The story
One question decides the length of the process.
A customer places an order. Sales checks it in the ERP: is the product valid, is the price right, is the customer allowed to order on account? Then comes the only gateway in the model: is it in stock? For a stocked item, sales reserves the stock in the ERP, and the order goes straight to logistics. For everything else, production takes over: the order is scheduled in the ERP, manufactured with the manufacturing execution system, and then released by quality.
That quality release is the control step, drawn in blue. Nothing leaves production without it. It is also the moment where the quality management system records that this batch, for this order, was checked and passed. After the release, both paths are the same again: logistics picks and packs in the warehouse system, ships through the carrier portal, and the customer receives the goods.
Four lanes: the customer, who orders and receives; sales, who checks and reserves; production, who schedules, manufactures and releases; and logistics, who picks and ships. The one gateway sits with sales, because sales is the role that sees stock and order together.
This is a fictional example model. A real order-to-delivery process would add credit checks, confirmation to the customer, partial deliveries, invoicing and returns. The example keeps the one fork that everyone in a manufacturing company recognises: make or take from stock.
The diagram
The model as BPMN 2.0.
The yes branch of In stock? stays in the sales lane and joins logistics at Pick and pack; the no branch drops into production, where three tasks follow in a row before the path rejoins. The length of the lower route is the point of the picture.
Elements used
What is in the model, and why.
Ten nodes and five systems. This is the example with the most system names, because in manufacturing the hand-overs between systems are where the process is really decided.
Lanes: Customer, Sales, Production, Logistics
Production and logistics are separate lanes with separate systems. The border between them, after the quality release, is the hand-over that a workshop will spend most of its time on.
Gateway: In stock?
One exclusive gateway. It is answered by the ERP, not by a person, which makes it a good candidate for a step that never needs to wait. The two branches have very different lengths.
Control step: Quality release
The blue task in the production lane, with the QMS under it. It is the one step in the model that may stop goods from moving. In the .bpmn file it carries the documentation "Control step" and the system name.
Systems: ERP, MES, QMS, WMS, carrier portal
Five systems on eight tasks. Order and planning in the ERP, execution in the MES, release in the QMS, picking in the WMS, shipping through the carrier portal. Every change of name is a place where data is handed over.
End event: Goods received
One end, with the customer. The process is complete when the goods arrive, not when they leave the dock. Naming the end that way keeps the carrier's part inside the picture.
Where the process waits
What to look at in an order-to-delivery model.
Orders wait in front of capacity and in front of controls. The model shows both, and one hand-over that is easy to miss.
The production schedule
Schedule production is one task, but it means fitting an order into a plan that is already full. This is where delivery dates are really set, and where sales and production disagree.
Waiting for the release
Finished goods that are not yet released sit between two lanes. If quality works in batches or at fixed times, the blue step is a queue, and the model shows exactly which step feeds it.
Reserved but not picked
The short path has its own gap: stock is reserved in the ERP, picking happens in the WMS. If the two are not linked, the reservation is a note that someone has to act on.
What the customer is told
There is no confirmation step in this model. In a real process the customer asks "when?" after the order, and the answer depends on which branch the order took. A workshop usually adds that step first.
Request the file
The model as a .bpmn file.
The file is a fictional example model in BPMN 2.0 XML. It opens in standard BPMN tools such as Camunda Modeler, Signavio or ADONIS, with lanes, the gateway, the control step and the diagram layout. It is sent by email on request; nothing is downloaded from this page.
The supplier side of the same plant: supplier onboarding. Why an interview captures this better than a screen recording: why not task mining. Processes in manufacturing as a whole: manufacturing.