Overview
When your co-manufacturer sends an invoice, you can create a vendor bill in Luminous and link it to the production that generated it. Luminous pre-populates component-material lines from the completed assembly orders (production batches) tied to that work order, so you start reconciliation from the correct figures rather than entering lines manually.
Who this is for
AP / finance teams recording and reconciling co-manufacturer invoices. At least one assembly order (production batch) under the work order must already be completed before billable lines will appear.
Step 1 — Open the bill form
You can reach the bill form in two ways:
Option A — From a completed assembly order (recommended)
- Go to Inventory → Assembly Orders → Closed Orders and open the completed assembly order you're billing for.
- In the header, click Create Bill. The bill form opens with the vendor pre-filled and that assembly order's component-material lines already loaded.
Option B — From the Bills module
- Go to Inventory → Bills and click New Bill → Blank Bill. Select the Vendor (must match the co-manufacturer on the work order).
- Click Add WO → Single Work Order. In the "Link Work Order" dialog, search by work order number — only work orders belonging to the selected vendor are shown.
- Select the work order and click Link WO. If at least one assembly order under that work order has been completed, Luminous loads its billable lines.
Tip: Add WO → From Production Run links every work order in a production run at once, if you want to bill the whole run in one pass.
Step 2 — Review the pre-populated lines
Once a work order or assembly order is linked, Luminous adds component material lines from the completed assembly order(s):
| Line type | Source |
|---|---|
| Component materials | Quantities and costs from the assembly order's BOM consumption |
You can:
- Edit quantities or unit prices to match the vendor's invoice
- Delete lines you are not billing on this invoice
- Add manual lines for freight, duties, manufacturing service fees, or other charges not pulled in automatically
Step 3 — Link additional work orders (optional)
If one co-manufacturer invoice covers multiple work orders, click Add WO → Single Work Order again and select the next work order. Its lines are appended to the form.
Tip: If you want to bill an entire production run at once, link each work order in the run individually — or start the bill from the production run page, which loads all work orders in the run together.
Step 4 — Complete and save the bill
- Enter the Bill Date, Due Date, Vendor Invoice Number, and any other required fields.
- There is no Status field on the form — new bills are saved with a Draft status.
- Click Save.
What you'll see on the bill detail page
After saving, the bill detail page shows a Work Orders section listing every linked work order with a clickable link back to the work order record. This lets any team member jump from the bill to the underlying production context without searching.
The line items table also shows which work order each line originated from, so you can reconcile component-by-component if the vendor invoice breaks out lines differently.
FAQs
Can I link a work order to a bill that already exists? Yes — open the existing bill and edit it, then click Add WO → Single Work Order to add the association and import any remaining unbilled lines.
Why aren't any lines loading after I link a work order? Lines only appear if at least one assembly order (production batch) has been completed against the work order. If the work order is still in Draft or In Progress status, or no assembly orders have been completed, there will be no billable lines yet.
A line is already billed. Will it show up again? No. Luminous tracks the billed_amount on each assembly order line and extra cost and excludes lines where the full amount has already been billed.
Can one bill cover multiple work orders? Yes. Link as many work orders as are covered by a single vendor invoice. All their lines are combined on one bill.
Can I link a work order to more than one bill? Yes. Link as many work orders as are covered by a single vendor invoice via Add WO → Single Work Order, or link a whole production run at once via Add WO → From Production Run.