Small factories and workshops
What you sell did not exist when you bought its inputs
Between raw material and invoice sits a work order: components, stations, scrap and labour hours. The question that decides whether the workshop survives is "what did this order actually cost" — answered before the next quote goes out, not after the year closes.
- A work order with its components, its route and its actual cost
- Stock in three states: raw, work in progress, finished
- Shop-floor screens with station roles, not just a back-office system
- The workshop counter prints a simplified invoice on the spot
The actual work
From order to delivery, from material to cost
Most workshops know what they sold. Few know what what they sold cost them — and that gap is the difference between pricing and guessing.
The work order is the unit of work
Every order becomes a work order with its required components and its route across stations. Materials are issued to it, time is logged against it, and cost accumulates on it until it closes.
Routes, stations and roles
The product moves through stations in a known order — cut, weld, paint, assemble — and each has its own role and owner. You know where an order stopped and why it is late, rather than that it is "in progress".
Three states of stock
Raw, work in progress and finished goods are not one column. Keeping them apart is what makes the year-end count a real number instead of an estimate you re-explain to the accountant every time.
Scrap and waste
Scrap is part of actual cost, not a surprise at stocktake. Recording it against the work order is what reveals that one particular product consumes more material than it was priced for.
The workshop counter
The customer who walks in with something to be repaired: parts and labour on one order, and a simplified invoice printed and handed over before they leave.
Order cost against order price
Materials, labour, scrap and subcontracted operations, gathered against the value of the order. The report that turns the next quote into a decision rather than a guess.
The documents
What actually leaves the workshop
A workshop issues internal and external documents, and the external ones split into two very different e-invoicing paths.
- Quotation
- Specification, quantity, price and lead time. It becomes a work order on approval rather than being re-keyed.
- Work order
- An internal document carrying components, route, quantity and due date. The shop floor’s reference and the basis of costing.
- Material issue note
- Material leaving the store for a work order. Without it, stock stays a number in the system that does not match the floor.
- Sales invoice to a company
- Trade and contracting orders. A standard tax invoice cleared by Fatoora before it is delivered. Standard tax invoice (B2B) — cleared before delivery
- Workshop counter invoice
- An individual collecting their item: a simplified invoice printed stamped with a QR code, then reported within 24 hours. Simplified tax invoice (B2C) — reported within 24 hours
- Raw material purchase order
- A commitment to a supplier with quantity, price and lead time, matched against their invoice as goods land in raw stock.
Mezan products
The parts of the platform you actually need
This is the one sector where manufacturing is the headline product rather than a supporting one.
Mezan Manufacturing
Routes, runs, station roles and shop-floor screens. The order moves between stations on real entries made on the floor, so you know where it is and when it comes off.
Learn moreMezan Core
Raw, work-in-progress and finished stock, purchasing and purchase orders, cost accumulating on the order, and dimensions that separate production lines and customers.
Learn moreMezan POS
The workshop’s intake and collection counter: simplified invoices stamped with a Phase 2 QR code, working offline and sending the backlog when the connection returns.
Learn moreMezan HR
Shifts, attendance and payroll for operators and technicians. Labour hours are half the cost of an order, and this is how they reach it.
Learn moreE-invoicing
One path for the contractor, another for the customer at the door
A trade order for a company is a standard tax invoice that is not delivered until Fatoora has cleared it. The customer collecting a repair at the counter takes a simplified invoice, stamped in your own system and reported to ZATCA within 24 hours. The practical difference shows up the day the connection drops: the counter keeps trading, the trade delivery waits.
Read the e-invoicing page- A company customer’s invoice is submitted for clearance and returned stamped before delivery
- The workshop counter works offline and sends its queued invoices when the connection returns
- A return or a settled order is handled with an electronic credit note linked to the original invoice
- A deposit taken against a work order is its own document with its own treatment — set by your accountant, applied by the system
Frequently asked
Do we really need manufacturing, or is inventory enough?
If you buy and sell the same thing, inventory is enough. If what you sell is different from what you bought — because materials went in and a product came out — you need a work order, otherwise cost stays an estimate and pricing stays a guess.
How is the cost of a work order calculated?
By accumulating what was actually spent on it: materials from issue notes, labour hours from station entries, recorded scrap, and subcontracted invoices where they apply. When the order closes, cost is a number derived from documents rather than a percentage added onto materials.
Do the shop-floor screens work on basic hardware?
Yes. The station screen is designed for the floor, not the office: few steps, large targets and a defined role per station. The goal is for an operator to record progress in seconds, because any system that asks for more than that stops being used within a week.
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