Working on trying ERPNext to see if it fits our company’s need.
We create products on demand for our customers (we receive tshirt designs from clients, print and dropship for them).
So we keep stock of items that are raw materials (blank tshirts, ink) but don’t stock the final product (printed tshirt), since we ship it out. So all the raw material Items I “Maintain Stock” because I want to know if I’m going to run out, but the final products I don’t.
I was going through the process of creating a work order and was trying to pick the item I wanted to manufacture - i.e. Client X printed tshirt. It seems odd it would show the list of items that are raw materials because those are the ones I’m maintaining stock of. That’s exactly what I don’t want to manufacture, since that’s what I’m using to produce other items.
Am I misunderstanding the meaning of the “Maintain Stock” option under item? What is the proper way to use this option? Should I instead change the Item to Manufacture filter so it’s not based on items i’m maintaining stock of?
Maintain stock checkbox differentiates between a physical inventory/stock item vs a service item. If the option is checked, the system tracks the inventory level for the item. If this is unchecked, the system will not track inventory levels for the item.
Thanks for your reply. So you agree that the behavior of the New Work Order form is incorrect by only showing items with “Maintain Stock = Yes”? It should not show items that are raw materials and it should show items that are not stock-able, such as made to order. How do I disable this “Maintain Stock = Yes” filter?
Raw Materials is just an item category in ERPNext. The main goal here is to allow even sub-assemblies as well.
As for the term ‘stock item’ you are confusing yourself between stock in the business sense of do I keep this item with me for 2 months vs is this is a physical good which I create and my system needs to do accounting, maintain valuation for, and take up some space in my warehouse, etc.
I would encourage you to read the docs about service items and inventory items and watch the slightly dated video on Make to Order manufacturing as well to get the full context and accordingly set up your account.
thanks for those pointers. I have taken a look at them. I understand service items and that they are non-stock items. From the inventory items documentation I read this, bold emphasis mine:
Maintain Stock: If you are maintaining stock of this Item in your Inventory, ERPNext will make a stock ledger entry for each transaction of this item. Ensure to keep this option unchecked when creating a non-stock Item (make to order/engineer) or a service.
I believe that I configured the make to order item correctly by keeping “Maintain Stock” unchecked as the documentation indicates. The problem is that Item to Manufacture is filtering to Maintain Stock = Yes. That seems like a bug or a wrong configuration. I have managed to create a Sales Order for a non-stock item and then a Manufacturing Order from the initial Sales Order. But why can’t I create a Manufacturing Order directly for a non-stock item?
P.s. - The video contradicts the documentation, as the make to order items has “Maintain Stock” checked.
