extension, the material page can slide out over a Plex screen. In the automation for that Plex screen, add an action of type Shop Floor Material Panel. Set its Workcenter URL parameter to the parameter in the screen's address that carries the workcenter key, such as Workcenter_Key, so the panel orders for the workcenter the screen is showing. Use Opens on to choose the view the panel shows first. In the panel, a request is made by the badge you scan; without a badge, the workcenter makes the request.

In the DataMagik mobile app, the Materials menu opens the same views (ordering, your tasks, requests and the status board) at phone size. Hardware scanners and typing work in it.

Plex writes

Material requests can update Plex as the work is done. Plex writes are off until the site's Plex container moves are switched on, the company holds the OT write license, and a Plex master unit for picks type is chosen in Material settings.

Pick: a completed pick builds its over pack in Plex as a new master unit of that type, with every scanned container on it. The request number MR-n is kept on it as the customer master unit number.
Delivery: a delivery moves that master unit, or each scanned container on a direct delivery, to the workcenter's first line-side location.
Over pack split: a quantity taken from a bulk container is split into a new container in Plex when the pick's master unit is built, never earlier. Plex records the split as the picker's Plex user. If the picker has no Plex user mapping at the site, it uses the Plex user for writes set in Material settings, which must be a registered shop-floor Plex user.

Every container is looked up again in Plex, and checked against its line's part, before anything is written. The outcome of each write is in the request's History.

Caution: With Plex writes on, completing a pick and delivering material change real inventory in Plex. Plex cannot undo a split. Try one pick, one split and one delivery against a test location before you switch writes on for production work.

Troubleshooting

"Plex has no part 2258-200; did you mean 2258-200-A?" Parts are matched to Plex exactly, including the revision. Choose the part from the search list instead.
"Plex shows no job on this workcenter." or "Plex lists no components for job …" The Order view has no BOM to work from. Use the Manual entry view.
"no pool can carry it: … has nobody available" Nobody in the rule's pools is checked in, or no pool carries that load, weight or equipment. Check in, or add a pool to the sourcing rule.
"… holds …, which is not on MT-n." The container is the wrong part, or another revision. Scan a container of the line's part. "Plex has no container …" means the serial is wrong.
"… is for … , and you are not in that pool." Ask a Material Admin to add you to the pool, or to reassign the task to you.
"Nothing was taken: … is not mapped to a Plex user at this site …" Take the whole container, or ask an admin to map the picker to a Plex user, or to set Plex user for writes.
"A split from bulk on MT-n did not go through in Plex" or "… master unit was not built in Plex" The request's History says why. In Plex the material is still in the bulk container. Once the cause is fixed, a Material Admin clicks Retry Plex writes on the request.
A ticket did not print. The request's history gives the reason, such as no printer being set for the supermarket, the sourcing rule, the workcenter or the company. A failed print never holds up a request.

Material requests