How It Works
Follow one workbench through the business.
- It starts in the catalog. “Heavy-Duty Workbench — 72 in.” is a catalog item with a SKU, a price, a unit and its accounting codes. The steel tube, plywood top and leveling feet it's made from are catalog items too, each with supplier pricing.
- The shop builds it. A shop work order says “build 8 workbenches” and lists the materials per unit. When the crew posts the finished units, those materials come out of stock and 8 workbenches go into finished goods, valued at what they cost to make.
- It's reserved for a customer job. Summit Freight's job needs 6 workbenches, 2 parts carts and a tool cabinet. Each line is allocated from a specific stock location, so the shop knows those 6 benches are spoken for.
- Anything missing gets ordered for the job. Another job needs drawer slides and shelf pins. The purchase order says which job they're for, and when the delivery is received, the stock is allocated to the waiting job automatically.
- It's loaded on the truck. A load list tells the crew what to pick and where from. Loading each item moves the stock onto the truck, because trucks are inventory locations too.
- The driver delivers it. This morning's route runs from the shop in Rockford to Summit Freight in Joliet, then Bluewater Brewing in Milwaukee. The route is planned on a Google map with road miles and drive time, and the driver works from their phone — Navigate, Arrived, Delivered — and can capture a signature, photos and damage notes at each stop. The customer can be emailed a delivery confirmation.
- The crew installs it. The North Install Crew has the Summit job on its board today, and dispatch sees every crew's day on one wall screen.
- The job closes out. Completing a job finalizes every item and writes its material ledger: planned vs. used, extras the crew grabbed off the truck, and anything returned. Unplanned extras are flagged “needs billing”.
Know exactly what was used on every job, and never forget to bill the extras.

















