Manufacturing in [[brand]]: recipes, production runs and true cost

If you make what you sell — bread, candles, furniture, cosmetics — your stock is not just bought, it is built from other stock. Bala handles that on the Production screen (Payroll & stock › Production): a recipe says what goes into a batch, a production run makes it, and completing the run moves the materials out of stock and the finished goods in at what they really cost.

1. Give the item a recipe (bill of materials)

• •Open Production and go to the Recipes tab (with no recipes yet, New production run also offers Add a recipe).
• •Choose the item under Item this makes, and set This recipe makes (batch size).
• •Under Components per batch, add each material with its quantity and Wastage % — Add a component for each line.
• •Set Labour minutes per unit, and if this product differs from your defaults, its Labour rate an hour and Overhead (blank = default).
• •Check Cost to make one, at today's averages; Show every level for one batch opens recipes inside recipes. Press Save the recipe.

Changing a recipe never changes a run already planned or completed — each run keeps its own copy. Default labour rates and overhead live under the Costing defaults tab.

2. Plan a production run

• •On the Production runs tab press New production run.
• •Choose the item, the Quantity to make and Planned for. Batch / lot number (optional) and Best before / expiry (optional) apply when the item tracks lots.
• •Press Plan the run. A draft moves nothing and posts nothing: you see what it needs, what is on hand and what is short.
• •Press Mark as started when work begins. Change the draft lets you edit it before then.

3. Complete the run

• •Open the run and press Complete the run.
• •Enter Completed on, how many came out Good and how many were Rejected / scrapped.
• •Under Actually used, correct any component quantity that differed from the recipe, and fill in Labour minutes (total) and Overhead amount (optional).
• •Press Complete and post. If components are short you must tick the confirmation to use them anyway.

Components leave stock at their average cost; the good units arrive at materials + labour + overhead, divided by the good units. That is the true cost — rejects raise the cost of the good ones, as they do in real life.

4. Planned against actual

A completed run shows Planned against actual: usage (more or less used) and price (it cost more or less a unit). The Cost and variance tab shows Production cost by product for a period; a positive variance means it cost more than the recipe said.

Reversing a completion

For a completion recorded wrongly, open the run and press Reverse this completion…. Give the Why (a reason is needed) and press Reverse and reopen. It puts everything back exactly and reopens the run, so you can complete it correctly. A run that never happened is cancelled instead with Cancel the run, also with a reason.

Breaking units back down

To unmake finished units — a hamper taken apart, a batch reworked — open the completed run and press Break units from this run back down…. Choose the Quantity and press Break down and post. Components come back in the quantities and at the costs this run used; the labour and overhead in each unit becomes a cost now.

Shortages

The Shortages tab lists Shortages for open runs: every component the planned runs need beyond what is on hand and on order. From there you can raise purchase orders directly — see the ordering guide.

Common mistakes

• •Editing a recipe and expecting old runs to change. They keep their own copy.
• •Completing with the recipe quantities when more was really used. Enter what was Actually used, or the cost is understated.
• •Adjusting stock by hand to undo a run. Use Reverse this completion… so the books and stock stay matched.