Manufacture Order

Last updated: June 20, 2026

A manufacture order is the plan to build: it takes a finished product and its bill of materials, works out the components needed, and organises the batches that actually make it. It is the demand-and-planning layer of production, the bridge between “we need to make these” and the work that makes them.

What you will learn
  • What the manufacture order plans
  • How it explodes the bill of materials
  • How it relates to batch orders
  • Where it sits versus actual production
Componentsfrom stockBatch orderconsume + buildFinished goodsinto stockvia stations on a routeInputs are drawn from the stock ledger; outputs are produced back into it
A batch order consumes components and produces finished goods through the stock ledger simplified mockup

Anatomy of the screen

  • Order – code, purpose, due date, location and the finished items to build.
  • Parts – the flattened bill of materials: the components required, with ordered against pending so you can see what still needs sourcing.
  • Batches – the batch orders created to do the making.
  • Docs – links to those batch orders, to any purchase requisitions raised for shortfalls, and to the inventory entries behind the build.

How it behaves

Planning from the bill of materials

On confirmation the order flattens the bill of materials, walking every level to compute the components needed for the quantity you are building, and tracks ordered against pending. Where you are short, you raise purchase requisitions straight from the shortfall. It can be raised on its own, from a sales order (building to a customer's demand), or nested under a larger manufacture order.

Scope note. The manufacture order is the planning and demand unit: it sizes the build and organises batches, but it does not itself move stock. The actual consumption of components and creation of finished goods happens in the batch orders and the inventory entries behind them.

Worked example

You raise a manufacture order for 50 gift sets. It flattens the bill to the components, 100 of A, 50 sub-assemblies, 200 of C, shows what is short, and you raise requisitions to procure them. Batch orders are then created to assemble the sets.

Edge cases and good practice

  • Plan here, build in batches. The manufacture order organises; the batch order executes.
  • Source shortfalls from the Parts view, raising requisitions for what is pending.
  • Drive from a sales order when building to specific customer demand.

Related