Assemble-to-order items in Business Central let you customize a product’s assembly directly on the sales order. Instead of being locked to a standard recipe, you can change the component quantities for each individual order before you ship it.
You set up an item as assemble-to-order when the customer buys a product that needs to be assembled at the time of sale. When you add such an item to a sales order, Business Central automatically fills out the quantity to assemble to order.
You can change the assembly bill of materials on the specific order line. If the standard assembly BOM uses 100 of one component and 300 of another, you can adjust those numbers for this order alone without affecting the item’s default setup.
When the components use item tracking, you must select lot numbers before you post the assembly order. You can ship and invoice the assembly order together with the sales order, and shipping the item automatically handles the assembly order.
How assemble-to-order items work on a sales order
Assemble-to-order is an item type you choose when the product a customer buys needs to be assembled as part of the sale. The advantage is flexibility: you can change the actual assembly for each specific order.
When you create a sales order and choose an assemble-to-order item, Business Central fills out the quantity to assemble to order automatically. In this example, the customer wants one box of the item, and the system reflects that on the line.
Changing the assembly BOM for a single order
If you drill down on the order line, you can see the assembly bill of materials connected to this specific order. The standard setup of this assembly BOM uses 100 of the snack bar and 300 of the fruit mix.
You can change these quantities for this order only. For example, you can set it to 150 of the snack bar and 200 of the fruit mix. The assembly lines on the order update accordingly. This change applies to this order, not to the item’s default assembly setup.
Selecting lot numbers when components use item tracking
When the components have item tracking, you need to assign tracking before you can post the assembly order. Mark the order line, then go to Line and Item Tracking Lines.
Use the assist edit in the lot number field and select the lot you want to use. Repeat the same step for each tracked component, such as the fruit mix in this example.
Viewing and posting the assembly order
To see the assembly order connected to your order lines, mark one of the lines and choose Process and Show Document. The assembly order is created with the quantity you defined on this sales order, not the default quantity on the item’s assembly order.
When you post the assembly order, you can ship and invoice it at the same time. When you ship the item, the assembly order is handled automatically because the item has already been shipped.
Q&A
What is an assemble-to-order item in Business Central?
It is an item type you use when a product needs to be assembled at the time of sale. It lets you change the actual assembly for each specific order rather than being locked to a standard recipe.
Can I change the assembly components for a single sales order?
Yes. When you drill down on the order line, you can change the component quantities in the assembly BOM for that order only. For example, you can change from 100 to 150 of one component. This does not affect the item’s default assembly setup.
Why do I need to select lot numbers before posting an assembly order?
Because the components have item tracking. Mark the line, go to Line and Item Tracking Lines, use the assist edit in the lot number field, and select the lot you want to use for each tracked component.
How do I see the assembly order linked to my sales order?
Mark one of the order lines and choose Process and Show Document. You will see the assembly order created with the quantity you defined on this specific sales order.
Do I need to post the assembly order separately?
No. When you post the sales order, you can ship and invoice at the same time. Shipping the item automatically handles the assembly order, since the item has already been shipped.