📘 Related article: This guide builds on Manufacturing Orders: Key Features. Start there for an overview of the manufacturing order screen.
How linking works
A manufacturing order (MO) rarely stands alone. It might fulfill a customer's sales order, depend on another MO for a material, or need a purchase order for materials. Linking these together lets you trace each job back to why it exists and keep related work in view.
You'll find linked orders in the Links to field on the MO's details panel. When nothing is linked yet, the field shows only a link icon. Once you link a sales order or another MO, it appears here, and you can click it to open that order.
Linking a manufacturing order to a sales order
You can link an MO to a sales order (SO) from either side: from an existing MO, or by creating a new MO straight from the SO.
From the manufacturing order
Use this when the MO already exists and you want to tie it to a customer order.
Open the MO and find Links to on the details panel.
Click the link icon. The Select order modal opens, listing the sales orders that contain this item.
Select the sales order and click Add order.
Click Save at the top of the details panel.
The SO now appears in Links to, along with its customer, order date, and ship-by date. Click the SO to open it in a modal without leaving the MO. In the SO's Items table, the MO shows in the Associated MOs column.
ℹ️ Note: If you linked the wrong sales order, click the trash icon next to it in Links to. This icon removes sales order links only.
From the sales order
Use this when a customer order comes in and you need to produce the item.
Open the sales order and go to the Items table.
In the Associated MOs column, click + on the line item you want to produce.
The new MO opens with the item selected, the Target quantity set to the line item's quantity, and the SO already in Links to. Review the details.
Click Save in the top-right corner.
The MO is created and linked, and you land on the new MO. The sales order appears in Links to on the details panel, along with its customer, order date, and ship-by date.
Click the sales order in the Links to field to open it in a modal without leaving the MO. In the Items table, the new MO now shows in the Associated MOs column for that line item, so you can move between the two orders in one click.
From the sales order line items table
You can also start this from the Sales orders page, which is useful when you're working through several orders at once.
Go to Sales orders and open the Line items tab. The Associated MOs column shows any MOs already linked to each line.
Scroll to the Actions column and click Make on the line item.
Review the new MO and click Save.
The Buy button in the same column creates a purchase order for the item instead.
Linking a manufacturing order to another manufacturing order
When one of the materials on an MO is something you make, you can create an MO for it directly from the Materials table. Sutton links the two MOs automatically.
The Actions column shows a Make item button, a Buy item button, or both, depending on whether the material is set up as a make item, a buy item, or both.
Open the MO you're producing and go to the Materials table.
In the Actions column, click Make item on the material you need to produce.
The new MO screen opens with the Target quantity set to the planned quantity for this MO. Review the details.
Click Save in the top-right corner.
The new MO is created with the original MO in its Links to field. Back on the original MO, Links to shows the new MO, so you can see what has to be produced before this job can be completed.
Viewing work orders across linked manufacturing orders
On the original MO, the Work orders table has two tabs. WOs for this MO shows only this job's work orders. All WOs for linked MOs shows them alongside the work orders of every linked MO, so you can plan the full production run from one place.
Linking a manufacturing order to a purchase order
You can create purchase orders (POs) without leaving the MO, for both materials you need to buy and work a vendor does for you.
For materials
Open the MO you're producing and go to the Materials table.
In the Actions column, click Buy item on the material you need.
The New purchase order modal opens with the item already added. Enter the Quantity you're buying.
Click Save once it's enabled.
Sutton creates the purchase order and confirms it with a success message.
For outsourced work
If a vendor handles part or all of the production, the PO for their service is created as part of the External Manufacturing Order workflow:
One or more steps outsourced: create the PO with the Buy button on the external work order. See External Manufacturing Orders: Outsourcing Production Steps.
The full job outsourced: create the PO from the modal that opens right after you create an MO with the Outsourced job type. See External Manufacturing Orders: Fully Outsourced Production.
Your orders are now connected
Your manufacturing orders are now tied to the sales orders they fulfill and the MOs they depend on, and you can start the purchases they need from the same screen. Use Links to to move between related orders, and the All WOs for linked MOs tab to see the whole run at once.
If you have additional questions, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or contact us at [email protected].