Manufacturing

Manufacturing in Arcus connects a product recipe to the work performed on the floor. Use it to build an assembly, take a product apart, convert one product into another, plan shortages, and review the resulting material, labor, inventory, and accounting activity. This guide is the starting point. Follow the linked task articles for the exact lifecycle action you need.

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Choose Your Starting Point

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Understand The Recipe Types

All three types use the same Draft, Active, and Superseded recipe lifecycle. Only an Active BOM can be selected for new work. Use BOM Lifecycle for activation, revision, default, supersede, archive, and restore decisions. Use Bills of Materials for recipe types, lifecycle, defaults, revisions, phantom behavior, costing, and availability. Use Creating BOMs for the complete creation checklist.

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Prepare The Product First

For a stocked product that Arcus should manufacture:

1. Open the product.
2. Set its supply method to Manufactured or Both when the product can be purchased or manufactured.
3. Open the product’s Manufacturing tab.
4. Create or review the active recipes under Build Recipes (BOMs).
5. Star the active recipe that should be the default for MRP and sales-document manufacturing.
6. Review Recent Work Orders, Where Used, and the supply buildability result before committing work.

Use child product records for specific variants. Do not build a variant parent or a product box as though it were the stocked output.

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Create Work From The Right Source

The creation source changes what is preselected and whether several records can be created. The safest habit is simple: open every newly created work order and verify its BOM, quantity, location, status, availability, serial requirements, and dates before the floor starts work.

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Use Build All From Sales Documents

An eligible sales order or invoice can show a Manufacturing section with Build All. Arcus considers manufactured lines, skips kit-component child lines, and does not create another work order for the same document line when a non-cancelled work order is already linked. Before clicking Build All:

1. Confirm every intended product is Manufactured or Both.
2. Confirm each product has an Active BOM. The starred default is preferred; otherwise Arcus uses the most recently updated active recipe.
3. Check the Manufacturing setting that controls automatic release.
4. Decide whether the sales order or the invoice will be the single manufacturing source for this sale.

Creation is evaluated line by line. Some work orders can be created while other lines are skipped or refused. After the action, inspect the linked work-order list and every manufactured product line. Resolve missing recipes or other blockers, then run Build All again only for lines that still have no linked work.

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Run A Work Order Through Its Lifecycle

Use Work Orders for queue views, statuses, start, completion, close, and cancellation. The work-order detail is the source of truth when a group, planning page, or sales document shows only a summary.

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Follow Materials, Labor, Serials, And Cost

Manufacturing activity is not only a status change:

• Material issues move component value into work in process. Returns, scrap, and approved substitutions change the actual material story.
• Timer sessions, manual labor, or configured standard labor record the labor actually charged to the job.
• Completion adds the finished or recovered product and relieves the appropriate work-in-process cost. Serialized output requires the serial details demanded by the completion workflow.
• Closing completes the final operational and cost review. Use the work order’s inventory, cost, completion, and GL history for transaction-level evidence.

Use Materials and Substitutions, Labor Tracking, and Partial Completions and Undo for the detailed controls. Use Travelers for the printable floor packet.

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Coordinate Planning Without Mixing Ledgers

• Combined Runs coordinate members and intermediate flow. Each member keeps its own materials, labor, completion, inventory, and accounting history. The group does not post a separate manufacturing ledger.
• Production Planning (MRP) calculates suggestions. Running MRP alone does not change stock or accounting. Created work orders and purchase orders follow their own lifecycles.
• Reports summarize current work-order data. Correct the owning BOM, work order, inventory record, or accounting record rather than trying to edit a report result.

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Check Linked Sales Work Before Cancellation

Before cancelling or voiding a sales document, inspect its linked manufacturing work:

• Draft or Released child work orders can be cancelled as part of the sales-document cancellation flow.
• In Progress work blocks that cancellation until the work order is addressed directly.
• Completed or Closed child work orders block sales-document cancellation. Process the finished goods through the appropriate RMA or scrap workflow, then retry cancellation.

This prevents an order cancellation from hiding physical work that has already begun or completed.

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Troubleshooting And Refusals

• The Manufacturing tab has no build actions: set the product supply method to Manufactured or Both, then create an Active BOM.
• A BOM is missing from New Work Order: confirm the recipe is Active and belongs to the intended product or variant.
• Build All is missing or disabled: confirm the document is a sales order or invoice with manufactured lines, at least one eligible Active BOM, and a status that still allows manufacturing.
• Only some Build All lines created work: inspect the linked list and product lines, fix the missing recipe or line-specific gate, and retry only after confirming which work already exists.
• MRP does not analyze a product: verify active status, inventory tracking, Manufactured or Both, and an Active default BOM.
• Release is refused: confirm edit permission, current Draft status, and the request result. A shortage does not block Release, but it can block material issue or completion and still must be resolved before the floor consumes or completes work.
• A sales document cannot be cancelled: review linked In Progress, Completed, or Closed work and follow the manufacturing decision required for that state.

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Common Scenarios

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Build from forecast and open demand

Set the product to Manufactured or Both, activate and star the intended default BOM, then run Manufacturing > Production Planning. Review the suggestion’s demand and supply, create or customize the work order, and verify whether it is Draft or Released before the floor begins.

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Recover a component and use it in another build

Use a Disassembly BOM for the teardown and an Assembly BOM for the later build. Plan a Combined Run when both jobs need shared sequence and flow context, but complete the teardown member before treating its recovered product as available stock.

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Manufacture items for a sale

Use Build All from either the sales order or the invoice, not both. Inspect linked work after the action because eligible lines are evaluated independently and some can be created while others are skipped.

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FAQ

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Does the starred default BOM control every creation path?

No. MRP and Build All prefer the Active default. Product Build This Product preselects the most recently updated Active BOM, so verify the recipe on the form.

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Does releasing a work order move inventory?

No. Release commits the job to the manufacturing workflow. Material, completion, return, scrap, and other physical actions create inventory effects later.

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Does running MRP reserve stock or post cost?

No. MRP calculates suggestions. Created work and purchase records follow their own lifecycles.

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Where are serial numbers recorded?

Follow the serial prompts on the work order’s material and completion workflows. Serialized output requires the completion serial details for the quantity being completed.

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Can cancelling a sales document erase completed manufacturing?

No. A Completed or Closed child work order blocks sales-document cancellation. Process the finished goods through the appropriate RMA or scrap workflow, then retry cancellation; the manufacturing, inventory, and accounting history remains intact.

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Related Guides

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Recipes And Readiness

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Work Execution

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Planning, Review, And Control

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Product And Inventory Foundations

Use these references when a Manufacturing guide sends you back to product eligibility, costing, serial setup, or movement history.