Advanced Build System
The advanced build system controls exactly which stock a build consumes and in what order, when a single BOM entry can be satisfied from more than one place: stock split across locations, a meta-part with several substitutes, or a part held as several lots.
For each entry you choose how stock is drawn:
- FIFO (first in, first out)
- LIFO (last in, first out)
- last accessed
- largest lot first
- smallest lot first
You can also reorder the sources by hand, or pick them individually — to use a lot that expires soonest, to empty a nearly-finished reel, or to pull from the nearest shelf. The quantity drawn from each source can be overridden per entry, and an entry can be restricted to a single source when one-lot-per-line traceability matters. The same allocation works for parts measured rather than counted: a build needing 2.5 m of wire might take 1.5 m from one spool and 1 m from another, while the build quantity itself stays a whole number of finished units.
The build can also filter which stock counts at all — by storage location, part, lot, or tag — so consigned stock is used only for its client and quarantined parts are never used in a build. Purchase lists use the same filtering, so buying and building see stock the same way.
An example
"USB Gadget" uses the meta-part R-0805-10k — several interchangeable 0805 10 kΩ resistors. You want to build 11, so you need 11 pieces. Stock is spread across three lots of two different substitutes (RC0805FR-0710KL and CRCW080510K0FKEA), one of them split in two.
Start a build of 11 and the system allocates the parts for you — here, 10 from RC0805FR-0710KL and 1 from CRCW080510K0FKEA:
Prefer to empty the small lots first, to free up space? A couple of clicks reorders the draw: one piece from lot c11781b4, three from d463pt5y, then the remaining seven from the largest lot.
You can also override the quantity on any source by hand. Raise the build to 14 and adjust the individual allocations, and PartsBox updates the stock requests while keeping your manual ordering.
Every allocation is recorded against the build, so with lot control you keep full traceability even when one BOM entry was satisfied from several lots or substitutes. The pick list prints the allocation you chose, so the floor pulls exactly the lots you planned.
The advanced build system is on the Production plan.