What is manufacturing inventory management software?

Manufacturing inventory management software tracks stock at every stage of production rather than only finished products. It holds your raw materials, any sub-assemblies you build in-house, and your finished goods in one system, and moves all three automatically when you record a build. Stocksmith does this from your bill of materials, so material counts and unit costs stay accurate as you produce.

How is this different from ordinary inventory software?

Ordinary inventory software assumes you buy a product and sell the same product, so stock only moves on a purchase or a sale. A manufacturer consumes one set of items to create a different one. Without a bill of materials behind it, that consumption is invisible, which is why makers end up keeping materials in a separate spreadsheet that quietly drifts out of step with reality.

Does it handle batch and lot inventory?

Yes. Every build is recorded as its own batch with the materials consumed, the quantity produced and the cost. On Indie plans and above you can also record lot numbers against materials and carry them through to the batches and orders they ended up in, along with expiry dates, which is what recall readiness requires in food, cosmetics and supplements.

Can it track multi-level bills of materials?

Yes. Sub-assemblies you make in-house are available on Studio plans and above, and nesting them several levels deep is available on Indie plans and above. Costs roll up through each level, so a change in the price of a base material flows into the finished unit without you rebuilding anything by hand.

How does it calculate cost per unit?

Stocksmith values material stock using a weighted average of the prices on your actual purchase records, then costs each build against that. Labour is included where you have set an hourly rate. The result is a cost per unit grounded in what you paid rather than an estimate, which is what makes your margins and your COGS figures trustworthy.

Will it work with the channels I already sell on?

Stocksmith connects to Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, Square, Faire and Amazon, and brings orders in on a schedule so one stock pool sits behind every channel. Sync frequency depends on your plan, and connected channels are capped at one on Pro and unlimited from Studio upwards.

Manufacturing Inventory Management Software - Stocksmith

One system for all three kinds of stock

Most small manufacturers end up with a split: a shop platform holding finished products, and a spreadsheet holding everything the products are made from. The two never agree, because only one of them knows a batch happened.

Stocksmith holds raw materials, anything part-built, and finished goods in the same inventory. Produce a run and all three move together, in one transaction.

Material inventory with photos, suppliers and unit costs
Sub-assemblies you make in-house tracked as stock in their own right
Finished goods counted and costed as each batch completes
One stock pool behind every sales channel you sell on

Inventory Live

Item	On hand	Status
Lavender Body Butter 200ml	412	In stock
Amber glass jar, 200ml	1,240	In stock
Vitamin C Serum 30ml	38	Low
Shea butter, refined	6.2 kg	In stock

Raw materials and finished goods, always current

Inventory that updates itself when you make something

Define each product once as a bill of materials. When you record a build, Stocksmith reads the BOM and takes every component off stock at what you paid for it, then adds the finished units back at their real cost. Nobody has to remember to adjust anything.

That single behaviour is what separates manufacturing inventory from ordinary stock control. Your material counts fall as production consumes them, rather than the next time somebody does a stocktake.

Bill of MaterialsVitamin C Serum 30ml

Vitamin C Serum 30mlmakes 1$4.18

Serum basesub-assembly28 ml$2.10

Distilled water24 ml$0.01

L-ascorbic acid4 g$2.09

Dropper bottle, 30ml1$0.92

Printed label1$0.16

Costs roll up through every level automatically

Cost per unit that survives a price rise

Material prices move, and a cost per unit you worked out last spring is fiction by autumn. Stocksmith values your material stock on a weighted average of what you actually paid, so every build is costed against current reality rather than an old estimate.

Labour rolls in too. Set an hourly rate and the time a batch takes becomes part of its cost, which is usually where a margin quietly disappears.

Cost & margin per unit

Materials$3.10

Labour$0.80

Overhead$0.28

True cost per unit$4.18

Sell price$18.00

Gross margin76.8%

Material price up? Your margin recalculates instantly

Know what to buy before production stops

A raw material stockout costs more than a finished-goods one, because it halts everything downstream. Set a low-stock threshold per material and Stocksmith flags anything that has fallen under it, on your dashboard and in the Materials Reorder report.

Because it reads your bills of materials, it can account for what your planned production is about to consume, not just what is physically on the shelf today.

Reorder points Watching

Material	On hand	Reorder at
L-ascorbic acid	0.4 kg	1.0 kg
Dropper bottle, 30ml	90	250
Shea butter, refined	6.2 kg	4.0 kg
Amber glass jar, 200ml	1,240	400

2 materials below reorder point — restock before you run out

A record of every build, kept as you go

Each build keeps its own record: what went in, how much came out, what it cost, and when. That history is what lets you compare a run against the recipe it was meant to follow, and spot yield loss before it becomes a pricing problem.

On Indie plans and above, material lot numbers carry through into the batches that used them and on to the orders those batches shipped on, with expiry dates where your products need them.

Manufacture · 120 unitsLavender Body Butter

Shea butter, refined− 9.6 kg

Lavender essential oil− 480 ml

Amber glass jar, 200ml− 120

Lavender Body Butter 200ml+ 120

3 materials deducted · 120 units added to stock

Inventory management software built for businesses that manufacture

One system for all three kinds of stock

Inventory that updates itself when you make something

Cost per unit that survives a price rise

Know what to buy before production stops

A record of every build, kept as you go

Stop reconciling two versions of your stock

Stocksmith connects everywhere you sell

Trusted by product businesses worldwide

Who is Stocksmith for?

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

Ready to see your real stock position?