Overview
When a BOM line component is itself a sub-assembly (i.e., it has its own Bill of Materials configured), Luminous offers two special supply methods that tell the system how to produce that intermediate good: Assembly Order and Work Order. Both options appear only on sub-assembly lines — raw-material lines never show them.
Assembly Order supply method
What it does: Marks the BOM line so that Luminous can generate a standard Assembly Order to cover any shortage of that component.
How it works step by step:
- In the work order's Bill of Materials, set the sub-assembly line's supply method to Assembly Order.
- On the work order, click Create Assembly Orders. Luminous creates a Draft assembly order for each sub-assembly that's short on stock.
- Complete each assembly order in the Assembly Orders module. The finished sub-assembly lands at the production warehouse.
- Complete the Assembly Order through its own workflow (pick components, assemble, mark complete). The finished sub-assembly stock lands at the production warehouse, ready for the parent work order.
Work Order supply method
What it does: Automatically spins up a child (sub) Work Order for the sub-assembly component when the parent work order is started. This is the same Work Order entity used for co-manufacturer (co-man) production — here it is used for an in-house tier.
How it works step by step:
- On the work order's BOM table, set the sub-assembly component's supply method to Work Order. (This option is only visible when your account has the Work Order supply method feature enabled.)
- When you start (move to In Progress) the parent work order, Luminous automatically:
- Creates a new Draft Work Order linked to the parent, targeting the component SKU and its BOM.
- Sets the sub WO's destination warehouse to the parent's production location so finished sub-assemblies are delivered exactly where the parent needs them.
- Assigns the component's preferred vendor (or falls back to the parent WO's vendor) as the sub WO's co-manufacturer field.
- Explodes the component's BOM and generates production steps for the sub WO.
- Manage the sub Work Order independently — it has its own steps, status flow (Draft → In Progress → Completed), and completion trigger.
- Once the sub WO is completed, the sub-assembly stock is available at the parent WO's production warehouse.
Key characteristics: The sub work order is created automatically in Draft when the parent work order is created or moved to Planned. A sub work order can't create its own sub work orders, so it only goes one level deep. This option needs to be enabled for your account by Luminous support.
Side-by-side comparison
| Assembly Order | Work Order | |
|---|---|---|
| Record type created | Assembly Order | Child Work Order |
| When created | Manually, after parent WO is In Progress | Automatically, when the parent is created or planned. |
| Depth limit | None (AOs can nest freely) | Max 1 level of child WOs |
| Vendor / co-man support | No (in-house only) | Yes |
| Component must have a BOM | Yes | Yes |
| Only available for sub-assemblies | Yes | Yes |
| Feature flag required | No | Yes (enabled by your account team) |
How to choose
- Use Assembly Order when your intermediate component is always built in-house by your own team, and you want it managed through the standard Assembly Order workflow your ops team already knows.
- Use Work Order when the intermediate component is produced by a co-manufacturer, or when you want a fully independent production record (with its own steps and timeline) for the sub-assembly — particularly useful for complex multi-department builds where each tier needs separate tracking.
- If you only have one tier of sub-assembly, either method works; the Assembly Order method requires a manual trigger, while Work Order is fully automatic.
Setting a default
To avoid choosing manually on every work order, set a Default Supply Method on the component SKU (Go to Inventory → SKUs, open the component, and set Default Supply Method under Units and handling. New work orders fill that line with your default, and you can still change it per line.). New work orders will pre-fill that BOM line with your chosen default. See Set default supply methods on products for the full walkthrough.