🛠️ Managing Assembled and Composed Products
An Assembled Product (also called a Composed Product) is an item listed in your system that consists of multiple individual parts or components. This label tells Optiply that the final product is built or assembled, not purchased from an external supplier.
Key Characteristics
Because an assembled product is not purchased, it is treated differently from standard inventory:
Not Purchased: It is explicitly ignored in most inventory analyses and will not receive purchasing advice.
Production/Kitting: It may be picked in multiple steps or involve an internal kitting or production process.
Identification: You can easily recognise a composed product by the "Assembled" icon on the Products page in Optiply.
Example: Creating a Product Kit
A common use case for an assembled product is creating a Product Kit.
Imagine you sell a Camping Starter Kit (SKU: AB). This kit is composed of two components:
Product A: 2 units required per kit.
Product B: 3 units required per kit.
The definition tells Optiply: Every time one unit of AB is sold, the available stock for Product A must decrease by 2 units, and Product B must decrease by 3 units.
Stock and Sales History Logic (The Crucial Distinction)
Optiply handles the data for composed products and their parts in a specific way to ensure accurate purchasing advice:
Item | What Optiply Monitors | Purchase Advice |
Composed Product (SKU: AB) | Only reflects the sales history of the kit itself. | IGNORED. Does not receive purchasing advice. |
Composed Product Parts (A and B) | Reflects the total sales demand: individual sales of A and B, PLUS the implicit demand generated by sales of the kit (AB). | RECEIVES ADVICE. The total required quantity is calculated and will appear in purchase orders. |
This logic ensures you always purchase enough raw components (A and B) to cover both individual sales and kit sales.
How to Create an Assembled Product (Import Components)
The structure of a composed product (the relationship between the kit and its parts) must be imported into Optiply via the API.
Create the File: Prepare an import file detailing the Composed Product (e.g., SKU AB) and the bill of materials (e.g., 2x Product A, 3x Product B).
For detailed instructions on how to structure this import file, please refer to our guide here.
Send to Support: Once the file is correctly formatted, send it to our support team at support@optiply.nl or by chat message for the final API import.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why does Optiply ignore purchasing advice for assembled products?
Optiply ignores assembled products because they are built internally, not bought from a supplier. Instead, Optiply calculates the purchase advice for the individual component parts needed to build the assembled product.
If I manually edit the stock of the assembled product, what happens to the parts?
When you import an assembled product, Optiply tracks the inventory of the components (Product A and Product B). The stock level of the assembled product (Kit AB) is typically managed by your source system (WMS/ERP) and reflects the stock of the weakest component part. Optiply does not directly manage the assembled stock level.
Can a component part itself be an assembled product?
Yes, it is possible to have multi-level assemblies. For example, Product A could be an assembled product composed of parts X and Y. In this case, Optiply would generate purchase advice for parts X and Y, not Product A or Kit AB.
What happens to the sales history of the component parts after the kit is imported?
The sales history of the component parts (A and B) will immediately be updated to include the calculated demand generated by the historical sales of the kit (AB), ensuring the purchase advice is accurate from day one.