> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.supplyd.co/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.supplyd.co/supplyd-erp/production/production-flow.md). # Production Flow #### Welcome to Supply'd Production! Supply'd is your digital sidekick, helping you turn ingredients and labour into finished products - without the spreadsheets, guesswork, or headaches. Whether you're baking cookies, preparing ready meals, or running a large production floor, Supply'd helps you keep production organised, inventory accurate, and your team on track.

*** ## The Essentials You Need First Before you jump into production, make sure you've got the basics set up: * **Products:** Create the products you manufacture - [How-to guide](https://help.supplyd.co/products). * **Inventory:** Ensure your stock is accurate - [How-to guide](https://help.supplyd.co/inventory/managing-inventory). * **Production Settings:** Set the product type to **Production**, then add your production stages and production items. A little effort here saves a lot of pain later!

*** ## Stages & Sub-Recipes: Map Your Magic Think about how your product moves through your business - from raw ingredients to finished goods. Supply'd uses **Stages** and **Sub-Recipes** to mirror your real-world workflow. * [#stages](#stages "mention") * [#sub-recipes-your-secret-weapon](#sub-recipes-your-secret-weapon "mention") *** ### Stages Stages break your production into logical steps. #### Simple Recipes Think “cookie production” - one step after another.
For a simple product, that might be: 1. Weigh 2. Mix 3. Bake 4. Pack

#### Complex Recipes For larger operations, stages often represent different teams or work areas: 1. Guided Weigh-Up 2. Make components 3. Assemble components 4. Bake 5. Cool & Pack \

#### The Trap: Over-Segmenting Because Supply'd gives you the power to create stages, it’s tempting to break a process down into micro-steps. For example, a client making a cake might set up their stages like this: **Bake → Cut → Fill → Ice → Sprinkle**. **The Problem** In Supply'd, the next stage stays locked until the current stage is finalised. This means team members can't see their ingredients or instructions, even if they're ready to work. For example: If one person is filling, another is frosting, and another is adding sprinkles, the sprinkles operator must wait until the frosting stage is closed before their pick list becomes available. \ **The Solution** Create stages around handoffs, not every individual task. Instead of separate stages for **Cut → Fill → Top → Sprinkle**, combine them into a single **Decorate** stage, with each action listed as an instruction. This gives the whole team visibility from the start and keeps work flowing in parallel. \ **Rule of Thumb for Stages** A stage should only end when there is: * **A Change of Hands:** Responsibility passes to another person or team. * **A Change of Location:** The product moves to a different workstation or room. * **A Significant Pause:** The product must wait before the next step (eg. cooling, proofing, curing, or setting). This rule keeps stages meaningful, improves visibility, and reduces unnecessary handoffs.

*** ### Sub-Recipes: Your Secret Weapon Got components used in multiple products or made in big batches? Create sub-recipes! If you make something once and use it in lots of different products, it's probably a **Sub-Recipe**.
Great examples include: * Sauces * Fillings * Doughs * Spice blends * Syrups
Instead of creating the same red sauce inside every lasagne recipe, make it once as a **Sub-Recipe** and simply add it wherever it's needed.
You'll get: * Better stock tracking * Less duplicate recipe maintenance * Easier production planning
The best part? Creating a **Production Sub-Recipe** is exactly the same as creating a **Production Product** - You will simply use it as one of the Production Items for Production Product. 👉 See the [Creating a Production Product](/supplyd-erp/production/creating-a-production-product.md) doc for full details.

#### The Trap: Hiding Shared Components Inside Final Products Because it seems simpler at first glance, it's tempting to embed bulk components directly into the stages of your final product. For example, a client making Lasagna for supermarkets might create a stage called "Make Red Sauce" directly inside the Lasagna recipe. **The Problem** 1. **Visibility:** The team waiting to make the White Sauce or Assemble the Lasagna can't see their ingredients because the Red Sauce stage isn't finalised. 2. **Duplicate Work:** If you also sell Spaghetti Bolognese (which uses the exact same Red Sauce), or if you sell tubs of Red Sauce on their own, you are now managing that sauce in three different places. \
Another example is time-gapped components, like Tiramisu. The biscuit base needs to be soaked in coffee syrup overnight. If you make "Soak Biscuits" a stage within the final Tiramisu build, your floor planners can't easily see the total volume of biscuits they need to soak today for tomorrow's production of five different Tiramisu flavours. **The Solution: Create a Sub-Recipe** Pull the Red Sauce (or the Soaked Biscuits) out of the final product and create it as its own Sub-Recipe. Then, add that Sub-Recipe as a single ingredient in the final Lasagna or Tiramisu product. **The Rule of Thumb for Sub-Recipes** A time-gap alone (like resting dough or marinating meat) doesn't mean you need a Sub-Recipe - that can just be a Stage! You should only build a Sub-Recipe if the component meets at least one of these criteria: * **It's shared:** It is used as an ingredient across multiple different final products. * **It's sellable:** It can be sold entirely on its own to customers. * **It's bulk inventory:** It is made in massive bulk batches, stored, and drawn down over time for various runs (rather than made to order for one specific run)

Cheat Sheet: Stage vs. Sub-Recipe

Scenario	Use a Stage	Use a Sub-Recipe
It's a continuous process that doesn't stop moving down the line.
Multiple people are working on the product simultaneously at the same bench.	Combine them into 1 stage
The product needs to sit/marinate for 3 days, but is ONLY used for this one specific run.
The product needs to sit/marinate for 3 days AND is used across different finished products.
The component is batched in bulk, stored, and drawn down over the week.
You sell the component on its own to customers as a retail item.
The product changes hands from the hot kitchen team to the cold packing team.

#### "But that's too many Sub-Recipes to set up!" When larger clients realise how many shared components they have, setting them up as Sub-Recipes can seem like a big task. **Here is the reality:** You are already operating this way. Your floor managers aren't looking at 10 different pasta products and making 10 separate tiny batches of red sauce. They are doing the mental maths (or scratchpad maths) to figure out exactly how much total Red Sauce is needed across all the products that require it for the week, and cooking one massive batch. Supply'd is simply digitising the maths you are already doing in your head. By putting the Sub-Recipes into the system, you stop relying on mental gymnastics and let the software handle the heavy lifting. *** #### So, What Would Lasagna Production Look Like in a Complex Facility?

*** ### Production Runs: Where the Magic Happens Once everything is set up, you're ready to create a **Production Run**. A Production Run walks your team through each stage while Supply'd takes care of the admin behind the scenes by: * Tracking ingredients * Recording labour * Updating inventory * Recording finished products * Calculating production costs

{% hint style="success" %} **Pro tip:** Record labour and assign batches as you go for the most accurate costing and traceability - [How to run production](https://help.supplyd.co/production/creating-and-performing-a-production-run) {% endhint %} *** ### How the Smart Production Plan Ties it All Together Once you've structured your production with Stages and Sub-Recipes, Supply'd does the hard work for you. Using sales orders, inventory levels and forecasts, Supply'd automatically calculates: * What needs to be produced * How much of each Sub-Recipe is required * The ingredients you'll need * Your overall production schedule No more whiteboards or mental maths - Supply'd scales everything automatically. 👉 To learn more, see the [Smart Production Plan](/supplyd-erp/production/smart-production-plan.md) doc. *** ### Why It’s Awesome With Supply'd Production you can: ✔ Keep production organised ✔ Improve inventory accuracy ✔ Track true product costs (including labour) ✔ Reduce waste ✔ Give your team clear production workflows ✔ Scale your operation with confidence Ready to make production a breeze? Let's get started! --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://help.supplyd.co/supplyd-erp/production/production-flow.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.