Effectively managing sales order (SO) priorities ensures that your inventory and production schedules align with customer demands. Prioritizing orders allows you to allocate resources efficiently, meet delivery deadlines, and maintain optimal stock levels.
Changing sales order priorities
You can adjust the priority of SOs directly within the Sell screen:
Access the Sell screen:
Navigate to the Sell screen from the main top toolbar.
Reorder sales orders:
Click and drag a SO up or down to change its priority.
The position of an SO in the list determines its priority – orders at the top have higher priority.
Impact of priorities on manufacturing approaches
Katana supports two primary manufacturing approaches:
1. Make-to-Stock (MTS)
Definition: Products are manufactured in anticipation of future sales and stocked in inventory.
Priority Impact:
Higher-priority SOs reserve available stock before lower-priority ones.
If stock is insufficient, lower-priority orders may show items as Expected or Not available.
Sales items availability affects SOs.
Example:
Three SOs (SO1, SO2, SO3) each require 3 units of Product X.
Inventory has 4 units in stock and 3 units expected.
SO1 (highest priority) reserves 3 units (In stock).
SO2 reserves 1 unit (remaining In stock) and 2 units (Expected).
SO3 shows Not available as higher-priority orders have reserved the available and expected stock.
2. Make-to-Order (MTO)
Definition: Products are manufactured specifically to fulfill individual SOs.
Creating MTO Orders:
In the Sell screen, under the Production column, click + Make → Make to order.
This creates a manufacturing order (MO) linked directly to the SO.
Priority Synchronization:
The priority of the MO in the Make screen's Schedule tab mirrors the priority of the linked SO.
Adjusting the priority in either screen updates the other accordingly.
Note: Prioritizing MTO orders does not affect the priority of Make-to-Stock MOs.
Read more about MTS vs MTO manufacturing orders.
How priorities affect ingredients availability
Materials and subassemblies are allocated to orders based on their priority:
Higher-priority orders:
Reserve the required ingredients first.
Lower-priority orders:
May experience shortages if materials are insufficient.
Dynamic recalculation:
Changing the priority of an SO triggers a recalculation of ingredient availability across all orders.
Key takeaways
Drag-and-drop: Easily adjust SO priorities in the Sell screen to manage resource allocation.
Manufacturing approach matters:
In MTS, priority affects stock reservation.
In MTO, priority synchronization ensures timely production for specific orders.
Material allocation: Priorities influence how materials are distributed among orders, impacting production schedules.
Real-time updates: Any change in order priority instantly recalculates product and ingredient availability, ensuring accurate planning.
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