This playbook sets out what we find in most manufacturing businesses before they move to a single system, what we set up, and the reports owners use once it is running.
Where the money leaks
- Production is planned in spreadsheets that nobody trusts by Wednesday
- Raw material runs out mid-run, or sits idle for months
- Nobody can say what a unit really costs to make
What we set up
- Bills of materials
- Recipes and multi-level BOMs with versions and substitutes.
- Production planning
- Work orders raised from sales orders and forecasts, sequenced by capacity.
- Shop floor
- Job cards on a tablet: start, stop, quantity, scrap, operator.
- Material control
- Batch and expiry tracking from receiving to finished goods.
- Costing
- Material, labour and overhead rolled into a true cost per unit.
- Quality
- Inspections at receiving, in process and before dispatch.
How a normal day runs
- Sales order confirmed
- Materials planned and purchased
- Work order runs on the floor
- Finished goods costed and dispatched
Reports owners use
- Production plan against actual
- Material consumption variance
- Cost per batch
- Machine and operator output
Modules involved
Manufacturing, Stock, Procurement, Quality, Accounting, Sales. They share one database, so every entry updates the accounts and the reports together.
Where to start
Most manufacturing businesses start with manufacturing, stock, procurement, then add the rest once the first phase is stable.
Questions we are often asked
- Can ERPNext handle multi-level bills of materials?
- Yes. A finished product can contain sub-assemblies, each with its own bill of materials, operations and cost.
- Do operators need a computer each?
- No. Job cards run on a shared tablet or a phone on the floor, so operators record work where it happens.