XBuddy
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Manufacturing companies

Shop floor, stock and costing books in one rhythm

Multi-level BOMs, MRP, work orders, shop floor, operation QC and period costing — every issue and report creates stock moves and journal entries.

  • Know what to make and buy, and when
  • Material and finished stock match the books
  • Period costing without spreadsheets
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Shop floor, stock and costing books in one rhythm

The core problems

What is costing you time and money

  • Recipes and orders live in spreadsheets

    Bills of materials, work orders and stock slips are tracked across many Excel files. Change a recipe in one place and the others don't follow, and nobody knows which version a running order is using.

  • Shortages discovered too late

    Work orders are released before anyone finds out the warehouse doesn't have enough material. Purchasing runs on urgent phone calls while other items sit overstocked.

  • No view of what the floor is doing

    Which operation is in progress, which machine is down and why is known only through the shift leader. Actual minutes, defects and scrap are written on paper and reach the office late.

  • Product cost out of line with the books

    At month end, accounting collects figures from the floor and the warehouse to work out product cost by hand. Closing work in progress is a guess, and finished-goods receipt cost doesn't match the costs actually incurred.

Before and after

What changes on XBuddy

Today

  • BOMs and work orders across many Excel files
  • Orders released before shortages surface
  • Material issues and output recorded by hand
  • Quality inspection results on paper
  • Product cost reworked in Excel every month

With XBuddy

  • Multi-level BOMs, revisioned routings and approved ECOs
  • MRP proposes draft work orders and draft requisitions
  • Issues and output reports create stock moves and entries
  • Operation QC blocks completion, failures raise NCRs
  • Monthly costing periods with WIP and account 154 closing

The flow

7 steps, one continuous record

  1. 1

    Bills of materials and routings

    The production engineer defines BOMs with per-line units of measure, semi-finished goods, by-products and scrap, plus routings with operations, work centers, standard times and quality check steps. With revisions enabled, a released revision cannot be edited; every change goes through an approved ECO.

    • Multi-level BOMs, phantoms, by-products, scrap
    • BOM tree and where-used lookup
    • Immutable revisions, changes via ECO
    • Standard cost roll-up per BOM
    Manufacturing →
    Bills of materials and routings — Manufacturing
  2. 2

    Production planning and MRP

    The planner enters the master production schedule (MPS) by item and period, sets lot sizing and lead time policies per item, then runs MRP. Each proposal comes with its reason: sales order demand, forecast, safety stock or incoming supply.

    • MPS by item and period
    • Lot policies: lot-for-lot, minimum, multiple
    • MRP by day, week or month
    • Reasoned proposals, drafts only when the user selects them
    Manufacturing →
    Production planning and MRP — Manufacturing
  3. 3

    Purchase raw materials

    Purchase proposals from MRP become draft requisitions in Purchasing for buyers to review, approve and convert into POs. Incoming material is received into stock on a goods receipt, optionally with an incoming quality inspection before it goes into production.

    • Draft requisitions from MRP
    • POs, receiving and three-way matching
    • Service POs for subcontracted operations
    Purchasing →
    Purchase raw materials — Purchasing
  4. 4

    Work orders and material issue

    A work order created from a BOM generates its planned consumption and operations, and is checked for material availability before release. The storekeeper issues material in several batches and returns leftovers to stock; anything above the standard needs a reason and approval from an authorized person.

    • Material check against the BOM
    • Issue in batches, return leftovers
    • Over-standard issue needs a reason and approval
    • Make-to-order from sales lines, child orders for sub-assemblies
    Manufacturing →
    Work orders and material issue — Manufacturing
  5. 5

    Shop floor

    Operators and shift leaders open My Work or the Shop Floor screen to start, pause with a reason and complete operations; completing creates an output report with good, defective and scrap quantities. Labor minutes come from the actual run intervals, and machine downtime is logged by reason to calculate OEE.

    • Start, pause and complete operations
    • Drawings and documents on the operation card
    • Record lots/serials of material consumed
    • Downtime logging, OEE by work center
    Manufacturing →
    Shop floor — Manufacturing
  6. 6

    Quality control

    A failed QC step on an operation blocks completion of the work order. On output reports, a failed QC automatically raises a non-conformance report (NCR) in Quality, and the NCR can be the source of a rework order whose quantity cannot exceed the defects.

    • Operation QC blocks completion
    • NCR raised automatically on QC failure
    • Rework orders from defect reports or NCRs
    Quality →
    Quality control — Quality
  7. 7

    Costing and posting

    Every material issue, output report and subcontract receipt posts work-in-progress (154) and finished-goods (155) entries. At month end, the cost accountant runs the costing period: collecting material, labor and overhead by order, determining WIP and closing the period to transfer balances and adjust finished-goods receipt cost.

    • 154/155 entries per document
    • Overhead allocated by allocation basis
    • Closing WIP, standard versus actual
    • Close the period, reopen the latest one with a reason
    Accounting →
    Costing and posting — Accounting

Key capabilities

What this solution relies on

Design & planning

5

  • Multi-level BOMsAdvanced

    Semi-finished goods, phantoms, by-products and scrap are outputs, never deducted like raw materials.

  • Routings, revisions and ECOsAdvanced

    Released revisions are locked; ECOs are approved, and the creator cannot approve their own.

  • MPS and MRPAdvanced

    Proposes work orders and requisitions with reasons, creating drafts only when the user selects them.

  • Finite schedulingAdvanced

    Gantt by work center and working calendar, proposed options, pinned operations, validated drag and drop.

  • Capacity load and machines

    Load per work center by day or week; each machine counts as a capacity resource.

Shop-floor execution

5

  • Partial issue and reporting

    Issue in batches, return leftovers, report good, defective and scrap with labor and machine hours.

  • Shop Floor and My Work

    Operators run operations, pause with a reason and open drawings right on the work card.

  • Quick report for shift leadersMobile

    A single-column page for reporting production output from a phone.

  • Downtime and OEE

    Log downtime against a reason list; OEE and cause Pareto by work center and machine.

  • Subcontracting

    Send material to a partner's warehouse, receive the processed goods, add the fee to order cost.

Quality & traceability

4

  • Operation QC

    Inspection steps on the routing; a failure blocks completion of the order.

  • NCRs and rework

    A failed QC on an output report raises an NCR automatically; rework has a clear source.

  • Lot/serial traceability

    Trace back which materials went into a finished lot, or forward where a material lot ended up.

  • Plant overview

    Late orders, shortages, overloaded work centers, open downtime and open NCRs on one screen.

Costing & AI

4

  • Order-level costing

    Operation minutes times the work center hourly rate, plus material consumed at stock ledger cost.

  • Monthly costing periodsAdvanced

    Overhead, closing WIP, account 154 closing and finished-goods cost adjustment.

  • Standards-aware accounts

    Posts to 621/622/627, 154 and 155; Circular 133 posts straight to 154.

  • Production Planner assistantAI

    Analyses capacity load, MRP shortages, late orders, work in progress and efficiency.

Handled out of the box

Hard questions XBuddy already answers

What do we need to make and buy next month?Enter the production plan and run MRP; draft work orders and draft requisitions are proposed with reasons for the planner to pick.See the how-to →An order is about to run but material is short?The material check against BOM times planned quantity shows which lines are short before the order is released.See the how-to →One operation is done by an outside workshop?A service PO tied to the order, material sent to the partner's warehouse, processed goods received and the fee added to order cost.See the how-to →Could defective goods be reported as complete?A failed operation QC blocks completion; an output report with a failed QC raises an NCR in Quality automatically.See the how-to →A customer asks which material lot went into this batch?Trace back from the finished lot or serial to see every material that was issued to it.See the how-to →Change a recipe without disturbing running orders?Create a new revision and an approved ECO; confirmed orders stay unchanged and draft orders are rebuilt on the new revision.See the how-to →

What’s inside

Apps and AI assistants involved

ManufacturingWork orders, BOM and work centres.InventoryStock, warehouses and goods movements.PurchasingVendor management and the purchasing process.QualityChecklists and non-conformance reports.AccountingJournal entries, general ledger and reconciliation.SalesQuotes, orders and commission tracking.AI assistantProduction PlannerPlans production: capacity load, schedule, material shortages from MRP, late work orders, WIP, BOM cost and yield.AI assistantWork Order AssistantProcess-aware agent tracking work order production lifecycle, flagging overdue or unassigned ordersAI assistantInventory Planning AssistantInventory planning assistant — goods-issue and stock-request tracking, stockout-risk prediction, smart reorder, dead-stock and expiring-lot alerts, and discrepancy explanations.

FAQ

Frequently asked

Does it work for a small workshop?

Yes. The basic flow of BOM, work order, operations and finished-goods receipt works straight away. Advanced capabilities such as multi-level BOMs, MRP, finite scheduling, the shop floor screen and period costing are off by default and can be switched on as the workshop is ready.

Does MRP create work orders or purchase orders on its own?

No. MRP only proposes, with reasons; draft work orders or draft requisitions are created only for the proposals the planner selects. MRP does not yet suggest rescheduling or cancelling open orders.

How is product cost calculated?

At two levels. Order-level cost is always available: operation minutes times the work center hourly rate, plus material consumed at stock ledger cost. Period costing adds overhead by allocation basis, closing work in progress and finished-goods cost adjustment when the period is closed.

Does it connect to machines and sensors (MES)?

Not yet. XBuddy provides a light MES layer: operators record operations, log downtime, and OEE is calculated from output reports and logged stops. It does not currently collect data automatically from PLCs, SCADA or IoT devices, and there is no real-time OEE.

What if a closed costing period turns out wrong?

The latest closed period can be reopened with a reason, as long as the stock adjustment has not been consumed. Otherwise, the difference is handled with an adjusting entry in the following period.

Can we make to customer order?

Yes. From a sales order line you create a work order for the quantity to be made, progress shows on the order, and finished goods are reserved for it. Cancelling the order cancels orders that have not started; once an order has started, cancelling the sales order is blocked.

See this flow on your own data

A thirty-minute demo focused on the process you are actually stuck on.

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