Kits, BOMs & Manufacturing Orders
Sell bundles, subscription boxes, and assembled products with real inventory math behind them. Virtual kits decrement components at ship time. BOMs power manufacturing orders. Atomic transactions, substitution groups, and yield tracking — all built in.
Virtual + Mfg
Two Bundle Types
Kits and BOMs, not one-size-fits-all
Atomic
Component Decrement
Serializable transactions, no oversells
Substitution
Vendor A or B
Component swaps without breaking BOMs
MO Yield
Per-Run Tracking
Labor cost + yield variance reporting
Benefits
Why Businesses Choose This Feature
- Two Bundle Types That Actually Match Reality
A kit is a virtual bundle — components decrement at ship time, no physical assembly. A BOM is for pre-manufactured products — components consumed during a manufacturing run produce finished goods. ShipWave models both correctly. Most platforms model only one and force you to fake the other.
- Atomic Component Decrement
When a kit ships, all component inventory decrements in a single Serializable transaction. If any component is out of stock, the whole transaction rolls back — no partial decrements, no oversells, no surprise stockouts. The same guarantee covers BOM consumption during manufacturing runs.
- Substitution Groups
Define groups of interchangeable components ("any 16oz bottle from Vendor A or B," "PCB rev 2 or rev 2.1"). When the primary is short, the system picks an alternate automatically and logs the substitution. Your BOMs don’t break when sourcing reality forces a swap.
- Manufacturing Order Workflow
Create an MO with a BOM and a target quantity. The system reserves components, walks production through stages (pick → assemble → QC → put-away), records actual yield, captures labor hours, and produces a per-run cost breakdown — true COGS, not theoretical.
- Returns Policy: Components vs. Assembled
When a kit ships and one item comes back damaged, do you return just that component to stock or write off the whole kit? ShipWave lets you configure per-kit return behavior: itemized return (component-level), whole-kit return (write-off the kit), or assess-and-decide (operator picks per return).
- Multi-Warehouse Kit Awareness
If a kit has 4 components and 3 are in NY but the 4th is in CA, ShipWave decides whether to assemble at one warehouse (cross-shipping component first) or split-ship to customer (one box from NY, one from CA) — based on your cost preference and the customer’s delivery promise.
How Kits and BOMs Differ
Build the Kit or BOM
Define a parent SKU. Add component SKUs with quantities. Tag it as a Kit (virtual, no assembly) or a BOM (manufactured product). Configure substitution groups, return policy, and warehouse rules.
Kits Decrement at Ship
Customer orders a kit. The order shows kit SKU; inventory math runs on components. At ship time, all components decrement atomically. No manufacturing step, no labor tracking — it’s a virtual bundle.
BOMs Produce via Manufacturing Orders
For BOMs, you generate Manufacturing Orders to build finished goods. The MO consumes components, runs through QC, and increments finished-good inventory. Then orders for the finished product ship as normal — no per-order component math.
Why Bundle Math Breaks Most Platforms
The Hidden Distinction Between Kits and BOMs
Most inventory platforms — even mid-market ones — model bundles as one thing. Usually they call it a "kit" and the math runs at ship time: when the parent SKU ships, child components decrement. That works fine for a curated subscription box where the box ships exactly as ordered. It does NOT work for a manufactured product, where components were physically combined into a finished good days or weeks ago. If you try to ship a "manufactured" product with a kit-style bundle, you get phantom inventory: the finished goods on hand don’t exist in the system, and the system thinks components are still available when they’ve already been consumed. ShipWave models both: kits for virtual bundling at ship time, BOMs for products manufactured ahead of time. Each gets the math right for its actual workflow.
Atomic Inventory: Why Serializable Transactions Matter
When a kit ships, multiple component inventory rows must decrement simultaneously. If two orders ship at the same instant and both need the last unit of a shared component, only one should succeed — the other should fail cleanly and trigger a back-order workflow. Most inventory systems either lock too aggressively (causing throughput problems) or too loosely (causing oversells). ShipWave uses PostgreSQL Serializable Isolation Level transactions wrapped around the entire component decrement. Either all components decrement together or none do. Race conditions are resolved at the database level, not by application-layer locks that can deadlock under load. The result: no oversells even at peak Black Friday throughput, and no stuck orders waiting on application locks.
Substitution Groups: BOMs That Survive Reality
In manufacturing, the BOM you designed and the components actually available rarely match perfectly. Vendor A’s 16oz bottle was out so the buyer subbed Vendor B’s identical bottle. The original PCB had a supply shortage so the new run uses the rev 2.1 board. Without substitution support, your BOM becomes a fiction — actual production diverges from system records and your COGS reporting drifts. ShipWave lets you define substitution groups: "Bottle, 16oz" can be SKU-A-001 OR SKU-B-002 OR SKU-C-003, and the manufacturing order picks based on availability and your preference order (cheapest first, primary-first, geographic). Substitutions are logged per MO so reporting tracks which actual components went into which run — critical for recall traceability and accurate COGS.
Manufacturing Orders With Real Cost Tracking
A manufacturing order in ShipWave isn’t just a "consume components, produce finished goods" abstraction. It walks the run through stages: components reserved → components issued to production floor → assembly in progress → QC inspection → finished goods to inventory. Each stage captures real data: actual yield (planned 100 units, produced 96), scrap rate (4 units failed QC), labor hours (8 hours assembly + 1 hour QC), and substitutions applied (used Vendor B bottles instead of Vendor A). The per-MO cost report breaks down landed component cost, labor cost, scrap cost, and overhead — producing a true per-unit COGS that flows into your finished goods inventory valuation. Compare actual to standard cost to spot inefficiencies in specific runs.
Nested Kits and the Returns Policy Problem
Real bundles get nested fast. A holiday gift kit might contain a starter kit (which is itself a bundle) plus three add-on accessories. A subscription box might contain a curated set that includes a sample-pack kit. ShipWave supports nested kits: a kit can contain another kit as a component, and the math correctly expands all the way down to atomic components at ship time. The harder problem is returns. When a customer returns one item from a 5-item kit, what happens? Does the component go back to inventory? Does the customer get a refund for the partial kit? Is the whole kit "broken" now? ShipWave lets you configure return behavior per kit: itemized (component returns to inventory, partial refund), whole-kit (entire kit refunded and written off), or operator-decides (each return prompts a choice). The right policy depends on whether the kit was assembled or virtual, and on the cost economics.
ShipWave Kits & BOMs vs. Inventory-Only Platforms
Why brands selling bundles and manufactured products choose ShipWave over Cin7 or Katana.
| Feature | ShipWave | Cin7 / Katana / Finale |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual kits (decrement at ship) | Native | Native |
| Pre-manufactured BOMs | Native with MO workflow | Partial or separate module |
| Atomic component decrement | Serializable transactions | Application-layer locks |
| Substitution groups | Per-BOM, with logging | Limited or manual swap |
| Nested kits | Unlimited depth | 1–2 levels max |
| Returns policy per kit | Configurable (itemized/whole/operator) | Often write-off only |
| MO yield + labor tracking | Per-run with cost breakdown | Standard cost only |
| Multi-warehouse kit logic | Auto split-ship or consolidate | Single-warehouse assumption |
Kit & BOM Capabilities
Everything you need to model real bundle and manufacturing workflows accurately.
- Virtual kits with atomic component decrement at ship time
- BOMs with full manufacturing order workflow
- Substitution groups (interchangeable components with preference order)
- Nested kits and BOMs to unlimited depth
- Per-kit returns policy (itemized / whole-kit / operator-decides)
- Multi-warehouse kit assembly with cross-shipping or split-shipping
- Manufacturing order stages: reserved → issued → in-progress → QC → put-away
- Per-MO yield, scrap, labor, and substitution capture
- Standard cost vs. actual cost per MO with variance reporting
- Component traceability per finished good (recall lookup)
- Auto-MO scheduling based on demand forecast + ROP
- Per-component lead time used in MO scheduling
Brands Using Kits, BOMs, and MOs
Subscription Box Brands
Monthly box brands curate kits per shipment cycle, decrement components atomically at ship, and handle returns at the component level when subscribers return individual items from a box.
Holiday & Gift Kit Sellers
Seasonal gift kits assembled from existing SKUs use virtual kit math — no separate inventory line for the gift kit itself, just smart decrement of components when the gift sells.
Light Manufacturers
Brands assembling products in-house (PC builders, beauty bundlers, food kit makers) run MOs with BOMs, track yield and labor, and produce finished-goods inventory ready to ship to customers.
Co-Manufactured CPG Brands
CPG brands using co-mans run MOs externally: the BOM defines what goes in, the co-man produces, and ShipWave receives the finished goods with per-batch cost capture for accurate COGS.
Electronics & Hardware Assemblers
Electronics brands assembling final products from components (PCBs, enclosures, accessories) use substitution groups to handle parts shortages without breaking BOMs.
Brands With Mixed Catalogs
Brands selling both pre-built products (manufactured BOMs) and curated bundles (virtual kits) of those products use both models simultaneously — the right math per product type.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between a kit and a BOM?
A kit is a virtual bundle — components are decremented at ship time, no physical assembly happens. A BOM (Bill of Materials) is for products that are pre-manufactured: components are consumed during a manufacturing run, finished goods are produced, and orders for the finished SKU ship without per-order component math. ShipWave supports both because the right model depends on whether assembly happens at ship time or ahead of time.
Can a kit have components stored in different warehouses?
Yes. ShipWave decides per-order whether to cross-ship missing components to a single assembly warehouse, split-ship the kit (customer receives multiple boxes), or use only a warehouse with all components on hand. You configure the preference (cost-optimize vs. delivery-time-optimize) and the system runs the math per order.
What happens if a customer returns part of a kit?
It depends on the per-kit return policy you configured: itemized (just that component returns to inventory, customer gets a partial refund), whole-kit (treat the return as a full kit return, refund the kit total, write off any non-returned components), or operator-decides (each partial return prompts an operator choice). The right policy varies by kit value and assembly cost.
How deep can nested kits go?
No hard limit. A kit can contain another kit as a component, which can contain another kit, etc. The math correctly expands to atomic components at ship time. Most customers stay 1–2 levels deep for sanity, but the system handles deeper nesting for complex gift sets or curated multi-pack products.
How does substitution work in practice?
Define a substitution group with a list of interchangeable SKUs and a preference order (cheapest, primary-first, regional). When a BOM is consumed in a manufacturing order, the system picks from the group based on availability and your preference. Every substitution is logged against the MO so traceability stays intact — critical for recall, COGS accuracy, and quality reporting.
Can I auto-generate manufacturing orders?
Yes. ShipWave can auto-schedule MOs based on demand forecast plus reorder points for finished goods. When projected demand for the next N days exceeds available finished-goods inventory plus open MOs, an auto-MO drafts at the target batch size. You approve (or auto-approve below a threshold) and the MO enters the queue.
How does this work with multi-warehouse 3PL setups?
Kits and BOMs are warehouse-aware. A kit can be configured to assemble-and-ship from any warehouse, or restricted to specific warehouses with assembly capability. For 3PL operators running kits on behalf of clients, kit definitions are scoped per brand — Brand A’s "Holiday Kit" doesn’t affect Brand B’s identically-named kit.
Explore More
Related Features
Warehouse Management
Multi-warehouse inventory, picking, and assembly workflows that power kits and MOs.
Learn more →
Package Presets
Standard packaging configurations for assembled kits ship faster with preset weights and dims.
Learn more →
Landed Cost
Track true landed component cost feeding into BOM-based COGS reporting.
Learn more →
Model Real Bundles With Real Math
See how brands with curated kits, subscription boxes, and manufactured products use ShipWave to keep inventory accurate, MOs profitable, and returns sane.