Manufacturing
Manufacturing turns raw materials into finished goods: bills of materials, work orders, material requisitions, production plan, by-products and scrap, quality control, daily log, maintenance, job work, product costing and safety.
Why and when you use it
A factory needs to know what each product is made of, what was issued to the floor, what came out and what it really cost. Manufacturing consumes raw material and adds finished goods to stock for every work order, and builds a cost sheet. The production manager runs it daily; the owner and accountant read Product Costing.
Before you start
- Raw materials and finished products added in Inventory
- Opening stock of raw materials entered
- Manufacturing module active (Enterprise plan)
Step by step
- Build the Bill of MaterialsIn Bills of Materials, list every raw material and quantity needed to make one unit of the finished product. Every work order uses this list.
- Plan productionUse Production Plan to decide what to make and when, based on orders and stock.
- Create and release a work orderIn Work Orders, create one for the product and quantity. It starts as draft; release it when ready. Use the status filters - draft, released, in_progress, completed, closed, cancelled - to find orders. The list shows WO No., Product, Qty Planned, Qty Produced, Qty Scrapped, Status, Planned Start, Actual End and In WIP.
- Issue materialRaise Material Requisitions to issue raw material to the floor. The work order shows each Material with Planned, Issued and Scrapped quantities, so you can see over-use.
- Log production dailyRecord output each shift in the Daily Production Log, so Qty Produced grows during the run.
- Check quality and record scrapUse Quality Control to pass or reject units. Record waste and saleable leftovers in By-products & Scrap.
- Send work outsideUse Job Work when a supplier does a process, such as machining or plating, on your material and sends it back.
- Read the cost sheetOpen Product Costing and the Cost sheet to see material, scrap and other costs per unit. Complete and then close the work order. Maintenance and Safety & Compliance keep machine and safety records.
- Check Registers Overview, Accounts and My PlanThe last tabs are shared by the industry modules. Registers Overview gives one summary of the registers in Manufacturing, Accounts shows the money side of the module and how it reaches your books, and My Plan confirms the module is active - it reads "Manufacturing Enterprise (Enterprise plan)".
Worked example
Patel Engineering Works in Rajkot makes 2 HP water pump sets. Each set needs 1 motor, 1 cast-iron pump casing, 1 impeller and a bolt kit. It plans 50 sets starting 12 Nov 2026; impellers are machined by a job worker.
- Bills of Materials: Pump Set 2HP = 1 motor + 1 casing + 1 impeller + 1 bolt kit.
- Work Orders: creates WO for 50 sets, Planned Start 12 Nov 2026; status draft, then released.
- Job Work: sends 52 rough impellers to the machining job worker; 52 come back finished.
- Material Requisitions: issues 50 motors, 52 casings, 52 impellers and 50 bolt kits; status becomes in_progress.
- Daily Production Log: 18, 17 and 15 sets over three days.
- Quality Control: 2 sets fail on leakage; they are scrapped with 2 casings, 18 kg iron turnings recorded as scrap.
- Work order completed on 15 Nov: Qty Produced 48, Qty Scrapped 2. Product Costing shows ₹3,800 per set (material ₹3,200 + labour ₹350 + overheads ₹250).
Result: Raw material stock goes down by what was issued, 48 pump sets are added to finished stock, scrap is on record, and the cost sheet gives the true cost per set for pricing.
💡 Tips
- Get the BOM right first - every work order and cost depends on it.
- Compare Planned and Issued per material on each work order to catch waste early.
- Close a work order only after the last QC and scrap entry.
⚠️ Common mistakes
- Adjusting raw material stock by hand instead of using Material Requisitions, which breaks the cost sheet.
- Leaving work orders as in_progress for weeks. Complete or cancel them so WIP is true.
Questions
What is In WIP?
Work in progress - material issued to a work order that is not yet finished goods.
Where are MRP and machine maintenance planned?
In Mfg. Add-ons, which has MRP and Maintenance tabs.
🎬 Video walkthrough (script — recording coming soon)
- Scene 1: Manufacturing tabs at Patel Engineering Works.
- Scene 2: BOM for Pump Set 2HP.
- Scene 3: Work order for 50 sets moving from draft to released.
- Scene 4: Material Requisitions and Job Work for impellers.
- Scene 5: Daily Production Log and Quality Control with 2 rejects.
- Scene 6: Cost sheet at ₹3,800 per set.
- Scene 7: Work order completed and closed.