Ordoro - What is the difference between Kitting and Bill of Materials?

In Ordoro, products can be structured in two different ways: as a kit or as a Bill of Materials (BOM). Choosing the right one affects how inventory is calculated, how items ship, and how your team fulfills orders. This guide explains the difference between a kit and a BOM in Ordoro, when to use each, and how inventory behaves for both.

Overview: Kit vs. BOM

In Ordoro, both kits and BOMs connect a “parent” product to one or more “component” products. The difference is when the item is built and how inventory is reduced.

Kits are built on the fly when you get an order. Ordoro looks at the components to see how many kits you can make right now.
BOMs represent a finished good that was already manufactured. Components were consumed earlier, so when you ship the finished good, only that finished good’s inventory decreases.

Understanding that timing difference is the key to choosing the right setup.

What is a Kit in Ordoro?

A kit (sometimes called a bundle) is a product made up of other products that you pick and pack at the time of shipment.

Key points:

A kit is not preassembled.
Ordoro calculates how many kits you can sell based on the components’ current available quantities.
Components in a kit can often be sold on their own.

Example:
You sell a “Soccer Bundle” that includes cleats, shin guards, and a soccer ball. Each of those items can also be sold separately. When an order comes in for the Soccer Bundle, your team pulls each item individually and ships them together. They weren’t packaged together ahead of time.

How Kits Affect Inventory

Ordoro’s kitting logic looks at the components’ available quantities and determines how many kits you can build at that moment.

Here’s what happens when you ship a kit:

The order for the kit is created.
You fulfill the order.
Ordoro automatically reduces inventory for each component in the kit.
The kit’s “availability” is always tied to the availability of its components.

So, if you run out of soccer balls, you can’t ship the Soccer Bundle, even if you still have cleats and shin guards.

What is a Bill of Materials (BOM)?

A Bill of Materials describes the list of components needed to build a finished good. Unlike a kit, a BOM assumes the item has already been manufactured or assembled before it is sold.

Key points:

A BOM represents a product that is prebuilt.
The end product is considered a single, complete item.
It’s not meant to be disassembled and reused elsewhere.

Example:
You sell a speaker. That speaker may be made from a box, a woofer, and wires. Those are the components listed on the BOM. Once the speaker is built, you store and sell the finished speaker, not the individual parts.

How BOMs Affect Inventory

With a BOM workflow, components are consumed during the manufacturing or build step, not at shipping.

That means:

You create or complete a manufacturing/build process for the finished good.
Ordoro reduces inventory for the components listed in the BOM.
Ordoro increases inventory for the finished good.
Later, when an order ships, only the finished good’s inventory reduces.

So for the speaker example:

The box, woofer, and wires were already deducted when the speaker was built.
When the speaker ships, Ordoro only reduces the speaker’s quantity, not the components.

When to Use a Kit vs. a BOM

Use a kit if:

You want Ordoro to calculate how many bundles you can sell based on current component stock.
You pick-and-pack items when the order comes in.
The components are also sold individually.
The bundle is more of a “marketing bundle” than a manufactured item.

Use a BOM if:

The item shouldn’t be broken back down into parts.
You manufacture or assemble products ahead of time.
You want components deducted at the time of build, not at the time of shipment.
The finished good is its own SKU and ships as a single item.