Printer Stations

A display station can also be a printer station, printing the order or part of the order on a slip.

Kitchen routing using only printer stations

Kitchen routing using display and printer stations

Bumping on Expeditor triggers printing

See also

A printer station can be:

  • a KDS printer - the printer station (the actual hardware type does not matter) is handled by the KDS service. Letting the KDS service handle the printing can speed up the system. Instead of the POS waiting for the printers to finish, it is released very quickly and the KDS service is left to wait for the printers.
  • a Windows printer - the printer station is handled by the Business Central service. Windows printing works better than OPOS printing, if there are many printers involved.
  • an OPOS printer - the printer station is handled by the Business Central service. If the KOTs are printed to many OPOS printers, it can cause delays on the POS because it may have to wait a long time for the printers to finish printing.

Note: When the kitchen printing is handled by the KDS service (printers are KDS printers), the KDS service takes into account Time Offset for Showing for each printer station. The KDS service synchronizes the printing: an item with a long production time, routed to printer station A, is printed on printer station A before another item with a shorter production time, in the same KOT, routed to printer station B, is printed on printer station B. The aim is to have these two items ready at the same time. If there are more than one item routed to the same printer station, the item with the longest production time is used in synchronizing the production end between stations.

A printer station has the following settings:

Create Separate KOT: 

  • Specifies whether a separate KOT is created for this printer. If the printer has its own KOT, it is possible to mark the KOT as served.

Printer KOT Status after Send:

  • Specifies the status of the KOT after the items have been sent to the kitchen and printed. Only applied if a separate KOT is printed for the printer. If a separate KOT is not printed, the status of the KOT (if for printer stations only) is determined by the POS terminal - Printer KOT Status after Sent.

Show KOT Comment (Printer):

KDS Printing Sorted By:

  • Specifies the sorting of items when a KOT slip is printed. This can either be by:

    • menu type and then input order (line ID).
    • retail product group and then by item number.

    Note:For coursing, only the first option is used.

Kitchen routing using only printer stations

A printer station functions in a different way than a display station with a screen for obvious reasons:

  • You cannot mark a printer KOT as bumped on a printer station.
  • You can mark a printer KOT as served, or you can let the program serve the KOT immediately.

Example 1:

  • Three items are sent to the kitchen at the same time. Item 1 is routed to a bar printer, Item 2 is routed to kitchen printer A, Item 3 is routed to kitchen printer B. At the bar, you want the KOT to get the Served status right away. In the kitchen, you want it to get the Ready to be Served Manually status, because you want to press Serve when the items are ready.
  • All printers are set up as requiring Separate KOT. The bar printer with Served as Printer KOT Status after Send and the others as Ready to be Served Manually. The program creates three KOTs.

Example 2:

  • Three items are sent to the kitchen at the same time. Item 1 is routed to a bar printer, Item 2 is routed to kitchen printer A, Item 3 is routed to printer B. You just want a Served status for all printers.
  • No printers are set up as requiring Separate KOT. The POS terminal from which the KOT is sent has Served as Printer KOT Status after Sent. The program creates one KOT.

Kitchen routing using display and printer stations

Example 1:

  • Three items are sent to the kitchen at the same time. Item 1 is routed to a bar printer, Item 2 is routed to kitchen printer A, Item 3 is routed to display station C. You do not care about serving status for the printers and only the display station should control the status.
  • No printers are set up as requiring Separate KOT. The program creates one KOT. The status of the KOT is controlled by the KDS process only (starting, bumping).

Example 2:

  • Three items are sent to the kitchen at the same time. Item 1 is routed to a bar printer, Item 2 is routed to display station B, Item 3 is routed to display station C. You want the bar printer to handle its own items in a separate KOT and you want the KOTs to be marked Served right away.
  • The bar printer is set up as requiring Separate KOT and Served as Printer KOT Status after Send. The program creates two KOTs. The printer KOT is Served after sending, while the display station KOT is controlled by the KDS process (starting, bumping).

Bumping on Expeditor triggers printing

It is possible to print the chit on a printer station when the chit is bumped from an Expeditor display station. See Expeditor Bump Printing.

See also

How to: Set Up KDS Printers

Directing Printer Stations to Individual Printers

Switching to Backup Printing