Manufacturing

Write recipes for what you make, plan production runs, issue materials from stock and put finished goods into stock at what they really cost.

Getting started

The Manufacturing link appears in the menu when your plan includes the Manufacturing module. The module brings Inventory with it, including Shipments and landed cost and the stock reports, so you don't need to add Inventory separately.

1. Add your finished products and raw materials under Products and services with Track stock ticked. Recipes only use stocked products.
2. Receive your raw materials into stock as usual, on a bill or a goods received note. For imported or delivered materials, put freight, duty and transport on the same shipment under Inventory, then Shipments and landed cost, so the materials go into stock at their landed cost.
3. Open Manufacturing, then Manufacturing settings, and switch on only what you need. With everything off you get recipes, production orders and the true material cost of each product.
4. Open Recipes and click New recipe.
5. Plan your first production order from the recipe.

How to

Create a recipe

A recipe (bill of materials) lists what one batch of a product uses.

1. Open Manufacturing, then Recipes, and click New recipe.
2. Choose the Finished product. The Recipe name defaults to the product name.
3. Enter how much One batch makes, in the product's own unit.
4. For each material, choose it and enter the Quantity per batch and any Expected wastage %. Click Add material for more rows.
5. Add notes on the method, mixing order or quality checks if you like.
6. Click Save recipe.

Each quantity is in that product's own unit, shown next to the box, and can have decimals, for example 12.5 kg. You can also type a weight or volume with its unit and Mifumo converts it: 250 ml for a material kept in litres saves as 0.25 L, 500 g for one kept in kg saves as 0.5 kg. Wastage is added on top when you plan production: 100 kg with 2% wastage plans 102 kg. The recipe page shows what the materials for one batch cost at today's stock cost.

Plan a production order

1. Open Manufacturing, then Production orders, and click New production order. You can also click Plan production on a recipe.
2. Choose the Recipe and enter the Quantity to make.
3. Set the Production date.
4. Choose the store to Take materials from and the store to Put finished goods in.
5. Click Plan production.

The order opens as Planned. Its Materials table shows what the recipe needs, what is on hand in the store, and anything short.

Start production

1. Open the planned order.
2. If any material is short, receive or transfer it into the store first. Production cannot start while materials are short.
3. Click Start production (issue materials).

The materials leave stock at FIFO cost and move into work in progress. The order becomes In production.

Record the output

1. Open the order that is In production.
2. Under Record the output, enter the Good units produced, any Scrapped or rejected units, and the Finished on date.
3. If lot numbers or expiry dates are switched on, enter the Lot number and Expiry date.
4. Click Receive finished goods.

The finished goods go into stock at their actual cost: materials, plus labour and overhead if you use them. The cost of scrapped units stays in the good units. The order shows the cost per unit and links to both journal entries.

Record a finished run in one step

1. Open the planned order.
2. Open Already finished? Record the whole run in one step.
3. Fill in the output as above and click Issue materials and receive finished goods.

Record what a run really used

This needs Record actual material usage switched on in the settings.

1. Open the planned order.
2. In the To issue column, change the quantity of any material the batch used more or less of.
3. Click Save quantities, then start production.

The difference from the recipe shows as a variance on the order and on the costing report.

Void a production order

1. Open the order that is in production or completed.
2. Open Void this production order, give a reason and click Void and put the materials back.

The finished goods come out of stock, the materials go back on the shelf, and both postings are reversed. This only works while none of the finished goods have been sold. You need a role that can approve. A planned order that has not started can simply be removed with Delete.

See what each product cost to make

1. Open Manufacturing, then Production costing.
2. Choose the From and To dates and click Show.

By product shows the runs, quantity produced, scrap, materials, labour, overhead and average cost per unit. Each run shows each completed order and how far material use was above or below the recipe.

Settings

Open Manufacturing, then Manufacturing settings.

• Lot numbers: each production run gets a lot number, so any sale can be traced back to its batch. Useful for food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and for TBS or TMDA inspections.
• Expiry dates: each run gets an expiry date, suggested from the recipe's Shelf life (days). It shows against the batch on the product's stock card.
• Record actual material usage: enter what each run really used instead of issuing exactly what the recipe says. Over- and under-use shows on the costing report.
• Add labour to product cost: each recipe gets a Labour cost per unit made, added to the finished goods' cost and credited to "Labour and overheads absorbed".
• Overhead: electricity, rent and machine costs added as a percentage of material cost. Leave it at 0 to keep overheads as ordinary expenses.

Questions

Why can't I find my product when I create a recipe?

Only stocked products appear. Open the product under Products and services and tick Track stock.

Why is the Start production button greyed out?

Some materials are short in the store you chose. Receive or transfer them first, or plan the order from a different store.

Can I make a product in kilograms from materials in litres?

Yes. Each product keeps its own unit, so a recipe can mix weight, volume and count.

How do I make a product measured by volume?

Give the product a volume unit, such as L or ml, under its product details, and enter One batch makes in that unit: a 200 L batch of juice. Materials kept in litres or millilitres are entered the same way. To sell in bottles, keep the bulk liquid as one product in litres and the bottled drink as another in pcs: its recipe uses 0.5 L of the liquid, one bottle and one cap.

Which units does Mifumo convert?

ml, cl and L (litres) between each other, and mg, g, kg and tonnes between each other. It does not turn weight into volume, because that depends on the material: if you buy cooking oil by the kg but measure it in litres, keep it in one unit and enter the recipe in that unit. Stock keeps three decimals of a product's unit, so the smallest amount of a material kept in litres is 1 ml, and of one kept in kg is 1 g. For a pinch of something, keep that material in g or ml.

Why can't I void a completed order?

Finished goods from that run have already been sold. A void needs all of them still in stock.

Help guides

• Getting started: Sign up, set up your company with its TIN and VRN, choose your modules, invite your team and get Mifumo on your phone.
• Team, roles and permissions: Add users, give each one a role per company, build your own roles with the permission grid, work together with mentions, and import or export spreadsheets.
• Approvals: Maker-checker on the documents you choose. People who can't approve submit, an approver posts or sends back with a reason, and nothing reaches the books before approval.
• Sign-in and security: Passwords, passkeys, two-step sign-in with an authenticator app, a text message or email, recovery codes, requiring two-step sign-in for everyone, and staying signed in.
• Group of companies: Run several companies under one login, give people a group role in every company, record intercompany entries once, and read consolidated reports with intercompany balances taken out.
• Accounting: Your books in one place. Invoices, receipts, bills, expenses, banking, journals, VAT returns and financial statements, all posting to one double-entry ledger in TSh.
• Inventory: Stock products, warehouses, adjustments, transfers and stock counts with a barcode scanner, landed cost on imports, purchase and sales orders, the point of sale till, and stock reports.
• HR and payroll: Employees, monthly payroll with PAYE, NSSF, SDL, WCF and HESLB worked out for you, payslips, salary advances, per diem, leave, staff attendance by phone with GPS or QR, a shift roster, and final dues for leavers.
• CRM: Leads, a drag-and-drop pipeline of deals, follow-ups, quotes from deals, a full customer timeline, SMS and email campaigns, and your own mailbox synced in.
• Asset management: Keep a fixed asset register, charge depreciation, track who has each asset, and record disposals with the right journal entries.
• Project management: Projects with their team, tasks, board and timeline, time logged on timesheets, milestone and time invoices, and the margin of every project.
• FTTx projects: Track fibre roll-out purchase orders from your clients, the work you pass to subcontractors, and the money in and out on each PO.
• Transport jobs: Record each cargo trip with its trucks, drivers and deliveries, attach the proof of delivery, see the margin on every delivery, and turn the job into an invoice.
• Construction: Run each building contract with its bill of quantities, interim payment certificates, advances, retention, completion certificates and site costs.
• Manufacturing: Write recipes for what you make, plan production runs, issue materials from stock and put finished goods into stock at what they really cost.
• Pharmacy: Counter dispensing with patient and prescription details, medicines with TMDA numbers, first-expiry-first-out batches, expiry write-offs and the prescription register.
• Motor vehicles: Sell imported vehicles from proforma to invoice, complete and approve the internal Sale Sheet, take instalment payments, and pay sales commissions.
• Property management: Properties and units, tenants, leases and rent billed as invoices, arrears, repairs and statements for owners you manage for.
• Law firm: Matters and case management (stages, parties, tasks, documents), time and costs, billing a matter in one step, the client (trust) account kept matter by matter, a court diary with reminders, the conflict check log and the advocate compliance register.
• Livestock: A register of every animal or batch of birds, with health records, withdrawal periods, breeding and births, milk and eggs, and sales invoiced to the buyer.
• Helpdesk: Customer problems and requests as numbered tickets, each with someone in charge, deadlines to answer and to solve, replies by email and internal notes.
• Mining: Run each mine as a project, record the money it receives, see spending against those funds, and get a profit and loss for every mine and for the company.
• Field Service: Jobs your technicians do at the customer's site, each with a time slot, a checklist, the parts used from stock, the hours worked, the customer's signature on the phone, and an invoice from the job.
• Hospital: Patients, appointments and the queue from triage to the doctor, the lab, the pharmacy and the cashier. Wards with admissions, bed days and deposits, the theatre list and imaging. Bills split between the patient and their insurer, with claims and reports. The Pharmacy module is included.
• Sign: Send a contract, lease or offer letter to be signed by link, on a phone or computer, and keep the signed copy with a record of who signed, when and from where.
• Event ticketing: Set up an event with its ticket types, publish it after paying a one-off fee, and sell tickets from your own sale page. Buyers pay you by Lipa Namba or online, and get QR tickets by SMS and email. Ticket money goes straight to you, never to Mifumo.