How to track raw materials for products you make

Why this falls outside SteadyShelf

SteadyShelf works off sales history per variant and reorders that same variant from a supplier. It has no concept of a recipe or bill of materials, so it cannot work out that one unit of a finished candle uses 200g of wax, one wick, and one jar. It only ever sees the finished candle as a sellable item.

What to do instead

For raw materials, keep a separate sheet or use dedicated manufacturing or inventory software that supports bill of materials. List each raw material, how much of it each finished product consumes, your current stock of that material, and the lead time from your material supplier. Recalculate your material reorder points whenever your finished goods forecast changes.

A practical split

Treat finished goods and raw materials as two separate reorder problems. Use SteadyShelf to tell you how many finished units to make next and by when. Feed that production number into your raw materials sheet to work out how much wax, fabric, or packaging to order, using the same reorder point logic by hand: daily material usage times (lead time plus safety days).

Step by step

1. List every raw material used in your products and the quantity each finished unit consumes
2. Use SteadyShelf's forecast and order-by date for the finished variant to know how many units you need to produce and by when
3. Convert that production quantity into raw material needs by multiplying by the per-unit consumption
4. Check current raw material stock on hand against that need
5. Calculate a material reorder point: daily material usage x (material supplier lead time + safety days)
6. Order raw materials from your material supplier once stock falls below that reorder point
7. Update your raw material sheet manually each time you receive stock or finish a production run

Worked example

Say you make scented candles and sell them on Shopify. SteadyShelf forecasts you sell 10 candles a day and tells you to order-by in 5 days to have 200 more candles ready. Each candle uses 150g of wax, so 200 candles need 30kg of wax. If you have 8kg of wax on hand and your wax supplier has a 10-day lead time, your material reorder point is 150g x 10 candles/day x (10 + 2 safety days) = 18kg, so you are already below it and should order wax now, in addition to the 30kg you need for this batch.

How SteadyShelf helps

SteadyShelf has no bill of materials or raw material tracking feature, so it cannot forecast or reorder the components you use to manufacture products. It can tell you how many finished units to produce and when, which you can then use as an input to a manual or separate raw materials system.

$29/month flat, unlimited products and suppliers, 30-day free trial. Run the numbers now with the free reorder point calculator.

SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.

Related guides

• How to track supplier lead times
• How to train a team member to do reordering
• How to use min max inventory
• How to track open purchase orders

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