About components

Master sub-assemblies to streamline recipes and speed up your production.

Juggling lots of products that all share the same sub-assemblies? Components let you build each intermediate piece once, track its stock separately, and drop it into any product recipe — so your costs and inventory stay accurate without the double-handling.

Components are your product building blocks — they are intermediate sub-assemblies you create once and then reuse across multiple products and bundles.

While they are not compulsory, converting your raw materials into components optimises your workflow, keeps your bill of materials neat and tidy, and guarantees every finished product rolls up accurate costs and stock levels automatically.

They represent an intermediary stage in your manufacturing process, generating stock that can then be used alongside materials or additional components to manufacture finished products.

Components are available on Studio+ plans.

Introduction to components

A component (sometimes called a sub-assembly) is an intermediate item you manufacture from raw materials or from other components.

Think buttercream icing for a baker or pre-soldered circuit boards for an electronics maker. Once a component's batch is completed, its stock is ready to be consumed — alongside materials or additional components — when you manufacture a finished product.

Components can be added manually, or imported in bulk from a CSV file.

For a detailed walkthrough on how to create a component manually, see our Introduction to components tutorial →

Why use components?

Lean, reusable bills of materials

Define your recipe once, drop the component into any product recipe, and avoid duplicate data entry.

Batch-level cost accuracy

Each component's cost (including labour and overheads) automatically rolls into every product that consumes it, so margins and pricing guidance stays accurate.

Streamlined and efficient production

Structuring your workflow as components lets you prepare your stages in bulk, keep them on the shelf, and reduce the time it takes to build your final products.

Traceability

Track which lot of raw materials flowed into each component and, ultimately, into each sale — for effortless recalls or compliance checks.

Finding your components page

To view all your components, click the Components tab in the top navigation bar. The components list shows all your sub-assemblies with their current stock on hand.

The components list includes:

A sidebar filter panel on the left to narrow by category, state, and other attributes
A sortable table with columns for SKU, name, and on-hand stock — click any column header to sort
A pagination bar at the top and bottom of the list
A row actions menu (vertical ellipsis ⋮ on each row) for quick actions on individual components

To find a specific component, use the search field at the top of the filter sidebar, or sort the table by name.

To view a component's detail page, click its name in the list.

The component detail page

Clicking a component's name opens its detail page, where you can see all its key information at a glance and take action on it.

At the top of the page, a stats bar shows a quick summary of the component's current state:

On Hand — the physical stock level, representing all adjustments up to today
Made — the total quantity you have manufactured
Potential — how many units you could make right now, based on available stock and your recipe (shown when a recipe is set)
Bin Location — the physical location of this component in your workspace (available on Indie+ plans)

Below the stats bar, a detail panel shows fields including State, Category, Low Stock Limit, Tracking Unit, Manufacture Cost, and Last Stocktake date.

The page also shows the component's Recipe and any Attachments you've added.

The Edit Component button lets you update the component's details. The actions menu (⋮ overflow icon in the page header) gives you access to additional options:

Add Manufacture — record a new manufacture for this component
Add Adjustment — make a manual stock adjustment
Edit Recipe / Create Recipe — manage this component's recipe
Copy Component — duplicate this component (available on Studio+ plans)
Generate Tracking Label — print a label for physical storage
Delete — permanently remove this component

Multi-level components

Need a component that itself contains another component? No problem. Multi-level components let you nest sub-assemblies several layers deep — perfect for makers with stepped processes (e.g., roast cocoa → make chocolate → use chocolate in truffles). It can also be used for product bundling situations, giving you endless freedom to structure your production flows.

Multi-level components are available on Indie+ plans.

If necessary, you can automate the manufacture of components via the Auto Manufacture Components feature (see Automanufacturing components below).

Some examples of multi-level components using bundling:

You make buttercream used in a cupcake product, which can then be combined into different cupcake bundles.
You make felt, which is then used to create a pincushion, combined into different product bundles.

Some examples of multi-level components that do not use bundling:

You make your butter, which is then included in buttercream and used to create a cake.
You make chocolate. Your raw cocoa beans are processed into roasted cocoa beans, crushed into nibs, and combined with milk and sugar. These sub-processes can be tracked via multi-level components.

Automanufacturing components

Tick the magic-wand icon on a recipe or manufacture form and the app will automatically create the required quantity of a component whenever a product that uses it is made. It even cleans up those auto-manufactures if an order is later cancelled (when the "Remove Auto Manufacture" setting is enabled).

Automanufacturing is particularly useful for bundling and kitting situations.

On the Manufacture form, for each component in the material list, a similar icon will appear:

Removing automanufactured components

Available on Indie+ plans.

If you'd like to have automanufactured components removed automatically for cancelled orders, the removing automanufactured components setting should be enabled. If an order is pulled to the app with a "cancelled" status, the app will not create an auto-manufacture for that order. Also, if an existing order is updated to "cancelled," the app will automatically remove any associated auto manufactures. This maintains accurate manufacturing records and prevents unnecessary manufactures, keeping inventory accurate and up to date.

If the Remove Auto Manufacture setting is not enabled, you will need to manually remove the manufactures associated with cancelled orders.

Componentising a product

Available on Indie+ plans.

Using the Componentise feature, you can create a component directly from a product. This is useful if you need to restructure your existing products to be used in product bundles.

To componentise a product:

Go to the product you wish to componentise.
Hover your mouse over the vertical ellipsis ⋮ to the left of the product name.
Select the Componentise option that appears in the menu.

This will instantly create a component with the same name as your product. It will also move the existing recipe (if one exists) to the component and then replace your product's recipe with a reference to the component.

Productise a component

Due to the complexities of how components and products differ, it is not currently possible to convert a component into a product.

Need more help?

For more detail on the Auto Manufacture feature, see About Auto Manufacturing.
Browse all component articles in the Components section.
Planning to track sub-assemblies in a bill of materials? Download our free Bill of Materials template to plan your structure before setting up in the app.
Have questions about your components? Get in touch and we'll be happy to help.