Learn the maths behind making.
Plain guides to production capacity planning, bills of materials, cost per unit and reorder points, written for people who make things by hand and want the numbers to behave.
What is production capacity planning?
Production capacity planning is working out the maximum number of finished units you can actually make with the materials, time and equipment you have right now. For a small maker it comes down to one honest number per product: how many can I make today before something runs out?
Read the guide02RecipesHow to calculate a bill of materials (BOM)
A bill of materials is the full list of every input needed to make one unit of a product, with an exact quantity and unit for each line. Build it once per product and every other calculation, capacity, cost and reorder, falls out of it automatically.
Read the guide03MoneyHow to work out cost and margin per unit
Cost per unit is the sum of every BOM line multiplied by what you actually paid for that material, per unit of measure. Margin is your selling price minus that cost, expressed as a percentage of the price.
Read the guide04BuyingSetting reorder points so you never run out mid batch
A reorder point is the stock level at which you place a new order, calculated from how fast you use a material and how long your supplier takes to deliver, plus a safety buffer.
Read the guide05OrdersHow to decide whether you can accept an order
Compare the order against your remaining capacity after everything you already committed to. If the shortfall is zero you can say yes, and if it is not, you know exactly what to buy and by when.
Read the guide06ToolsWhy spreadsheets stop working as you grow
Spreadsheets are excellent for a single snapshot and poor at staying true over time. Each new product multiplies the formulas, and every manual stock edit is a chance to drift away from reality.
Read the guideStop doing this by hand.
Makeable runs every one of these calculations for you the moment you enter a material or accept an order. Start free, no card needed.