Material Consumption - Manufacturing

Overview

Material Consumption is the final step in the production material lifecycle. After staging is confirmed and production is running, operators record the actual quantities of each material consumed during a specific operation. This is the point at which warehouse stock is formally reduced and the work order's material usage is captured for costing, variance analysis, and quality traceability.

If any material is recorded as scrap during consumption, the system displays a warning that scrap will trigger an NCR (Non-Conformance Record) in the Quality Operations module.

Staging Gate

The "Consume Materials" button is only enabled when the staging record for the selected work order has been confirmed. Partial stagings cannot be consumed.

Operation-Level Recording

Select which routing operation the consumption is for. Different materials may be consumed at different operations — each consumption record is tied to one operation.

Scrap → NCR

Entering a non-zero Scrap quantity triggers a warning banner. Confirming records the scrap and initiates NCR creation in Quality Operations.

Consumption History

Toggle the History view to see all past consumption records for the selected work order — timestamps, operations, quantities consumed, and scrap totals.

Quick Start

Open Material Consumption in the Inventory Operations sidebar.
Select the active work order from the dropdown. Only work orders with status In Progress or Released appear.
Verify the Staging Status summary card shows Staging Complete. If it shows Pending, return to Material Staging and confirm staging first.
Click Consume Materials in the top toolbar to open the consumption modal.
In the modal, select the routing operation from the dropdown (e.g. 3. Final Assembly).
For each material row, enter the quantity consumed. Optionally enter a scrap quantity if any material was wasted or rejected.
If scrap is entered, provide a Scrap Reason (e.g. material_defect, operator_error).
Click Submit Consumption. Warehouse stock is reduced immediately and the record is saved.

Scrap NCR Warning

If any scrap quantity is > 0, a yellow banner appears before submission: "Scrap quantities will trigger a Non-Conformance Record in Quality Operations." When you confirm and submit, an NCR is automatically created in Quality Operations → Non-Conformance, referencing this work order, the scrap reason, and the operator identity. No manual step is required.

Screen Layout

Top Row — Work Order selector

The right side of the filter bar contains the work order picker dropdown. Changing the work order updates the summary cards and staged materials table below.

Summary Cards

Three stat cards appear once a work order with staging data is selected:

Card	Value shown
Staging Status	Staging Complete (green) or Pending (amber) or No staging (muted)
Total Consumed	Sum of all `quantityConsumed` values across all consumption records for this work order
Total Scrap	Sum of all `quantityScrap` values; shown in red if > 0

Staged Materials Table

The default view shows the staged materials table — one row per BOM component with required, staged, location, and status columns. This is read-only and shows what has been staged. The Consume Materials button opens the editable consumption modal on top of this view.

History View

Toggle the History button in the toolbar to switch the main area to the consumption history table — all past consumption records for the selected work order sorted chronologically.

Consumption Modal

The consumption modal is a full-width panel that overlays the screen. It lists every staged material as an editable row.

Operation selector

A dropdown at the top of the modal lists all routing operations for the work order in sequence order (e.g. 1. Cutting, 2. Welding, 3. Final Assembly). Select the operation during which this consumption occurred. One submission per operation is the expected pattern — multiple submissions for the same operation are allowed but will be stored as separate records.

Material rows

Column	Description
Material	Material name and ID — read-only, sourced from the staging record
Required	BOM quantity for this work order — read-only
Staged	Total staged quantity — read-only
Consumed	Already consumed quantity from previous submissions — read-only cumulative
To Consume	Editable — enter the quantity being consumed in this submission (max = staged − already consumed)
Scrap	Editable — quantity of this material wasted or rejected; red-tinted input field
Scrap Reason	Editable — appears only when Scrap > 0; free text (e.g. material_defect, dimensional_out_of_spec)

Leaving rows empty

You are not required to enter a consumption quantity for every material in every submission. Leave the To Consume field blank (or at 0) for materials not consumed during this particular operation — they will not appear in the saved record. Only rows with a non-zero To Consume value are submitted.

What Happens After Submission

Consumption saved → Warehouse stock reduced → Scrap → NCR flag → History updated

Effect	Detail
Consumption record saved	A new consumption record is saved with all item quantities, timestamps, and operator ID.
Warehouse stock reduced	Warehouse stock is automatically reduced for each consumed material. On-hand quantity decreases by the consumed quantity. The earlier staging reservation is simultaneously released.
NCR auto-created	If any item has a scrap quantity greater than zero, an NCR is automatically created in Quality Operations → Non-Conformance, populated with the work order reference, the scrap reason, the operation name, and the submitting operator's identity.
Summary cards update	Total Consumed and Total Scrap counters on the main screen reflect the new submission immediately after the modal closes.

NCR auto-creation

When scrap is submitted, the system automatically creates an NCR in Quality Operations → Non-Conformance. The NCR is pre-filled with the work order reference, the operation name, the scrap reason you entered, and the operator identity from your session. The quality team will find the NCR waiting for them in the Non-Conformance queue.

Consumption History

Toggle the History button in the toolbar to replace the staged materials table with the consumption history for the selected work order. Each row represents one submission event:

Column	Description
Consumed At	Timestamp when the submission was saved (ISO 8601, displayed in local time)
Operation	The operation name this consumption was attributed to (e.g. Final Assembly) — the full operation name is resolved from the work order routing and displayed here, not the raw ID.
Materials	Count of distinct materials in this submission
Total Consumed	Sum of all quantityConsumed values in this submission
Scrap	Sum of scrap quantities; shown in red if > 0

The search bar at the top of the screen filters history rows by work order ID and material name — useful when reviewing a specific material's usage across multiple submissions.

AI Assistant

Click the AI Assistant tab anchored to the right edge of the screen to open a chat panel with context on the selected work order — its number and product, staging status, per-material required / staged / already-consumed quantities, and the running totals of consumed quantity and scrap. It computes what's left to consume, reviews scrap, checks readiness to record consumption, and points out where consumed quantity diverges from what was required.

Example Prompts

"How much of each material is left to consume?"
"Summarize scrap recorded for this work order"
"Is staging complete enough to record consumption?"
"Where does consumed quantity diverge from required?"

Save as Report & Add Knowledge

After the assistant replies, a Save as Report button stores the response in My Reports with an auto-generated title. Use Add Knowledge in the input dock to attach documents so the assistant can reference your consumption and scrap-reporting procedures.

Pick a work order first

The assistant answers against the work order selected in the dropdown. Choose a released or in-progress work order before opening the panel so it has staging and consumption data to work with.

FAQ

The "Consume Materials" button is greyed out. What's blocking it?

The button is disabled until the staging record for the selected work order shows status: complete (Staging Status card shows "Staging Complete"). Complete the material staging first: go to Material Staging, stage all materials, and click Confirm Staging.

Can I record consumption for a material that was not in the BOM?

No — the consumption modal only shows materials from the staging record, which in turn comes from the work order's BOM. If an additional material was used (e.g. an unplanned consumable), record it as a manual adjustment in the Warehouse Inventory screen outside of this workflow.

What if I entered the wrong quantity? Can I reverse a consumption?

Consumption records cannot be deleted or reversed from within the Inventory Operations UI. To correct an error, submit a second consumption record for the same work order and operation with the adjustment quantity noted in the scrap reason field. A formal reversal / credit-memo feature is on the roadmap.

Does scrap quantity reduce the staged quantity or the warehouse quantity?

Scrap quantity reduces warehouse stock by the same amount as consumed quantity — scrapped material has still left the shelf even if it was not incorporated into the finished product. The WIP Tracking module separately tracks scrap as a sub-count of started units, so scrap does not inflate the WIP figure.

How is "already consumed" calculated for each material row?

The modal sums all previous quantityConsumed values for that material across every prior consumption record for the same work order. This cumulative figure is shown in the "Consumed" column so you always know how much of the staged quantity has been accounted for, and therefore how much remains available to consume in this submission.