Assembly FAQ

Assembly FAQ

1.) I read somewhere that you have assemblies. What is an assembly?

CustomBooks™ has Assembly or Bill of Materials (BOM) functionality commonly used in the manufacturing industry, among others. The Bill of Materials in CustomBooks™ allows you to define a group of items in your inventory that you use to make another item. Defining a Bill of Materials is the first step in using the more advanced inventory features such as assembly builds and creating assemblies within assemblies.

In CustomBooks™, the Bill of Materials is defined on the item card that is created for the final product. Before starting, ensure that all components or “ingredients” of the final product have been entered as inventoried items.

2.) How do you enable Assemblies in CustomBooks™?

To enable the Assembly feature, go to Admin Panel > Inventory Settings > check the Assembly checkbox. Enabling Assembly will allow you to create assembly items and make assembly builds. Take note that if you already created an assembly, you cannot disable this feature.



3.) How do you create an Assembly/Bill of Materials?

To add or create an Assembly/Bill of Materials,
  1. Create a new Product Item. Go to Inventory > Items > Create > New. This item will be the final product.
  2. Select Product as the Type.
  3. Check the Assembly checkbox. The Assembly tab will appear.
  4. Click the Assembly tab. Here is where we will add or build the list of raw materials needed to build the final product.
  5. Click the Add button. Enter the Product Item Code or select it from the drop-down list.
  6. Enter the Quantity needed for the final product.
  7. Enter the Unit of Measure (UoM), if applicable. 
  8. Enter the estimated waste percentage of the item upon production of the final product, if applicable.
  9. Repeat steps 5-8 for each item needed to assemble the final product.
  10. Save.


Once done adding raw of materials for the final product. You can check more information about the materials/sub-assemblies/products by clicking the Assembly Build Tree button.


4.) Do assemblies have waste and residuals?

Yes. Waste is material that is wasted during an Assembly Build. A Residual is a by-product of making an assembly - a brand-new product that came out as a result of the build that can be inventoried and can be sold separately.

5.) How about labor?

Labor/Services may also be included as items on an Assembly/Bill of Materials. Enter the number of hours needed to finish the final product in the quantity field. As a reminder, service items are not tracked in inventory.

To add a service item on an Assembly/Bill of Materials,
  1. Check the Has Labor checkbox. The Labor tab will appear.
  2. Click the Labor tab.
  3. Click the Add button. Enter the Service Item Code or select it from the drop-down list.
  4. Enter the number of hours (Units of Measure) needed to finish the final product in the Quantity field. As a reminder, service items are not tracked in inventory.
  5. Save.



6.) How do you build an assembly?

To build an Assembly,
  1. Go to Inventory > Assembly Builds > Create > New.
  2. Choose the Assembly Item to build from the drop-down menu. The list of raw materials needed will auto-populate in the Materials tab. Labor/Service items appear in the Labor tab.
  3. Choose the Location of the build. This is where the inventory of the completed items will be increased.
  4. Change the Build Date, Quantity, Unit of Measure (UoM) if needed.
  5. If your assembled item will be assigned a lot or a serial number, click the Lots/Serial Numbers tab and assign them.
  6. Enter a Memo (optional).
  7. Save.



Notes:
  1. The Assembly Build will fail to post if there are not sufficient raw materials in stock.
  2. On an Assembly Build, individual items may be added, changed or removed to reflect the actual use at the time of manufacturing.
  3. An assembly item may contain another item that is an assembly, that has its own Bill of Materials (Sub-assembly). There is no limit to how far deep you can nest assemblies but they must be built in order from the deepest nested assembly on up.

7.) Can you disassemble an assembly?

Yes. You can disassemble assembly items through Disassemblies. When you disassemble an assembly, it will increase the number of raw materials and will decrease the number of the final product.

Disassembly function can be used to "tear down" assembled goods and reintroduce the respective raw materials into stock. This is commonly used in cases where an item needs to be broken down for spare parts.

To disassemble an Assembly,
  1. Make sure that the "allow item to be Disassembled" check box on the assembly item card (item that you will disassemble) is checked.



  2. Go to Inventory > Disassemblies > Create > New.
  3. Select the Assembly item to disassemble.
  4. Change the Location, Disassembly Date, Quantity and Units of Measure (UoM) if needed.
  5. Save.



8.) How can you tell which items are your final product and which are the raw materials?

The primary difference is that raw materials are used in the production of goods and final product is what the company produces and eventually sells to the market. Raw materials are the inputs or resources that a company uses to manufacture its finished products, final products are products which have completed the assembly process but have yet to be sold to customers.

You can tell if an item is a final product if the item has a check on Assembly field/column on the Items List or if the Assembly checkbox is checked on the Assembly Item Card.



9.) Can you do sub-assemblies?

Yes. An assembly item can be added as well as a raw material. An assembly item may contain another item that is an assembly (Sub-assembly) on its Bill of Materials. There is no limit to how far deep you can nest assemblies, but they must be built in order from the deepest nested assembly on up.

Below is an Assembly Tree of an Assembly with other assemblies as raw materials (sub-assemblies).


10.) Do your sub-assemblies automatically build, or do you have to build them first?

There's an option to automatically build sub-assemblies. On the Item Card Assembly Tab, check the Allow Auto-Assembly checkbox. Allowing auto-assembly enables the automatic creation of assemblies and sub-assembly entries. These entries are created during Sales transactions and Assembly Builds.



11.) Do you track assembly costs?

Assembly Costs are tracked automatically. The Assembly Build Actual vs Planned Cost Tab will show the Planned and Actual Material Costs once it is saved/posted.





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