Overview
Luminous uses Bills of Materials (BOMs) and Assembly Orders together to convert raw-material components into finished goods. This article walks through the full picture: what a BOM is and how to attach one to a SKU, how Assembly Orders progress through their lifecycle, when component inventory gets reserved, and what the Auto Split feature does.
Step 1 — Create a Bill of Materials
A BOM is the recipe that defines which component SKUs — and how much of each — are needed to produce one unit of a finished product.
- Go to Inventory Admin → Bills of Materials.
- Click Create BOM.
- Give the BOM a name (e.g. Chocolate Chip Cookie BOM).
- Click Add Row(s) to add each component. For every row, set:
- Component SKU — must already exist in Luminous.
- Quantity and Unit of Measure.
- (Optional) Notes or directions.
- Click Save.
Tip: If a component SKU does not exist yet, create it first before building the BOM.
Step 2 — Attach the BOM to a finished-goods SKU
- Navigate to Inventory → SKUs and open the finished-goods SKU's detail page.
- On the Details view, click the edit (pencil) icon next to Bill of Materials to open the Attach Bill of Materials dialog.
- Search for and select the BOM you just created.
- Click Done.
The BOM is now linked to that SKU and will appear in the BOM selector when you create an Assembly Order.
Multiple BOMs per SKU: You can attach more than one BOM to the same SKU — for example, when a product can be made from alternative components or supplier options. You choose which BOM to use each time you create an Assembly Order.
Bulk import: If you have many component rows to configure at once, go to Tools → Imports → Bills of Materials, download the Excel template, fill it in, and upload.
Step 3 — Create an Assembly Order
- Go to Inventory → Assembly Orders and click Create → Create Assembly Order.
- Select the finished-goods SKU and the BOM to use for this run.
- Set the Warehouse Group and, optionally, a specific destination location.
- Enter the Planned Quantity to produce.
- If lot tracking is enabled, assign or create a lot number for the finished product.
- Optionally add extra cost rows (labor, packaging fees, outsourcing).
- Save the order — it starts in Draft status.
Bulk creation: Use Create → Create Multiple Assembly Orders to add multiple SKU/BOM/quantity/location rows and generate all orders at once — useful for apparel or food SKU variants.
Assembly Order statuses and component reservation
| Status | What it means | Inventory effect |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Created but not yet active | No inventory reserved |
| Issued | Work authorized | Component quantities moved to pending (reserved) |
| In Progress | Actively in production | Components remain reserved |
| Paused | Temporarily stopped | Components remain reserved |
| Completed | Production finished | Components fully deducted; finished-goods stock increased |
Key rule: As soon as an order moves out of Draft — to Issued, In Progress, or Paused — Luminous immediately reserves the required component quantities as pending stock. This prevents those components from being double-allocated to another order. The reservation stays in place until the order is completed or returned to Draft.
The Auto Split feature
What it does
When you select a BOM, Warehouse Group, and Planned Quantity, Luminous needs to know which storage locations (and lots) to pull each component from. The Auto Split checkbox controls how that assignment is made. It is enabled by default on every new Assembly Order.
Auto Split ON (default)
Luminous scans every location in the selected Warehouse Group that holds the required component, then:
- Sorts locations by lot expiry date (earliest-expiring first — FEFO order).
- Creates one line per location, consuming as much of that location's available quantity as needed.
- If a location doesn't have enough stock, its full balance is used and Luminous moves to the next location.
- If total stock across all locations is still short, the remaining quantity is appended to the last line.
- If no stock is found at all, a single unassigned line is created so you can fill in the location manually.
The result: one BOM component can appear as multiple lines in the order, each pointing to a different location and/or lot.
Auto Split OFF
Luminous picks the single location with the largest available quantity for each component and assigns the full planned quantity to that one line — regardless of whether that location can cover the full amount.
When to use each setting
| Situation | Recommended setting |
|---|---|
| Lot-tracked components that span multiple locations (FEFO rotation) | Auto Split ON |
| Components spread across several bins and you want each pulled from the right place | Auto Split ON |
| All stock for a component is in one location; you prefer a single clean line | Auto Split OFF |
| You want to assign locations manually without the system pre-filling them | Auto Split OFF |
Recomposing lines after Auto Split
Any time you change the Planned Quantity, Warehouse Group, or BOM on an open order, Luminous automatically recomposes the component lines based on the current Auto Split setting.
- Draft orders with Auto Split ON — lines are recomposed from live inventory whenever you reopen the form, keeping lot/location assignments up to date.
- Non-Draft orders, or Draft orders with Auto Split OFF — saved lines are preserved exactly as last saved.
Recompose from Current Inventory button: When editing an existing Assembly Order, this button appears next to the Auto Split checkbox. Click it to force a fresh split from current stock without changing any other settings — ideal when inventory positions have shifted since the order was first created.
Watch out: Toggling Auto Split after lines are already on the form immediately triggers a recomposition and replaces your existing line assignments.
Disassembly orders
Luminous also supports the reverse operation. A Disassembly Order breaks a finished product back into its components — it increases component stock and decreases the finished-goods count. Create one from the same Assembly Orders screen.
Related articles
- How do Bills of Materials (BOMs) and assembly orders work in Luminous?
- How to Automatically Complete Assembly Orders When BOM Items Are Received