Raw materials by production zone
Count raw stock, components, and finished goods down to the zone, rack, or staging area. Reorder rules run per location, so a shortage at the line is visible before it stops the build.
Use case
Manufacturing Inventory software
A manufacturer's inventory is three problems wearing one coat: raw materials waiting to be used, work in progress on the floor, and finished goods waiting to ship. When all three live in a spreadsheet, the count is wrong by lunchtime and someone orders steel you already had.
Definition
Manufacturing Inventory software
Manufacturing inventory software tracks the materials, components, and finished goods a plant moves through production. It works differently from retail inventory because the stock changes form: raw material gets consumed, components get assembled, finished goods get shipped, and the records have to keep up at each step. Order3 gives small and mid-sized manufacturers one live record for all of it, with counts by production zone, receiving against POs, reorder rules per material, and the movement history that makes a variance traceable instead of a guessing game. It connects to QuickBooks and Xero so finance sees inventory value without operators living in accounting screens.
Built by Cameron Priest, who co-founded TradeGecko (acquired by Intuit) and has spent over a decade building software for the people who run physical stock.
Capabilities
What the workflow covers
Receiving against purchase orders
Receive deliveries against the open PO, flag short or split shipments, and capture lot and supplier on the way in. The receipt updates stock and the audit trail in one step.
Reorder points per material
Set the level and the supplier lead time for each material. Order3 flags what is heading for a shortage and drafts the PO to cover it, with the reasoning attached for review.
Lot and supplier traceability
Capture lot numbers and supplier at receipt and carry them through. When a customer or auditor asks where a batch came from, the answer is in the record, not a binder.
Finished goods and kits
Track finished goods alongside their components, and use kits for single-level assemblies. The finished count and the component count stay honest against each other.
Movement history finance can trust
Every receive, consume, transfer, and adjustment is stamped with user, time, and reason, and the value flows to QuickBooks or Xero. Month-end stops being archaeology.
How it works
From floor action to approved record
- Step 01
Set up materials and zones
Import raw materials, components, and finished goods, then define the production zones and staging areas where stock actually lives.
- Step 02
Receive against POs
Scan deliveries against the open purchase order. Lot, supplier, and quantity hit the live record, and short shipments get flagged on the dock.
- Step 03
Consume and move on the floor
Move components to the line and record what production consumes. Counts adjust as material changes form from raw to finished.
- Step 04
Reorder and report
Review reorder drafts, approve the POs, and pull materials-on-hand, shortage, and inventory-value reports without rebuilding them in Excel.
Looks like the workflow you need? Set up your first workspace in under an hour.
Start free, no credit cardWorkflow artifact
The record a team can inspect
A useful manufacturing inventory workflow leaves an item, location, owner, next action, and approval trail behind it.
Order3 record
Manufacturing Inventory review
Trigger
Raw materials by production zone
Count raw stock, components, and finished goods down to the zone, rack, or staging area. Reorder rules run per location, so a shortage at the line is visible before it stops the build.
Evidence
Set up materials and zones
Import raw materials, components, and finished goods, then define the production zones and staging areas where stock actually lives.
Next action
Receive against POs
Scan deliveries against the open purchase order. Lot, supplier, and quantity hit the live record, and short shipments get flagged on the dock.
Control
Reorder and report
Review reorder drafts, approve the POs, and pull materials-on-hand, shortage, and inventory-value reports without rebuilding them in Excel.
Who runs this
What makes manufacturing inventory different
Retail inventory counts one thing: sellable units. Manufacturing inventory counts three states at once and watches stock move between them. Raw material is consumed into work in progress, work in progress becomes finished goods, and each transition has to update the record or the count drifts. The plants that stay accurate treat receiving, consumption, and transfers as recorded events rather than memory. That is the discipline manufacturing inventory software is built to support, and it is why a generic retail tool tends to break on a shop floor.
Fit checklist
Use Order3 when the workflow needs these controls
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Raw materials by production zone
Count raw stock, components, and finished goods down to the zone, rack, or staging area. Reorder rules run per location, so a shortage at the line is visible before it stops the build.
-
Receiving against purchase orders
Receive deliveries against the open PO, flag short or split shipments, and capture lot and supplier on the way in. The receipt updates stock and the audit trail in one step.
-
Reorder points per material
Set the level and the supplier lead time for each material. Order3 flags what is heading for a shortage and drafts the PO to cover it, with the reasoning attached for review.
-
Lot and supplier traceability
Capture lot numbers and supplier at receipt and carry them through. When a customer or auditor asks where a batch came from, the answer is in the record, not a binder.
How it works in Order3
How Order3 runs manufacturing inventory
Order3 holds raw materials, components, and finished goods in one system with counts per production zone. Receiving posts against the open PO and captures lot and supplier. As production consumes material, the records adjust, and reorder rules flag what is getting low so purchasing can act before the line stalls. Inventory value flows to QuickBooks or Xero, so finance and the floor work from the same numbers instead of arguing about them at month-end.
Feature
Multi-location tracking
Multi-location tracking means you can answer 'where is it' without calling someone. One workspace holds stock across warehouses, retail shops, trucks, jobsites, stockrooms, zones, and bins. Each keeps its own balance. Transfers between locations are first-class events, not adjustments hidden inside a global total.
Feature
Barcode scanning
Scan an item, confirm a quantity, and update the record from the floor. Order3 reads UPC, EAN, Code 128, Code 39, QR, and GS1 DataMatrix from an iOS or Android camera, plus Bluetooth handheld scanners that act as keyboards.
Feature
Real-time reports
A stocker confirms a receipt at 9:47am. By 9:47am, the inventory value report reflects it. Reports in Order3 are queries against the live ledger. Every scan, transfer, count, and approval feeds the same data the leadership team reads. No nightly batch. No reconciliation lag. The number on the floor matches the number in the office.
Feature
Low-stock alerts
Most low-stock alerts are noise. This one shows up with the lead time factored in, the right owner attached, and a next action one click away. Hand off to the purchasing agent for a draft, request a transfer from another location, or dismiss with a documented reason. Dashboards that nobody opens twice were not the goal.
How to choose
Where this connects to purchasing and MRP
Accurate counts are the input, not the finish line. The reason to keep them clean is to plan materials: what to reorder, how much, and when. That planning layer is where manufacturing inventory shades into lightweight MRP, and Order3 covers both in one place. If your bottleneck is sourcing materials rather than scheduling machines, you can run Order3 as your inventory system and your materials planner together.
Free tools
Try the math before you commit
Related guides
Read before you switch
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Guide
Inventory management for small business: the practical guide
Inventory management for a small business comes down to four things: knowing what you have, where it is, what changed, and what to reorder next. Most small teams do not need an ERP. They need clean item records, named locations, reorder rules where shortages hurt, and a weekly rhythm that survives a busy quarter.
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Guide
The multi-location inventory playbook
Multi-location inventory has three layers: bin, location, region. Track stock at every physical place it rests, with separate quantities, separate reorder rules, and a clear record of every movement between locations. Get the location hierarchy and transfer accountability right and the rest of the system follows. Get them wrong and every report lies.
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Guide
Reorder points explained: formula, examples, and how to set them
A reorder point is the inventory level that triggers a replenishment order before you stock out. Formula: ROP = (Average Daily Usage × Lead Time in Days) + Safety Stock. Set it for the items where shortages cost a job, a customer, or a margin. Ignore it for the long tail until you have usage data.
Manufacturing Inventory software FAQ
What is manufacturing inventory software?
Manufacturing inventory software tracks the raw materials, components, work in progress, and finished goods a plant moves through production, updating the record as stock is received, consumed, assembled, and shipped. It keeps an accurate count across production zones and feeds purchasing and finance.
What is the difference between manufacturing inventory software and MRP?
Manufacturing inventory software tracks what you have and where, across raw materials and finished goods. MRP adds the planning layer that decides what materials to order and when. Order3 does both: it is the inventory record and the lightweight materials planner in one system.
Does it track raw materials, work in progress, and finished goods?
Yes. Order3 holds raw materials, components, and finished goods in one system, with counts by production zone and lot and supplier capture at receipt. As production consumes material, the records adjust so the count reflects what is actually on the floor.
Can it handle multiple production locations?
Yes. Count and set reorder rules per location, whether that is two production zones in one plant or several sites. Reordering runs per location instead of one global average that hides where a material is actually short.
Does it connect to QuickBooks or Xero?
Yes. Order3 syncs with QuickBooks and Xero so inventory value reaches the books without operators working in accounting screens. Finance and the floor read from the same records.
Is there free manufacturing inventory software?
Free tools exist, and Order3 offers free calculators and templates plus a free workspace tier to start. Free spreadsheet templates work until more than one person updates counts or you track several locations and reorder rules. At that point a shared live system pays for itself in the stockouts and double orders it prevents.
Adjacent use cases
Try Manufacturing Inventory in Order3.
Start with the SKUs, locations, and counts behind the problem. Bring in expert help when the workflow needs integrations, approvals, or agent policy.