Summary
Assembly Orders are a subset of Inventory Planner's Bundles & Assemblies planning functionality. Learn more about how Bundles and Assemblies work together to recommend what to produce (Assembly Orders) and what to order from Vendors (Purchase Orders) here: Bundles & Assemblies
Assemblies
An Assembly must be produced from components (variants) before it can be placed into stock and available for sale. These goods are pre-assembled before the sale and fulfillment of an item.
Assemblies include any produced goods with a bill-of-materials (BOM), and bundles/kits that must be produced before sending to Amazon (or a different fulfillment warehouse). All bundles associated with FBA are considered Assemblies - since Amazon only carries finished goods/produced bundles.
Note: Inventory Planner does not allocate component stock for the production of assemblies at Amazon FBA, since it is not possible to assemble stock at an FBA warehouse. Only transfer recommendations of completed Assemblies can be configured for an FBA warehouse. For Assembly Order recommendations (production orders), configure a combined warehouse using sales from Amazon with stock from FBA + another warehouse where assemblies can be produced.
Configure Assembly Time, Assembly Cycle, Lead Time, and Days of Stock
From Replenishment, select Assemblies using the top left dropdown;
Configure ‘Assembly Time’ as the time it takes to produce new assemblies if/when component stock is available. Create new Assembly Orders based on recommendations, and see incoming stock using the ‘On Assembly’ column. Assembly Time dictates the Expected By date for Assembly Orders.
Note: if nested assemblies are used (eg. 10 Pack Cookies > Cookies > Flour), then Assembly Time for each assembly is based on time to assemble from the oldest connected child component - eg. Assembly Time for 10-packs = 1 day (if/when Cookies are available), and for Cookies = 5 days (if/when Flour is available).
Configure ‘Assembly Cycle’ as a production cycle. For example, to break down Assemblies Replenishment into a weekly production schedule; input 7 days for Assembly Cycle.
Some Customers need Assembly/Variants relationships, and when you don't want to break down recommendations based on Assembly Cycle and you just want Replenishment = Next to Assemble. Please set your Assembly Cycle = 0, it sets Next to Assemble = Replenishment (thus, there will not be a breakdown based on Assembly Cycle/schedule).
Bulk Actions can also be used to configure Assembly Time and Assembly Cycle for multiple Assemblies at once.
Configure ‘Components Lead Time’ in the ‘Variants’ view in Replenishment. Lead Times are pulled into the ‘Assemblies’ view automatically, and considered in the replenishment analysis for new Assemblies (above & beyond what can be assembled from existing component stock).
Configure ‘Components Days of Stock’ in the ‘Variants’ view in Replenishment. This value defines the full planning period for Assemblies and component Variants.
In the following example, inputting Lead Time = 14 Days, and Days of Stock = 90 Days defines the full planning period as Sep 01 - Dec 14. Increasing Days of Stock would increase the total Replenishment at both the Assembly and Variant levels.
Note: You can also select the Components Lead Time or Components Days of Stock from the “Assemblies” view in Replenishment to click into the “Variants” view, automatically filtered on the components of the corresponding Assembly.
Assembly Schedule Report
The Assembly Schedule Report can be accessed from the “Reports” tab on the left navigation bar.
Select “Assemblies” using the top left dropdown to see Units to Assemble (from components).
By default, assembly recommendations are presented by month. Select the top right to change view to view recommendations by week.
Select “Variants” using the top left dropdown to see Units Allocated for Assemblies. This shows the component stock that must be allocated to meet the requirements driven by Assemblies. Select ‘Export’ as needed to export the report to CSV.
Note: if an Assembly is also a component (in the case of nested assemblies), then “Units Allocated for Assemblies” will populate for the corresponding Assemblies - in addition to “Units to Assemble”
Assemblies Replenishment & Assembly Orders
Before purchasing new component stock, you can create new Assembly Orders to use existing component stock based on the recommended ‘Next To Assemble’ quantity.
The Replenishment quantity for Assemblies is the ‘Next To Assemble’ quantity + the additional replenishment needed to satisfy forecasted sales during the full planning period (as defined by the components’ Lead Time and Days of Stock inputs).
In Replenishment and Edit Forecast, select Assemblies view;
Select the ‘Details’ icon;
Select the ‘Bundles & Production’ tab to see component variants and details related to the Assembly in view. Note: clicking the ‘details’ icon next to components in this screen opens a new tab displaying Replenishment, filtered on the component variant.
Select the Replenishment & Forecast tab to see forecasted needs and replenishment recommendations for the Assembly. Learn how Forecasts and Replenishment are calculated here.
Hover your cursor over the Forecast Stock chart and the ‘To Assemble’ rows of the left-hand table to view a recommended assembly schedule, based on your configured Assembly Time and component Lead Times.
In this example, only 3 Assemblies can be assembled in the immediate term (since the current stock = 3 of ‘Table Top Large’). If new components are ordered today, we can assemble 69 additional tables each week once the new components arrive until we meet the total Replenishment of 901.
Select “Show Forecast Stock for Components” to see how Assemblies replenishment impacts component variant stock.
Quantities ordered using an Assembly Order are represented in the “On Assembly” column in Replenishment (below in blue). Use the purple gear icon in the top right corner to adjust columns.
After creating a new Assembly Order, the “Next To Assemble” recalculates based on what’s needed for the next Assembly Cycle. Note: if there is insufficient component stock for additional assemblies in the immediate term, the “Next to Assemble” date will be pushed back according to the components’ Lead Time inputs. This is the case in the following example, as we could only Assemble a few for now and must wait for new component stock to arrive by Sep 15 to create additional Assemblies.
Create Assembly Orders
From the main Replenishment screen with ‘Assemblies’ selected - Configure the Assembly Time as the time it takes in days to produce new Assemblies from existing component stock. This defines the ‘expected date’ for assembly orders. Select relevant Assemblies then “+ New Assembly Order” to create a new Assembly Order using existing component stock.
A new Assembly Order is generated. The same source and destination warehouse is selected by default - since assembly/production tends to take place in a single location.
Select the ‘Components’ button in the Assembly Order to see the components required to meet the quantity listed in the Assembly Order.
Check for errors with the (!) button in the top right and make adjustments as necessary. The "Limit to source stock" feature reduces the number of Assemblies based on the available stock of component variants at the source warehouse.
Once an Assembly Order is saved, you will find it in the Purchase Orders & Transfers section of Inventory Planner. Add Filter on Type = ‘Assembly' to see Assembly Orders.
Note: Similar to how the Purchase Orders and Transfer Orders functions work, some systems support the ability to save Assembly Orders from Inventory Planner to the connected system - to manage order receiving and stock changes directly in the IMS. If your integration supports the “Push Assembly Orders” feature, an option will appear after creating the Assembly Order to ‘Save to (your system)’. Visit the Integrations Page to see if your connection supports this feature.
Once new assemblies are fully produced, you can Receive the Assembly Order* and select ‘Save’ to apply the receipt. This action closes the order and zeroes the “On Assembly” quantity in Replenishment.
*Note: Assemblies can only be received in Inventory Planner if they have not been saved to external connection.
After receiving an assembly order, options appear to increase stock of Assemblies in your store and to decrease stock of component variants respectively. Learn more about receiving inventory and pushing inventory to your store.
Select the respective Assembly or Variant to adjust stock for, then ‘Update Selected’ to complete the stock level change.