The quick answer
Create a work calendar under Lists > Employees > Work Calendars > New and enter each closed date as a Holiday Date line on Non Working Days. Then open the manufacturing work center under Lists > Relationships > Groups, click Edit and choose the new calendar in Work Calendar on the Manufacturing Work Center Settings subtab. A work order that was already scheduled keeps its old dates, so open it, click Edit and Save. In the example, NetSuite then scheduled the operation again on the work center's calendar and the Production End Date moved past the closed days. Test one order first, because recalculation can depend on the order's status, scheduling method, routing and features.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and operating-company names are fictional. Use your own records and values when following the steps.
Before you start
Example Supply Co. machines cast housings in Machining Cell 3. Work order WO3140 is a WIP work order for 24 CH-410 Cast Housings, scheduled forward from Thursday 11/12/2026. Its routing has one operation, 10 Machine Housing, with a Setup Time of 0 and a Run Rate of 60 minutes per unit, so it needs 24 x 60 = 1,440 minutes, which is 24 hours. The plant will be closed on Monday 11/16 and Tuesday 11/17 for maintenance, and the order should not count those days as working time.
You need the Manufacturing Routing and Work Center feature, Work Orders, Assembly Items and Manufacturing Work in Process enabled, an assembly with a manufacturing routing, and a WIP work order that uses it. You also need permission to create work calendars and to edit groups and work orders. The Work Calendars list is under Lists > Employees. Which features expose it can vary, for example Projects, Time-Off Management or Manufacturing Routing and Work Center, so confirm it appears in your account. Menu paths, field names and required fields can differ by role, release and form, so treat the screenshots as one example.
This walkthrough covers conventional Manufacturing Routing and Work Center scheduling, where a work center is an employee group. It does not cover Advanced Manufacturing work centers, shop calendars or finite scheduling, which work differently. Dates and times appear the way your account and user preferences display them.
01. Read the work order's schedule
Open WO3140 from Recent Records and select the Operations subtab. Operation 10 Machine Housing at Machining Cell 3 shows an Input Quantity of 24, a Setup Time (Min) of 0 and a Run Rate (Min/Unit) of 60. It runs from 11/12/2026 9:00 am to 11/16/2026 5:00 pm, and the Production End Date under Scheduling Details is 11/16/2026. Scheduling Method is Forward and the work center on the operation is Machining Cell 3, the group you will change. The order needs 24 hours, and it ends on 11/16, the first day the plant is closed.
02. Check the calendar the work center uses
Go to Lists > Employees > Work Calendars and open Default Work Calendar, which Machining Cell 3 is set to use. On Working Days, Start At is 9:00 am, Hours Per Day is 8, and Monday to Friday are checked.
Open Non Working Days. The Holiday Date sublist has no lines. So 24 hours is three 8-hour working days, 11/12, 11/13 and 11/16, and nothing in the calendar says the plant is closed on 11/16.
03. Start a new work calendar
Go to Lists > Employees > Work Calendars > New. The form opens with Name, Default Calendar and Comments above the Working Days and Non Working Days subtabs. In this example a new calendar opened with Monday to Friday checked, Start At showing 12:00 am and Hours Per Day empty. Start At, Hours Per Day and at least one working day are required.
In Name, type November Shutdown Calendar. Leave Default Calendar clear. It identifies the account's default calendar, and only this work center is moving to the new one. In Comments you can add a short note, for example Monday to Friday, with the November maintenance days off.
04. Set the working week and closed dates
On Working Days, enter 9:00 am in Start At and 8 in Hours Per Day. Monday to Friday are already checked, so leave them. Saturday and Sunday stay clear.
Open Non Working Days. Enter 11/16/2026 in Date and Maintenance shutdown day 1 in Description, then add the line to the sublist. Enter 11/17/2026 and Maintenance shutdown day 2 and add that line too, and confirm both lines are in the sublist before you save. Each line is one date. Date and Description are both required, and a line does not repeat next year.
05. Save the calendar
Click Save. NetSuite shows Work Calendar successfully Saved and opens November Shutdown Calendar in view mode. Working Days shows Start At 9:00 am, Hours Per Day 8 and Monday to Friday checked.
Open Non Working Days. Both closed dates are listed.
Creating the calendar does not assign it to anything yet. No work center or work order uses it.
06. Assign it to the work center
Go to Lists > Relationships > Groups and open Machining Cell 3. A work center is a static employee group with Manufacturing Work Center checked.
Click Edit and open the Manufacturing Work Center Settings subtab. Work Calendar shows Default Work Calendar. Choose November Shutdown Calendar and click Save.
NetSuite shows Group successfully Saved. On Manufacturing Work Center Settings, Work Calendar now shows November Shutdown Calendar.
07. Confirm the work order has not moved
Open WO3140 again from Recent Records and select Operations. Nothing has changed. The operation still ends 11/16/2026 at 5:00 pm and the Production End Date is still 11/16/2026, the same as in the first screenshot. The order keeps the dates it was last scheduled with, and assigning a calendar does not reschedule it.
08. Save the work order again
Click Edit, then Save, without changing a field. NetSuite shows Transaction successfully Saved. In this example it scheduled the operation again on Machining Cell 3's new calendar. On Operations, operation 10 now runs from 11/12/2026 9:00 am to 11/18/2026 5:00 pm, and the Production End Date is 11/18/2026.
Check the days. 11/12 and 11/13 are working days. NetSuite skips the weekend and the two Holiday Date lines on 11/16 and 11/17. 11/18 supplies the last 8 hours, which makes 8 + 8 + 8 = 24. That arithmetic holds because the routing has one operation, no setup time and no lag, and every working day is the full 8 hours.
Check the result
- November Shutdown Calendar shows Start At 9:00 am, Hours Per Day 8 and Monday to Friday, with 11/16/2026 and 11/17/2026 on Non Working Days.
- Machining Cell 3 shows November Shutdown Calendar in Work Calendar on Manufacturing Work Center Settings.
- On WO3140, operation 10 runs from 11/12/2026 9:00 am to 11/18/2026 5:00 pm and the Production End Date is 11/18/2026.
If an order's dates do not move, check that the operation's work center is the group you changed, that the order is a WIP order, and what its Scheduling Method is. Other orders on Machining Cell 3 that were scheduled before the change probably behave the same way, so expect to open and save each affected order, and try one first. When Supply Planning schedules with a default routing, it considers the work center's calendar, so regenerate the plan after changing a calendar or a routing.
Common questions
Why did my work order dates not change after I assigned the new calendar?
Assigning a calendar changes the calendar the work center uses. It does not necessarily rewrite orders that were already saved. In this example the Production End Date stayed 11/16/2026 until WO3140 was edited and saved, and then it moved to 11/18/2026. If yours does not move, check the order's routing, work center, status and Scheduling Method, and whether Advanced Manufacturing or Supply Planning controls the schedule.
Does a Holiday Date line repeat every year?
No. Each line is one specific date with a Date and a Description. A shutdown that repeats every year has to be entered again for each year.
Which work calendar does a work order operation use?
In conventional routing scheduling, the Work Calendar of the work center on that operation. Operation 10 is at Machining Cell 3, so it uses the calendar chosen on Machining Cell 3's Manufacturing Work Center Settings subtab. In this example Work Calendar is required there and started on Default Work Calendar. Check that the operation's work center is the group you changed.
Do I need to check Default Calendar for the new calendar?
Not for this. Default Calendar identifies the account's default work calendar. Leave it clear for a calendar that only some work centers use, and assign it to those work centers yourself.
What does Hours Per Day mean for scheduling?
It is the daily capacity the calendar represents. In this example, 8 hours a day let 24 hours of routing time spread across three working days. Do not use it by itself to model several shifts, detailed breaks, overtime or finite machine capacity. Those needs may call for separate setup or Advanced Manufacturing.
Will this reschedule the other work orders on the same work center?
Not by itself. Saving the calendar and the work center did not move WO3140 until the order was saved, so expect the same for other orders, and test one. Conventional calendar scheduling is not the same as finite sequencing, which resequences orders around machine capacity. Advanced Manufacturing finite scheduling is a separate workflow with its own work centers, shop calendars and resources.
Do planned orders and supply plans pick up the new calendar automatically?
Do not assume they do. When Supply Planning uses a default routing, it considers the work center's calendar, including its holidays. After changing a work calendar or a routing, regenerate the supply plan. Whether the plan creates work orders also depends on your work order generation and scheduling settings.