Manufacturing inventory software for bills of materials and work orders
Manufacturing inventory software tracks the materials that go into what you make and the finished goods that come out, so stock and cost stay right through production. Cash Flow Inventory does it with bills of materials and work orders: materials are issued or backflushed, finished goods are received into stock, and each step posts to the same books as your sales and purchases.
The problems it solves
Materials that vanish between store and line
When issues to the line are not recorded against an order, raw-material stock drifts from the shelf and nobody can say which job used what.
A cost per unit nobody trusts
Without materials and time recorded against each work order, the cost of what you make is a guess — and so is the margin you quote on it.
Making the wrong thing at the wrong time
Production planned from memory runs short of one component and overstocks another, while customer orders wait for goods that were never scheduled.
How production works in Cash Flow Inventory
Define the bill of materials
Each product you make has a bill of materials: the components and quantities it takes. Work orders for that product are made from it.
Plan from demand and capacity
Demand plans look at demand over a window of 7 to 365 days; capacity planning checks an item and quantity against what you can make. Replenishment can raise work orders for items below their minimum.
Raise the work order
Set the item, how many, the date, finish-by and needed-by dates, and a batch or lot number with its expiry. Run it simple — one step — or routed, step by step.
Issue or backflush the materials
Issue materials to the work order, or tick backflush to take them out of stock when the finished goods are received. Material issues are listed with their work order, location and value.
Receive the finished goods
Finished-goods receipts put the made product into stock at a location with its value. With quality control on, the batch is inspected and only released lots can be sold or used.
What you can do
Bills of materials
The components and quantities each product takes, the starting point of every work order for that product.
Work orders
Planned → in progress → finished → closed, with a view of the late ones. Work orders can route to an approver through a workflow.
Material issues and backflush
Issue materials as the work starts, or take them out automatically when the goods are received. Stock never goes below zero on a production issue unless the business allows it.
Finished-goods receipts
Each receipt records the work order, the location and the value of what was made, and moves it into stock.
Costing
Materials issued and goods received carry their value. With work-centre costing on, operations cost the machine or line they run on and record how long they really took.
Schedule and shop floor
A schedule board and week view by resource; the shop floor and work sheet list tasks not started, in progress and done.
Batches and quality control
Batches go to QC to be inspected and signed off as passed or rejected; with the release gate on, only released lots can be sold or used.
Lot genealogy and recall
Trace a lot by its number or by work order; lot recall lists every customer who received a lot and where it came from.
Garments and CMT pack
Cost sheets from size ratio, fabric consumption, marker efficiency, wastage, trims, the CMT charge per dozen and overhead, against the FOB price; fabric reconciliation with the CMT contractor.
Where it is not the right fit
- Restaurants and cafés: recipe costing, table service and kitchen display are not its focus.
- Very large enterprises that need a global multi-company ERP rollout with on-premise hosting — this is a cloud product per business.
- A country that requires a certified e-invoice or fiscal device the app does not yet cover — the national e-invoice profiles are not certified.
Questions and answers
Software that tracks raw materials, work in production and finished goods, and the cost of each. In Cash Flow Inventory, bills of materials and work orders drive material issues and finished-goods receipts, all on the same stock and books as sales and purchases.
Backflush takes the materials out of stock when the finished goods are received, instead of issuing them first. On each work order you can tick backflush or issue the materials yourself.
Yes. The Manufacturing setup runs Order → Work order → Pick → Delivery → Invoice → Payment, and the Dropship & make to order option lets order lines be made for that order.
Material issues and finished-goods receipts each carry their value. With work-centre costing switched on, operations also cost the machine or line they run on, using how long they really took.
Yes. A work order can carry a batch or lot number with its expiry. Batches go through quality control, and lot genealogy traces a lot by its number or by work order.
Yes. The Garments pack has cost sheets that work out fabric per piece, cost per piece against the FOB price and the margin on the order, and a fabric reconciliation with the CMT contractor.
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