Production & Manufacturing
Bills of materials with versions, work orders, recipe production runs and quality control inspections.
The production tools help you plan what you make and record what it used. You define a bill of materials (BOM) for each finished product, plan runs with work orders, record the components consumed and compare plan with actual. Quality Control records inspections on goods received and on work orders. This guide also says clearly where production does not move stock or post to the ledger, so you know what to do by hand.
Build a Bill of Materials
Go to Operations → BOM. Choose the finished good, the quantity one run produces and the unit of measure. Each BOM has a version number, so you can keep a history of recipe changes.
Click + Component and add each raw material or sub-assembly with its quantity. Enter a scrap percentage to allow for waste; for example, 5 means 5% more of that component is planned. A component that has its own BOM is marked as a manufactured item.
Click Activate to make a version the current recipe for that product. Use Clone to copy a version, with all its components, into a new inactive version that you can change.
Use Explode to work out the total raw materials needed for a production quantity, across all levels of sub-assemblies.
Run Work Orders
From a BOM version, click Work Order, or go to Operations → Work Orders. Enter the quantity to produce, the warehouse and planned start and end dates. The system fills in the component lines from the BOM, scaled to the quantity and including the scrap percentage.
A work order moves from Draft to Released, then In Progress, then Completed. It can be cancelled at any point before it is completed.
On the work order, enter the quantity actually consumed and the unit cost for each component line. You can add extra lines while the order is open. Completed and cancelled orders are locked.
Work order statuses and consumption lines are records only. They do not issue components from stock, receive finished goods or post to the general ledger. Update stock by adjustment on each item (stock journal only), and ask your accountant to post any journal needed for the value.
Compare Plan with Actual
Go to Operations → Ops Reports and open Work Order Variance. For each completed work order it compares the planned component use with what you recorded:
| Measure | How it is worked out |
|---|---|
| Component variance | Quantity consumed less quantity required, per component |
| Cost variance | Consumed quantity × unit cost, less required quantity × unit cost |
Quality Control
Go to Operations → Quality Control and create an inspection linked to a goods received note or a work order.
For each line, enter the quantity inspected, passed, failed and quarantined. The three results cannot add up to more than the quantity inspected. Set the result to pass, fail or quarantine, and choose a disposition: return to supplier, scrap or rework.
When you submit, the inspection becomes Passed, Failed or Partially Passed based on its lines. Failed and quarantined inspections are listed on Operations → Ops Reports.
An inspection does not move stock by itself. To hold a batch back, set it to quarantine under ERP → Stock Batches. Returns to a supplier are handled with a supplier debit note under Finance → Supplier Notes.
Simple Recipes
For simple assembly there are also stock recipes: a list of components for one finished item. Running "produce" on a recipe issues the components from stock and receives the finished item. This is written to the stock journal only, with no ledger posting. Recipes are currently available through the API, not on a menu screen.
Related Modules
Stock & Inventory
Components and finished goods are stock items, with batches, serials and adjustments.
Procurement & Supply Chain
Buy raw materials with purchase orders and inspect them on receipt.
Job Costing
Track stock, labour and travel on customer jobs.
Accounting Rules
Which documents post to the ledger, and how.