When you schedule production for "Not available" items directly from a sales order (SO), you can either Make to order, Make in batch, Buy, or Outsource.
Make in batch - allows you to customize the quantity manufactured based on your desired batch size.
Make-to-order - will create a manufacturing order for the exact quantity of product needed for this specific SO.
In both cases, a manufacturing order (MO) for the required products will be added to the Schedule tab in the Make screen. However, the characteristics of the MOs are different when you are making in batch or making to order.
Let's dig a deeper into the differences between Make in batch and Make-to-order.
Make in batch
If you are looking to select a quantity of the product to make with the MO you are creating.
You can make a different quantity that is required by the specific SO. By default, the suggested quantity for the Manufacturing Order is the total missing quantity for a product, based on all your existing sales orders, stock on hand, and open manufacturing orders. You can see the quantity in the Calculated stock column in the Stock screen. You can edit the quantity for the created MO at any time to match your desired batch size for manufacturing.
This MO is essentially a Make-to-Stock order that will not be permanently linked to any sales orders. This means that when SO priorities are changed, the products made by this MO might be rebooked to other Sales orders. Also, the priorities in the Schedule tab do not change if the priority for any Sales orders is drag-and-dropped.
Make to order
If you are looking to make products only for the specific SO.
The created MO will be for the exact quantity of the product required by the underlying SO. The quantity or the link between orders cannot be changed.
The MO will be permanently linked to that SO. The priority of the MO is automatically synced with the linked SO: changing the priority of the Sales orders in the Sell screen automatically updates production priorities in the Schedule tab and vice versa.
Buy
If you'd rather purchase the item from a supplier rather than make it, you always choose to create a purchase order (PO) for the unavailable item. The item will need to have Buy checkmarked on the item card.
Outsource
If you want the production to be outsourced partially or fully to a third party, where you may not be handling manufacturing directly, you can create an outsourced purchase order (OPO) to manage ingredient availability and stock movements. It also covers the workflow for brands managing raw materials sent to contract manufacturers. Also requires Buy to be checked on the item card.
Unsure of which to choose?
Read more about how MOs affect Product Availability for sales orders.
Also, here's how a typical Make-to-Order flow and Make-to-Stock flow work in Katana.