Purchasing & MRP /a/purchasing_mrp

Manage supplier relationships, create and track Purchase Orders, and let the Material Requirements Planning (MRP) engine tell you exactly what to reorder and when — so your shop floor never stops for lack of materials.

Dashboard at a glance

Total POs

Draft

Ordered

MRP Flags

The module has three tabs:

Purchase Orders — the full PO list with status, supplier, amounts, and receive actions.
Suppliers — your vendor directory: contact details and preferred items per supplier.
MRP — the Material Requirements Planning view: demand vs. on-hand quantities for all open WOs.

Purchase Orders list

Each row in the PO list shows:

Column	What it means
PO Number	Auto-generated identifier (PO-01, PO-02…). Click to open the PO detail.
Supplier	The vendor this order is placed with.
Required Date	When the goods are needed by.
Total Amount	Sum of all line items on the PO.
Status	Draft → Ordered → Received
Actions	Draft POs show Edit and Order buttons. Ordered POs show a Receive button.

Creating a Purchase Order

Click + New PO (top right). The PO form opens.

Select the Supplier and set the Required Date.

Add line items: select the product from your catalog, enter the Qty and confirm the Unit Cost. Add more lines as needed.

Save the PO. It is created in Draft status — no commitment to the supplier yet.

When ready to send to the supplier, click Order. The PO status moves to Ordered.

PO detail

Click any PO number to open its detail modal. It shows:

Supplier, Status, Required Date, Created date — the order header.
Total Amount — the full PO value in USD.
Line Items — Product, Qty, Unit Cost, and Extended Total for each item ordered.
Attachments — upload supplier order confirmations, invoices, or delivery notes directly to the PO for a complete paper trail.

Receiving a PO

Find the Ordered PO in the list and click Receive.

Confirm the quantities received. Manufacturing ERP adds the received quantities to inventory automatically and records a "PO Receipt" entry in each item's adjustment history.

The PO status changes to Received. If the MRP engine flagged a shortage for any of these items, the flag clears automatically once inventory is updated.

Partial receipts If only part of a PO arrives, receive what you have — Manufacturing ERP updates inventory for the received quantities. The PO remains in Ordered status until fully received.

Managing suppliers

Click the Suppliers tab to view your vendor directory. Click New Supplier (top right) to add a supplier with:

Company name, contact person, email, and phone.
Preferred items — link the products you typically order from this supplier so they pre-populate when creating a PO.
Lead time and payment terms for MRP calculations.

Material Requirements Planning (MRP)

MRP tab showing Material Requirements Planning with two sections: Sales Order Demand — Finished Goods and Component Availability — Work Order Demand, with Demand, On Hand, and Available columns — The MRP tab — demand vs. on-hand at a glance. Red Available numbers flag shortages that need a PO.

The MRP tab cross-references all open Work Orders against BOM requirements and current inventory. If you are still deciding whether you need MRP or a full ERP, how MRP and ERP differ for small manufacturers sets out where each one fits. It is divided into two sections:

Section	What it shows
Sales Order Demand — Finished Goods	Finished products required by open Sales Orders. Compares SO demand against current on-hand stock of the finished assembly. A negative Available (shown in red) means you need to build more before you can ship.
Component Availability — Work Order Demand	Raw materials and components required by all open Work Orders (based on each WO's BOM). Shows Demand, On Hand, and Available for each component. A ✓ OK badge means stock is sufficient; a red Available means you need to order.

Reading the MRP columns

Demand — total quantity needed across all open WOs or SOs.
On Hand — current inventory quantity from the Inventory module.
Available — On Hand minus Demand. Positive = surplus, negative = shortage.

Acting on MRP shortages When Available is negative for a component, create a PO for that item immediately. Click + New PO, select the supplier, and add the component with at least the shortage quantity. Once the PO is received, the shortage resolves automatically.

MRP is a snapshot The MRP view reflects the current state of open WOs and live inventory. It does not auto-generate POs — you must act on the suggestions manually. Re-check MRP after receiving stock or creating new WOs to keep the picture current.

Once components are ordered and received, check Inventory to confirm stock levels, then return to Work Orders to issue materials and release jobs to production.