Industries
Integrations for manufacturers: sell what you can build, with real ship dates
A manufacturer sells finished goods, assemblies built to order and spare parts, to distributors, dealers and end customers. The integration works out from the ERP what can be shipped or built, shows a ship date based on lead time, and turns each web, dealer or EDI order into a sales order and, where needed, a work order.
Where manufacturing integrations break
Four problems come back at most manufacturers that sell online or through dealers:
- Zero on hand is not zero available. A product built to order has no finished stock most of the time. A store that shows on-hand stock shows it as sold out, while the components to build 50 are on the shelf.
- Lead time, not stock, sets the ship date. An assembly with a 5-day lead time cannot ship the day it is ordered. A store with only "in stock" and "out of stock" cannot say that.
- Three kinds of buyer. End customers pay list price by card, dealers buy on a discount and net terms, distributors send purchase orders by EDI. All three end up as sales orders in one ERP.
- Spare parts. Thousands of parts, each fitting some models and not others, often sold in packs of a different size than the stock unit.
Each of these is a data flow with its own source and its own rule. Below is what moves per flow and where it stops.
The flows that matter most
| Flow | Source | What moves | In depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sellable quantity | ERP | finished stock, buildable quantity from the BOM | kits and bundles |
| Ship dates | ERP | lead time per item, expected ship date per order line | delivery dates |
| Orders and work orders | store, dealer portal, EDI | sales order, work order for build-to-order lines | orders |
| Dealer pricing | ERP | price level or contract price per account | customer-specific pricing |
| Distributor EDI | trading partner | 850 in; 855, 856 and 810 out | EDI integration |
Buildable quantity
Pump assembly PA-300 needs 1 frame, 1 motor and 8 bolts. 140 frames allow 140 builds, 85 motors allow 85, and 400 bolts allow 400 / 8 = 50. The lowest number sets the limit: 50 can be built. With 12 finished pumps on hand, the store gets 12 + 50 = 62. When the motor is also used in a second assembly, the integration splits the motors between the two by a rule you set, so the same 85 motors are not sold twice.
Ship dates and work orders
NetSuite keeps the lead time on the assembly item (leadtime, in days). A web order for 40 pumps takes 12 from stock and needs 28 built. The integration writes the sales order with createwo set on that line, NetSuite creates the work order with the sales order in createdfrom, and the production end date (enddate) is the start date plus the lead time. That date goes back to the order line as expectedshipdate and to the customer in the order confirmation. With a 5-day lead time and a start date of October 5, the production end date defaults to October 10, and the ship date follows from it.
Systems manufacturers run
| System | How it exposes data | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| NetSuite | REST web services, SuiteQL, RESTlets | work orders link to the sales order; 5, 15 or 20 concurrent requests by service tier |
| Business Central | API v2.0 and OData | 6,000 OData requests per 5 minutes per user; item.inventory is one number, stock per location needs a custom API page |
| SAP Business One | Service Layer (OData v3 and v4) | session ends after 30 minutes without a request; 20 records per page by default |
| Acumatica | contract-based REST API | the license sets API sessions, concurrent requests and requests per minute |
| Odoo | JSON-2 API since Odoo 19 | the external API is on the Custom plan only; XML-RPC is removed in Odoo 22 |
Many manufacturers run an ERP on their own servers, or an older version that has no REST API. That is a question of how data gets out, not whether: a database view, a scheduled export over SFTP, or a SOAP service where one exists, as described in integrating a system without an API.
Standards manufacturers meet
| Standard | What it is for | What it means for the integration |
|---|---|---|
| GTIN (GS1 US) | identification of each unit and case | the U.P.C. on the unit, a GTIN-14 on the case; stored as text |
| X12 850, 855, 856, 810 | orders from distributors and the replies | the 855 confirms quantities and ship dates per line, taken from the work order where a line is built to order; see 855 |
| cXML PunchOut | industrial buyers order from their procurement system | the cart goes back to the buyer, the order comes in as cXML; see PunchOut |
A distributor that orders 200 units by EDI expects the 855 to say how many ship when. With 62 sellable and the rest built in two work orders, the 855 carries two lines with two dates instead of one line that promises 200 today. Units are the other recurring issue: a part stocked by the each and sold in packs of 10 is converted on every order line, as in units of measure.
What this means for your integration
We build the integration on your ERP, your bills of materials and your channels, with your rules for what counts as sellable and when a work order is created. Each piece of data has one system that owns it. Then we host and monitor it: every run has a log and a diff, and an order the ERP rejects stays in the queue with the reason until it is resolved.
All flows are on integrations, the other industries on industries. Tell us which ERP you run and how you sell, and you hear which of these flows saves you the most work.
Frequently asked questions
Can the store sell products we build to order?
Yes. The integration computes the buildable quantity from the bill of materials and the component stock in the ERP and adds it to the finished stock. The product page shows a ship date that includes the production lead time for any quantity that still has to be built.
Does a web order create a work order in the ERP?
It can. In NetSuite a sales order line has a Create WO checkbox (createwo); the work order then shows the sales order in createdfrom and gets a production end date from the start date plus the lead time. The integration sets that flag on lines for build-to-order items or for quantities above finished stock.
Can dealers and distributors see their own prices?
Yes, after login. Dealer and distributor discounts come from price levels or contract prices in the ERP and are put on the account in the store. See customer-specific pricing.
Our ERP runs on our own servers. Can it still be integrated?
Yes, as long as data can get in and out in a controlled way: an API, a database view, or a scheduled export. The integration runs outside your network and reaches the ERP through the route your IT allows. See integrating a system without an API.
Do we need EDI to supply distributors?
Distributors that trade by EDI send an X12 850 purchase order and expect an 855 acknowledgment, an 856 ship notice and an 810 invoice back. The integration maps those to the sales order, the fulfillment and the invoice in the ERP. See EDI integration.
Tell us what you need
Tell us which systems you use and what needs to work better. We reply personally within one working day. We help you define the work, then agree the price and timing before you commit.
- You know the price and the timeline before you commit to anything
- We work out the connection that takes the work off your hands
- We handle the build, hosting, monitoring and maintenance
- Your team has less information to retype and fewer discrepancies to chase