How to Create a Manufacturing Order and Build an Assembly in Intuit Enterprise Suite

Before you start

• You're on Intuit Enterprise Suite. Intuit's article says manufacturing features are currently available in Intuit Enterprise Suite.
• Each assembly you build needs a bill of materials. You can't start a manufacturing order without one.
• The components exist in Products & services. A bill of materials can hold inventory, service (such as labor) and non-inventory items.
• Intuit's article doesn't mention a setting to turn on or a user role needed for manufacturing orders.
• If you moved from QuickBooks Desktop, your inventory assemblies, bills of materials and build assembly transactions came across. Pending builds show as Planned manufacturing orders. Completed builds show as Completed orders with a linked Build assembly transaction.

Moving from QuickBooks Desktop? See what happens to Desktop assemblies and bills of materials in the move. If your products use subassemblies, first read whether Intuit Enterprise Suite supports multi-level bills of materials: Intuit's help article says no, but its Fall 2026 release notes list them.

Step 1: Set up an inventory assembly item with a bill of materials

1. 1Go to All apps, then Sales & Get Paid, then Products & services.
2. 2Select New and choose Inventory (assembly).
3. 3Fill in the item details, including its name, inventory asset account, sales information and purchase information.
4. 4Select Save and add bill of materials.
5. 5In the items column, add the inventory, service or non-inventory components the assembly needs.
6. 6Enter the quantity of each component needed to make one unit of the finished good.
7. 7Select Save.

Intuit Enterprise Suite calculates the cost of building the assembly from the cost of the component items in the item drawer. To change a bill of materials later, find the Inventory assembly item in Products & services, select Edit, then select the View/edit bill of materials link. Make your changes and select Save. Changes apply only to manufacturing orders created after the edit.

Step 2: Create a manufacturing order

1. 1Go to Inventory app, then select Manufacturing.
2. 2Select + Create manufacturing order.
3. 3Select the Inventory assembly item you plan to build.
4. 4Enter the Quantity to build. If you want, select a production Start date and Required by date.
5. 5Review the component list. Items from the bill of materials fill in based on the planned quantity. You can add or remove items, or change quantities, for this order without changing the bill of materials.
6. 6Select Save.

The order starts in Planned status and doesn't affect your financial accounts. The components it needs are added to the quantity on MO field in your products list and reports. Before production starts, read the order's shortage column; our guide shows how to check component shortages before you build.

Step 3: Track and complete the build

1. 1To show that production has started, select Mark as in progress on the bottom bar. This is optional and doesn't affect your financial accounts.
2. 2When production is finished, open the manufacturing order and select Review build.
3. 3Update the Final build quantity in the header to the number of units you actually built.
4. 4Enter the actual date of completion.
5. 5In the components table, update the Actual qty for any non-inventory items or services used, and enter their actual cost or rate.
6. 6Select Save and complete build.

Intuit Enterprise Suite then creates a Build assembly transaction in the background. It posts the accounting entries, computes the actual cost and changes the order to Completed. For inventory components, the actual cost comes from the inventory valuation method you chose. Intuit's two help articles describe completing the order differently: Plan and track production with manufacturing orders and build assemblies, updated 5 August 2026, says to select Mark as complete, then Save and close on the build assembly form that opens.

Step 4: View, edit or delete an order

1. 1To see a finished build, go to Inventory app, then select Manufacturing.
2. 2Find a Completed manufacturing order and select the link to its build assembly.
3. 3Select View transaction journal to see the final accounting entries and production costs.

• Planned or In Progress order: find it in the Manufacturing list, select Edit, change the quantity, components or dates, and select Save and close.
• Completed build: in the Manufacturing list, select the link in the Build assembly column, edit the costs or quantities, and select Save and close.
• Deleting a Planned or In Progress order removes it for good and releases the reserved inventory.
• Deleting a Completed manufacturing order also deletes its Build assembly transaction. That reverses all its inventory and accounting entries.
• Deleting only the Build assembly transaction sends the manufacturing order back to In Progress.

Estimated vs actual cost

If something doesn't look right

• You can't start a manufacturing order: the assembly item has no bill of materials. Add one to the item before you create the order.
• An open order didn't pick up your bill of materials change: edits apply only to orders created after the change. Edit the open order's components instead.
• A completed order shows In Progress again: someone deleted only its Build assembly transaction, which sends the order back to In Progress.
• Actual cost differs from the estimate: the estimate uses each component's default purchase cost, while the actual cost uses your valuation method and the rates entered at Review build.
• Bills of materials and manufacturing orders are view-only: the company moved to a plan that doesn't support manufacturing. Assembly items stay as regular inventory items you can buy and sell, but you can't create or edit bills of materials or orders.

Where Intuit Enterprise Suite leaves the work to you

• Each manufacturing order is created by hand. Intuit's article describes no way to create one from a sales order.
• Mark as in progress is optional, so the status shows only what your team updates.
• At Review build, someone enters the final build quantity, the completion date, and the actual quantities and rates for services and non-inventory items.
• Editing a bill of materials changes only new orders, so someone has to edit any open orders that should change too.
• Intuit's help article says multi-level bills of materials with subassemblies aren't supported, while its Fall 2026 release notes list them. Check with Intuit before you plan nested builds.

How Logistify helps

Logistify doesn't create manufacturing orders or builds. Its Sales Order Service enters the customer orders behind your builds into Intuit Enterprise Suite as sales orders, whether they arrive by email, PDF, Excel (including .xls), EDI, WhatsApp, SMS, voicemail or paper, and a person reviews exceptions. The shortage column on each manufacturing order counts open sales orders that use the same component, so orders entered promptly keep that figure current. The Procurement Service follows up with suppliers on open purchase orders for your components. Logistify is a managed service, not a connector or app.