In this article: how to connect a production run to customer demand.

Why link?

Linking a Manufacturing Order to a Sale Order and/or a Customer makes build-to-order workflows clear and auditable:

• Operations can see which orders are fulfilling which customer demand.

• Finance can trace the finished item's cost back to the sale it was built for.

• Reports can separate make-to-stock runs from make-to-order runs.

How to link

On the create or edit screen for a Manufacturing Order, set:

• Customer — the customer this run is for.

• Linked sale order — the specific sale order this run fulfils.

You can set one, both, or neither. Linking does not change inventory behaviour — it is metadata for traceability.

Practical patterns

• Build-to-stock: leave customer and linked sale order empty.

• Build-to-order: link the sale order you're fulfilling. If you only know the customer so far, link just the customer.

• One sale, several builds: create separate MOs per build run and link them all to the same sale order.