A build turns components into a finished item. A bakery turns flour, butter and sugar into loaves; a shop turns a box, a charger and a phone into a gift kit. Two things happen at once: the components leave your stock, and the finished items arrive in it, carrying the cost of what went into them.
SeroBooks builds an item from its recipe (the list of components and how much of each one unit needs, which QuickBooks Desktop calls the assembly's bill of materials). The Assemblies screen shows what you have built lately and everything you can build, and records each new build.
Opening Build Assemblies
- Vendors ▸ Inventory Activities ▸ Build Assemblies, or
- Inventory ▸ Assemblies.
The Assemblies screen
The screen has two cards.
Recent builds
The latest builds, newest first (up to 25). Each row shows:
- The finished item's name.
- The build date, and how many went on the shelf (N made). When some were spoiled, N wasted follows. A build that was saved but not finished (possible only from the web screens) also shows its status, such as pending.
- On the right, the build's total cost and the cost each.
Nothing has been built yet. appears until your first build.
What you can build
Every item that has a recipe, alphabetically, each with a Build button. No product has a recipe yet. means no recipe has been set up.
Recording a build
- Under What you can build, click Build beside the item. The Build window opens, titled with the item's name.
- In Made, enter how many you produced. Every component amount and the Total cost recalculate as you type.
- If some of the batch was spoiled and cannot be sold, enter how many in Spoiled.
- If your company has more than one location, choose where the build happened in Made at. It starts at the location this computer works in. With one location the name is simply shown.
- Under What goes in, check each component's amount against what was actually used, and correct any that differ.
- Check Total cost. Change it if the build cost more than its components (labour, packaging) or if you want to value it differently.
- Click Record build.
A message confirms it (Built — followed by the build's number), the window closes and the build appears under Recent builds.
The build is dated today and numbered automatically. It cannot be edited or deleted from this screen.
The Build window fields
| Field | What to enter / what it means |
|---|---|
| Made | How many came off the line, including any that were spoiled. Starts at 1. |
| Spoiled | How many of those cannot be sold. They are left out of stock but not out of the cost: when you enter a figure here, an amber line says how many go on the shelf carrying the cost of all of them. |
| Made at | The location where the components are used and the finished items arrive. Only shown when you have more than one location. |
| What goes in | One row per component in the recipe, with its unit. Each amount starts at the recipe's quantity per unit × Made. Edit it to what was really used; that is the quantity taken out of stock. A recipe with no components shows This recipe has no ingredients set up yet. |
| Total cost | What the whole build is worth. It starts at the components' standard purchase costs × Made. Once you type in it, it no longer recalculates when you change Made. |
| $X each on the shelf | Total cost ÷ (Made − Spoiled): the cost each finished unit will carry. |
| Cancel | Closes the window without recording anything. |
| Record build | Records the build. Greyed out while the recipe is loading, or when Made minus Spoiled is zero or less. |
What happens to stock
When you click Record build, at the Made at location:
- Each component that keeps stock is reduced by the amount in What goes in. Components that are services or non-inventory items are recorded on the build but have no stock to reduce.
- The finished item is increased by Made − Spoiled, as a new costed batch at Total cost ÷ (Made − Spoiled) each. When those units sell, that is their cost of goods sold.
The components leave stock at what they actually cost you (the purchase batches they came from, the same way a sale is costed), not at their standard cost.
What happens in the books
Moving value from components to a finished item does not change the total of your inventory, so most of a build posts nothing. What SeroBooks posts is the difference between the two sides:
- Value in: the Total cost you recorded for the finished items.
- Value out: what the components actually cost.
| When | Debit | Credit | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value in is more than value out (labour or overhead added) | Inventory on hand | Cost of goods sold | The difference |
| Value in is less than value out (material wasted) | Cost of goods sold | Inventory on hand | The difference |
| They are equal | Nothing posts |
Inventory on hand and Cost of goods sold are the accounts chosen in Accounting Setup. If either is not set, the build still moves the stock but nothing posts. See How each transaction posts to the books.
Messages you may see
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Choose where this was made. | Pick a location in Made at. |
| That product has no recipe yet. | The item's recipe has been removed. Set it up again on the web Manufacturing screens. |
| A build has to produce something — check the quantity and the waste. | Spoiled is equal to or more than Made. |
| You do not have permission to record production. | Your role is not allowed to build assemblies. Ask an administrator for access. |
| Something went wrong — the build was NOT recorded | Nothing was saved and no stock moved. A common cause is a component with not enough stock at the Made at location. Check the components in Stock Levels, receive or transfer in what is missing, and try again. |
Tips
- Build when you make, not in advance. A build moves stock immediately, so record it once the finished items exist.
- Put labour into Total cost. If making an item takes paid labour, adding it to Total cost carries it in the item's cost until the item sells, instead of expensing it the month it was made.
- The Pending Builds report (Reports ▸ Inventory) lists builds saved but not finished on the web screens. Builds recorded here are always finished.