Subassemblies are intermediate components used in product recipes / Bills of Materials (BOMs) to simplify complex manufacturing workflows. They help streamline manufacturing processes, reduce errors, and maintain accurate records of material usage and costs, facilitating smoother operations and better resource management.
What is a subassembly?
In Katana, a subassembly is an item that is produced in your factory (or a contractor's factory), designed to be used in making a larger assembly or a final product.
Subassemblies are products, not materials: Each product can be a subassembly and also sold to customers simultaneously.
There is no distinction between products and subassemblies. Both are included in the Products table and share the same characteristics, including a product recipe and production operations.
Including subassemblies in product recipes
To incorporate subassemblies into your product recipes:
Access the Product recipe / BOM Tab:
Navigate to the Items screen and select the desired product.
Click on the Product recipe / BOM tab.
Add subassemblies as ingredients:
In the ingredients table, select other products (subassemblies) to include in the recipe.
This creates multilevel product recipes (multilevel BOMs).
Note: Katana does not block creating a recipe loop (i.e., including a product in the product recipe of its own subassembly). However, be aware of loops as the manufacturing cost can't be calculated.
Manufacturing products with subassemblies
When creating a manufacturing order (MO) or outsourced purchase order (OPO) for a product that includes subassemblies:
Subassemblies appear in the ingredients list: They are displayed similarly to other materials.
Material availability status is shown: Katana indicates the availability status of each subassembly.
Handling 'Not available' subassemblies:
If a subassembly's availability status is Not available, you need to create an MO or OPO for producing the subassembly.
Use the quick-add button at the end of the ingredient line item to quickly create the required MO for the subassembly.
Automatic creation of subassembly MOs:
When creating an MO for a product that includes at least one subassembly in the product recipe, you can choose to automatically create MOs for subassemblies.
These subassembly MOs will appear in the Schedule tab of the Make screen, where you can manage their priority, production status, and ingredients availability.
Impact on inventory and order management
Sales items and ingredients availability:
Since subassemblies are products in Katana and could also be sold to customers, the same item could be required by a sales Order (SO), MO, or OPO simultaneously.
SOs, MOs, and OPOs all contribute to the sales items availability calculation for this product.
Viewing order requirements:
Click on the Sales items availability status (on SOs) or Ingredients availability status (on MOs or OPOs) to see the list of all orders that require a product.
Access this information by clicking in the Committed column of the item from the Inventory tab of the Stock screen.
Inventory adjustments:
Creating an MO or OPO for a product that includes subassemblies in the recipe increases the Committed value for the subassembly by the required amount.
Upon completion of the MO or OPO, both Committed and In stock quantities for the subassembly product decrease accordingly.
Cost calculations for subassemblies
Unit cost determination:
In a product recipe, the unit cost of the subassembly is the average cost of this subassembly in stock.
If the In stock quantity is zero, and thus there is no average cost, the manufacturing cost is used for the subassembly.
Manufacturing cost components:
The manufacturing cost is the sum of the materials cost and the production cost.
It is calculated based on the product recipe and production operations of the subassembly.
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