Manufacturing Software —
Production, BOM & Inventory

When you manufacture something, you need to know the real cost per unit — not just materials, but labour and overhead too. You need to know which batch of raw material went into which finished product. And you need your purchasing and production teams to be looking at the same numbers, so a material shortage doesn't stop the line without warning.

Vendra's Manufacturing module connects Bills of Materials, production orders, inventory, purchasing, sales, and accounting in one place. When a customer orders a finished product, Vendra checks whether raw materials are available, creates the production order, tracks what gets used, adds the finished product to inventory, and generates the invoice — all in the same system.

What manufacturing software needs to handle

A manufacturing business requires a system that goes beyond basic inventory and invoicing. The core requirements are:

• Define what components and quantities are needed to produce each product via a Bill of Materials
• Create production orders and check raw material availability before starting a run
• Schedule work orders across production stages and work centres
• Track actual raw material consumption against the standard BOM quantities
• Maintain separate inventory for raw materials, work-in-progress, and finished goods
• Apply lot and serial tracking to raw material batches for quality traceability
• Calculate the full manufacturing cost per unit: materials, labour, and overhead
• Generate purchase orders for raw materials with reorder points and lead time awareness
• Sell finished goods with automatic delivery and invoice creation
• Manage multiple plants or production sites from a single account

How Vendra manages manufacturing end to end

Bill of Materials for every finished product

The Bill of Materials is the recipe for each product you make. In Vendra, every finished product has at least one BOM. The BOM lists every component — raw material, sub-assembly, or consumable — with the exact quantity needed per unit. If you make the same product in different ways or with different ingredients, you create a separate BOM version for each.

BOMs can be multi-level. If a sub-assembly has its own BOM, Vendra tracks that separately and rolls it up into the final product cost. This works for products where you make intermediate parts before doing the final assembly. Each level is tracked on its own so you always know the full material picture for any finished product.

Production orders and raw material consumption

A manufacturing order is the instruction to produce a set quantity of a product. Vendra pre-fills all the required components from the BOM. When raw materials are available, the team confirms the order and it moves to In Progress.

As production runs, workers record the actual amounts of each component used. If the run used slightly more or less than the BOM says — because of waste, batch variation, or a process change — that's recorded and compared to the BOM. You can see the difference per production order and in the overall reports.

When the production order is done and confirmed, Vendra takes the consumed materials out of raw material stock and adds the finished quantity to finished goods inventory. No manual stock adjustment needed.

Work order scheduling

For manufacturers with multiple production stages — mixing, forming, curing, packaging, for example — each stage is defined as a work order within the manufacturing order. Work orders are assigned to specific work centres (machines or workstations) and have planned start times, durations, and responsible operators.

Raw material and finished goods inventory

Vendra keeps raw materials, work-in-progress, and finished goods in separate inventory locations. This means your balance sheet shows the right value at each stage. Raw materials sit in the raw material store until a production order uses them. Finished products move to the finished goods location and are ready for sale.

You set minimum stock levels for each raw material. When stock drops below that level, Vendra generates a draft purchase order automatically. Supplier lead times are taken into account, so the order goes out early enough that the production line doesn't stop waiting for materials. One screen shows everything that needs reordering across all your raw materials.

Lot tracking for quality control

When raw materials arrive from a supplier, you assign them a lot number. That lot number travels through the whole production process. When a production order uses that batch, the lot number is recorded against the order. The finished product batch can also get its own lot number that links back to the input batches.

This gives you a full trace in both directions. If a raw material batch turns out to be faulty after it's been used, you can find every finished product that used it and take action — quarantine, recall, or a quality hold — without touching products made from different batches.

Manufacturing cost per unit

Every manufactured unit has three cost components: materials, labour, and overhead. Vendra calculates all three inside the production order.

Material cost uses whichever stock valuation method you've set — FIFO or average cost. If raw material prices go up, the material cost per unit reflects what you actually paid, not a fixed number. Labour cost comes from time logged against work orders, multiplied by the hourly rate for each work centre. Overhead — factory rent, utilities, depreciation — gets allocated to production runs through the accounting module using cost tracking accounts.

When the production order closes, Vendra posts the full manufacturing cost to the finished goods inventory account. When those goods are sold, the cost of goods sold on the P&L reflects the real cost — so your gross margin per product is accurate.

Sales of finished goods with automatic delivery

When a customer order comes in for finished goods, Vendra checks what's available in finished goods inventory. If there's enough stock, a delivery order is created and the goods go out. If there isn't enough, Vendra can generate a production order to make more before the delivery date.

Once the delivery is done, the invoice is created from the sales order — right product, right quantity, right price. Payment terms apply based on the customer's account. When the invoice is confirmed, the revenue and cost of goods sold post to the accounts automatically. No manual journal entries needed.

Multi-plant operations

If you run more than one factory — different cities or countries — each plant runs as a separate company under the Pro Plus plan. Each has its own inventory, its own production orders, its own accounts. The group owner can see reports across all plants from one login without switching between accounts.

When one plant supplies raw materials to another, or transfers finished goods to a central warehouse, Vendra handles that as an inter-company transaction. A sale in Plant A creates a corresponding purchase in Plant B automatically — you don't have to enter it twice.

Purchasing and raw material supply chain

The purchasing module connects directly to manufacturing. When raw material stock drops below your minimum, Vendra drafts a request to your preferred supplier automatically. Lead times are tracked per product so the order goes out early enough. When goods arrive, you receive them against the purchase order and the stock updates. The supplier bill is matched to the purchase order and posted to accounts payable in one step.

Vendra also keeps a price history per supplier. If a supplier raises prices, you can see how that affects your cost per unit through the BOM — no manual recalculation required.

Which plan does a manufacturer need?

A single-plant manufacturer fits on the Pro plan at $27/month. This covers the full Manufacturing module with BOM, production orders, work orders, lot tracking, raw material and finished goods inventory, purchasing, sales, and accounting. Multi-plant operations or manufacturing groups with separate legal entities need Pro Plus at $50/month for multi-company setup, inter-company transactions, and consolidated group reporting.