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Get started with manufacturing orders and assemblies

by Intuit •

5 •

Updated 11/5/2026 11:29

Use manufacturing orders in Intuit Enterprise Suite to plan production, track progress, and calculate assembly costs. You can create bills of materials, check inventory shortages, and complete builds to record costs in your accounts.

But first, review your migrated QuickBooks Desktop data. If you moved from QuickBooks Desktop, your inventory assemblies, bills of materials, and build assembly transactions are included in the migration.

Here's how your existing data appears in Intuit Enterprise Suite:

Pending builds: Appear as manufacturing orders with a Planned status.
Completed builds: Appear as manufacturing orders with a Completed status and a linked Build assembly transaction.
Multi-level bills of materials: You can migrate bills of materials with up to four levels, including the finished product.

If a bill of materials has more than four levels:

The bill of materials won't migrate.
Assembly items migrate as inventory items.
Related build assembly transactions migrate as inventory adjustments.

For help migrating multi-level bills of materials, contact your account manager or implementation partner.

Step 1: Set up an inventory assembly item and bill of materials

An inventory assembly is an item you build using other items. Before you create a manufacturing order, you need to set up an assembly item and its bill of materials.

A bill of materials lists the components, raw materials, and services needed to build one unit.

Go to All apps , then Sales & Get Paid, then Products & services (Take me there).
Select New and choose Inventory (assembly).
Enter the item details, including its name, inventory asset account, sales information, and purchase information.
Select Save and add bill of materials.
In the items column, add the inventory items, inventory assemblies, services, or non-inventory items needed to build the assembly.
Enter the quantity of each component needed to build one unit.
Select Save.

You can add inventory assembly items as components to create multi-level bills of materials. Intuit Enterprise Suite supports up to four levels, including the finished product.

Note: The estimated assembly cost uses the component costs shown in the item drawer. You can't create a manufacturing order without a bill of materials.

View or edit an existing bill of materials

Find the inventory assembly item you want to update and select Edit.
Select View/edit bill of materials.
Make your changes and select Save.

Note: Your changes only apply to manufacturing orders created after you update the bill of materials.

Step 2: Create a manufacturing order

Create a manufacturing order to plan production and track progress. Your financial accounts won't change until you complete the build.

Go to Inventory app, then select Manufacturing.
Select + Create manufacturing order.
Select the inventory assembly item you plan to build.
Enter the Quantity to build.
- If needed, select a production Start date and Required by date.
Review the component list. The items and quantities from your bill of materials appear automatically.
- If needed, add or remove components, or update their quantities.
Select Save.

Your manufacturing order starts with a Planned status.

The planned quantities also appear in your products list and reports:

Quantity needed for MO: Shows the components needed for the planned build.
Quantity from MO: Shows the quantity of assemblies you plan to produce.

Changes to components in a manufacturing order don't affect the original bill of materials.

Check for inventory shortages

The Shortage column shows how many components you need when available inventory isn't enough.

Shortages are calculated using demand and supply across all open manufacturing orders, sales orders, and purchase orders.

Here's how the calculation works:

Demand = Quantity on sales orders + Quantity needed for manufacturing orders

Supply = Quantity on hand + Quantity on purchase orders + Quantity from manufacturing orders

Shortage = Demand − Supply

A positive shortage means you need more of that component.

Two quantities help you understand shortages:

Quantity needed for manufacturing orders: The total quantity of a component needed across open manufacturing orders.
Quantity from manufacturing orders: The quantity of a sub-assembly component planned for production across open manufacturing orders.

To review missing components, select Shortage report from the bottom bar.

Use the report to identify shortages and plan your production.

Step 3: Track and complete a build

You can track production by selecting Mark as in progress from the bottom bar.

This changes the order status without affecting your financial accounts.

When production is complete:

Open the manufacturing order.
Select Review build.
Update the Final build quantity to show how many units you completed.
Enter the actual completion date.
In the components table, update Actual qty for any non-inventory items or services used.
Enter the actual cost or rate for services and non-inventory items.
Review the inventory and inventory assembly components. Their actual costs are calculated using your selected inventory valuation method when you save the build.
Select Save and complete build.

Intuit Enterprise Suite creates a Build assembly transaction to record the accounting entries and calculate actual costs.

The manufacturing order status changes to Completed.

Step 4: Manage manufacturing orders

View completed builds

Go to the Inventory app, then select Manufacturing.
Find a manufacturing order with a Completed status.
Select the linked Build assembly transaction.
Select View transaction journal to review the final accounting entries and production costs.

Edit a planned or in-progress order

Go to the Manufacturing list.
Find the order you want to update.
Select Edit.
Update the quantity, components, or dates.
Select Save and close.

Edit a completed build

Go to the Manufacturing list.
Find the completed order.
Select the link in the Build assembly column.
Update the costs or quantities.
Select Save and close.

Delete a manufacturing order or build assembly

Deleting an order or build assembly has different results depending on its status.

Planned or In Progress: Deleting the manufacturing order permanently removes it and releases reserved inventory.
Completed: Deleting the manufacturing order also deletes its linked Build assembly transaction. This reverses the related inventory and accounting entries.
Build assembly only: Deleting only the Build assembly transaction changes the linked manufacturing order status to In Progress.

Step 5: Understand manufacturing costs

Intuit Enterprise Suite calculates estimated and actual costs at different stages of production.

Estimated cost: Uses the default purchase costs of components entered on the Products and services page.
Actual cost: Calculated when you complete the manufacturing order and save the Build assembly transaction.

Actual costs depend on the component type:

Inventory and inventory assembly items: Costs are based on your selected inventory valuation method.
Services and non-inventory items: Costs are based on the actual rates entered on the Build assembly page.

Step 6: Understand what happens when you downgrade

Manufacturing features are available in Intuit Enterprise Suite.

If you downgrade to a plan that doesn't support manufacturing, you can still access some existing information.

Here's what changes:

Inventory assembly items: Your existing items remain available. You can buy and sell them, but you can't track assemblies.
Bills of materials: Your existing bills of materials remain available to view. You can't create or edit them.
Manufacturing orders: Your existing manufacturing orders and Build assembly transactions remain available to view. You can't create or edit them.