Types of Bills of Materials

There are three main ways of using the Bill of Materials module: kits, manufactured items and order templates.

Kits

A kit item is an item that is made up of a list of other stock items that are assembled at the time of sale. It is a quick and easy way to sell something that consists of a number of different stock items. The kit may also be priced separately allowing the selling price to be different from the sum of the selling prices of the components.

In a kit Bill of Materials, the components are sold and the header is a shortcut code to a collection of components.

Kits can be used with Sales Orders and the Exo Job Costing module, but not with Works Orders.

Manufactured Items

Manufactured Items, or "builds", are produced from other stock items. When you manufacture an output item you deduct the component items from stock and build the new manufactured output item, which is then placed in stock. This item is then sold in the usual method with pricing specified on the output stock items.

In a build Bill of Materials, the output item is sold.

Note: A bill without an output item cannot be a manufactured item. A bill with an output item is usually a manufactured item but can also be a kit. When manufactured items are sold as kits, the rules applicable to kits should be used.

Builds can be used with Sales Orders and Works Orders, but not with the Exo Job Costing module.

Order Templates

An order template is not a true Bill of Materials but a simple "shopping list" for use with Sales Orders only. The Bill of Materials code becomes a shortcut to the product list, to save entering each product into the order. No header line is included.

Note: The Auto Order Template on the Details2 tab of Debtor accounts only displays order template Bills of Materials.