ERP for manufacturing. BOM to dispatch, with variance and job work reconciled as you go.
From bill of materials to dispatch, with variances and outside processing checked as you go instead of at the quarter-end. The United States edition opens from early 2027.
From early 2027How does Kinnow help a manufacturer? The bill of materials, the work order, the material issued and the finished lot sit in one record. So the cost of a run reaches the books, and the gap between planned and actual material shows up the week it happens, not at the costing review. Nothing is filed, paid or posted without a person.
Your business in one paragraph
A plant turns a purchase commitment into a shipped batch. Material comes in against a purchase order and goes out to the line against a work order. Some of it goes to a subcontractor and comes back, and the finished lot is costed and dispatched. The owner's worry is rarely the machine; it is the paperwork around it: what the BOM says, what was actually issued, what is lying with an outside processor, and what the planner promised a customer.
Material drifts from the BOM
Actual use creeps above plan and nobody sees it until a costing review weeks later.
Material out with subcontractors
Dispatch documents are matched by hand, and the stock at the subcontractor is nobody's number.
A whiteboard for capacity
A rush order breaks the schedule because nobody could see how busy each work center was.
Send us one BOM and one work order and we will show the variance on your own numbers.
How your month runs on Kinnow
This runs from demand to dispatch, with the buying and outside-processing steps underneath it.
| # | Step | Who | Application | Where a person signs off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Order received; the credit check holds it if the customer is over their limit | Sales manager | Sell | A person clears the credit hold |
| 2 | Advisory MRP (material requirements planning) breaks the BOM down against stock and open orders and proposes what to make and buy | Production planner | Make | The planner confirms; nothing is released automatically |
| 3 | Purchase request, purchase order; supplier must be approved before release | Purchasing | Buy | Purchase order above your limit needs approval |
| 4 | Material received; an incoming quality inspection is created on acceptance; failures raise an NCR (non-conformance report) | Stores, QC inspector | Stock & Ship, Make | Someone approves what happens to a rejected lot |
| 5 | Work order released; the capacity board shows the load on each work center | Production planner | Make | A run above the quantity you set needs approval |
| 6 | Material issued; operators start and finish each operation at the shop-floor screen | Shop-floor operator | Make | The operator is named on each operation |
| 7 | Outside processing: material goes out to a subcontractor and comes back; the agent checks the numbers | Stores, coordinator | Make | A person decides on any short-close or write-off |
| 8 | Work order completes; the cost of the run moves from work in progress to finished goods in the books | Automatic | Account | Finance reviews the cost variance |
| 9 | Scrap above the limit is flagged; write-offs go for approval | Plant manager | Stock & Ship | Write-off above your limit needs approval |
| 10 | Dispatch and invoice. Sales tax is set from the state the goods ship to, and a sale to a reseller or other exempt buyer needs a certificate reference. Month-end close follows | Accounts executive | Sell, Comply, Account | Return and close signed by a person |
What the ready-made setup covers
The ready-made setup for manufacturing (we call it an industry pack) brings six limits, four sign-off routes, nine report codes, thirteen starter questions for Ask Kinnow and ten agents. The United States setup adds sales-tax, invoice, purchase-order, write-off and payroll sign-off. The figures are plain numbers, so we go through each starting figure with you in dollars before you begin.
| Limit | Effect | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| Production run above a quantity | Needs approval | Commits material and machine time before anyone has seen the demand |
| Purchase order above a value | Needs approval | Buying raw material is where margin is won or lost |
| Stock write-off above a value | Needs approval | Either a real loss or a stock mistake; both need a name against them |
| Manual journal above a value | Needs approval | Changes the books without a source document |
| Scrap above a quantity on a work order | Warning | Scrap is material you have already paid for and thrown away |
| Credit limit above a value | Warning | Giving credit is a decision, not data entry |
| Invoice and sales-tax return above a value (US setup) | Needs approval | Tax depends on where a sale ships, and filing is irreversible |
The ready-made routines include Demand to dispatch, Buying raw material, Enquiry to confirmed order, Stock count to write-off, Stock transfer between warehouses, month-end close and payroll.
Ask us to take a work order from BOM to finished lot on your own item.
Agents for manufacturing
BOM Variance
Flags jobs where the material actually used differs from the plan by 5% or more, up or down.
MakeProduction Schedule Optimizer
Orders work orders by shortest processing time, as a suggestion for a planner to adopt.
Material shortage
Checks a work order's components against the stock on hand and shows the shortfall before the order is released.
Costing variance
Compares a work order's actual cost with the plan and flags material overruns beyond the limit you set (10 percent by default).
Subcontract reconciliation
Tracks the material lying with each subcontractor and checks what was sent against what was used, scrapped, returned and is still out. It only prepares the figures.
Work-center capacity watch
Tells you when to open the capacity board. A load that looks comfortable while some orders have no routing is reported as unreliable, not healthy.
Stock Forecaster
Forecasts demand for the next 30, 60 and 90 days for each item and warehouse, with a suggested safety stock and reorder point. It never acts on its own.
Buy3-way match
Matches the purchase order (PO), the goods receipt and the supplier's bill line by line, and holds the bill until any difference is sorted out.
Each agent is tested with each client before it touches their books, and everything it produces waits for a person. Also included: an agent that picks which stock to count first, and one that predicts maintenance needs.
Sales tax and compliance for a US manufacturer
The United States has no federal sales tax and no federal e-invoicing mandate. The first release has basic support for state sales tax: the groundwork to prepare the figures is completed before launch, and a person confirms and files. We confirm dates, rates and certificate rules with you and your tax adviser.
| Filing | What Kinnow prepares | Who confirms |
|---|---|---|
| State sales-tax returns | A calendar line per registered state and period (where no due day is recorded, Kinnow assumes the 20th of the following month) and totals of taxable sales and tax collected by state, for a person to type into each state return. Kinnow does not file on a state portal | Accounts executive, then your tax adviser |
| Exemption certificates | A reference or a reason is expected on any line with zero tax, so a sale to a reseller or other exempt buyer is backed by a document. A list of certificates is completed with early-access customers | Accounts executive |
| Sales-tax permit and nexus | A tracked permit for each state. Kinnow does not decide nexus (whether you have enough sales or presence in a state to need a permit) | Tax adviser |
| Tax on materials purchased | Tax paid on purchases is a cost in Kinnow; there is no input credit. Use tax (the tax you owe yourself when a supplier did not charge sales tax) is not calculated | Accounts executive |
| State annual report, foreign qualification | Tracked registrations; a due date appears only once you enter the state's schedule | Finance head |
| Payroll for plant staff | Federal income tax withholding and FICA (Social Security and Medicare tax) in the payroll run; state income tax is not included, and each payslip says so. Deposits, quarterly returns and W-2 are not built | HR head |
What the owner sees
Ready-made questions you can type into Ask Kinnow. Each answer names the report it came from and its cost before it runs.
- Which work orders are behind schedule? Which work orders have no routing at all? (Work-order schedule)
- What is my BOM cost variance this month? Which runs are over their cost variance? (Production cost variance)
- Which materials are short for the next run? (Stock valuation)
- Which work centers are promised more than they can do?
- Show me every open production order. What did each line actually produce? (Work-order register, output by item)
- What failed inspection this month? What NCRs were raised? (QC inspection register, NCR register)
- Show dead stock older than 180 days. Where is purchase spend going? (Dead stock, purchase spend by category)
Illustration · sample data
| Work order · item | Material planned | Material issued | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO-0412 · Pulley housing | 264.5 lb | 283.3 lb | +7.1% |
| WO-0415 · Gear blank | 141.1 lb | 143.3 lb | +1.6% |
| WO-0419 · Shaft sleeve | 105.8 lb | 104.7 lb | -1.0% |
Numbers that matter
| Number | Report | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Material and cost variance by run | Production cost variance | Which runs overspent and on what |
| Output by item and line | Output by item | What each line actually produced |
| Inspection failures and NCRs | QC inspection and NCR registers | Where quality is slipping, and from which supplier |
| Load per work center, above 100 percent shown as it is | Work-order schedule, capacity board | Whether the shop is over-promised |
| Dead stock value and purchase spend | Dead stock, purchase spend by category | Money sitting idle, and where your buying goes |
See load per work center on your own routings.
Applications switched on
Kinnow uses your words: work order, WIP (work in progress), NCR (non-conformance report). Outside processing is called job work in the product; any label written for India is replaced with your US wording when we set you up.
Questions
Does Kinnow run MRP?
Yes, as advisory MRP (material requirements planning). It breaks multi-level BOMs down against stock and open orders and proposes what to make and buy. It never creates a purchase order or work order by itself. The Production Planner turns the make recommendations into suggested work orders, and a person releases them.
Does it schedule the shop automatically?
No. There is a capacity board that shows the load on each work center, and it can show more than 100 percent, because that is what a planner needs to know. The Production Schedule Optimizer suggests an order for the work orders, shortest job first, for the planner to accept or change. Automatic scheduling around capacity limits is not built.
Can it handle work sent to a subcontractor?
Yes, under the name job work in the product. Each dispatch and receipt is tracked by document, and an agent checks that what was sent equals what was used plus scrapped plus returned plus still out. It prepares and posts nothing; a person decides on any short-close or write-off.
What stops a BOM from referring to itself?
A BOM that would loop back on itself, or go deeper than 10 levels, is refused when you save it. There is no separate checking screen; the check happens at save.
Is there a shop-floor screen?
Yes. A shop-floor screen lets an operator start and finish an operation. The time comes from the clock, not from typing, and a start out of sequence or a double start is refused, with the step that is blocking it. It runs in the browser; there is no offline mode or dedicated app.
How do rejects reach the supplier?
An incoming inspection is created when goods are accepted above your limit. A failed lot raises a non-conformance report with its severity and what happens next (rework, scrap, use as is, return to supplier), and the supplier's pass rate goes on a scorecard that purchasing sees when choosing a supplier.
How long to set up, and when does the US edition open?
About two weeks to first results for one company: masters, BOMs and opening stock in week one, agents and a first month-end close in week two. The United States edition is available from early 2027.
Show me Kinnow for manufacturing.
Answer three questions. Get the applications, the agents and a two-week plan for your business.