What to Make and the Buy List
What to make compares demand with stock and suggests whole batches. Nothing is made or bought until you confirm.
- Production managers, finance teams and shop floor supervisors
- Updated
In this guide
Where to find it: Sidebar > Production > What to make
7.1 Where Demand Comes From
- Accepted proforma invoices not yet invoiced (Accounting only). A proforma's validity date is not treated as a delivery date
- Open customer jobs, for their undelivered quantity. A job made from a proforma replaces it, so the promise is counted once
- Reorder points set on the Inventory product
- Materials you make yourself needed by other planned work
Only recipes In use appear.
7.2 Reading the Products Table
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| On hand | Sellable stock across active locations. Stock on quality, cure or recall hold is shown separately as on hold |
| Promised | Demand from proformas and jobs, with the first two references and dates |
| Reorder point | From Inventory |
| Already planned | Open production orders, batches still curing or waiting for quality, and stock already held for these orders |
| Suggestion | Make N batches, Covered · waiting for a material, Covered or Nothing to make |
To make = promised + reorder point − on hand − already planned, rounded up to whole recipe batches. Partial output is counted once. Rejected and recalled units do not cover demand.
The view expands one level at a time. A material you make has its own row and counts its own planned orders, but SikaBooks does not schedule the whole chain for you.
7.3 Creating Production Orders
Who can do it: Create, plan and cancel production orders
- Tick the suggestions you want. Suggestions to make are ticked for you
- Click Create N production orders
- Confirm. SikaBooks checks current stock and demand again
Each order is created with the suggested quantity and the Settings locations, then planned straight away. The due date is the earliest promise. If a suggestion changed in the meantime, you see "The selected suggestion is already covered or changed. Refresh What to make."
7.4 The Buy List
The buy list shows materials that are short for planned orders, or that would fall below their reorder point after them.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| In stock | Available stock |
| Needed | Total needed by open orders and new suggestions |
| Why | The shortage and the orders or suggestions that need it |
| Suggested | The quantity to buy |
| Usual supplier | Last purchase or Product supplier, and pack size |
The suggested quantity is the largest of the shortage, the product's reorder quantity and the supplier's minimum order, rounded up to whole purchase packs. The usual supplier comes from the latest goods receipt or approved bill. A supplier on the product record is used only as a fallback and is labelled Product supplier.
7.5 Sending the Buy List to Procurement
Who can do it: Create, plan and cancel production orders, plus Procurement's requisition create and submit permissions, with Procurement requisitions turned on.
- Tick the materials to buy
- Click Send N to Procurement
- Confirm
Procurement receives one purchase requisition for all selected materials. Each line notes its usual supplier, or says the supplier is not recorded. The requisition is submitted into Procurement's normal approval workflow, so set up a valid approval policy first. No purchase order is placed from What to make.
7.6 If Procurement or Accounting Is Not Enabled
Without Procurement the buy list still shows what to buy, but there is no Send to Procurement button. Without Accounting, proformas are not counted; jobs and reorder points still are.