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Raw Material

Linking purchased materials to the parts made from them

The Raw Material feature links a manufactured part to the purchased raw material it is made from — for example, linking a machined aluminum bracket to the aluminum bar stock it is cut from. This allows direct material cost to flow from the raw material's unit cost up into the finished part's cost automatically.

Two Types of Parts

Raw material works with two distinct part roles:

Raw Material Part

Part Class = Raw Material
Represents a purchased stock item — bar stock, sheet metal, wire, tubing, etc.
Has a unit cost (DM Cost) and a Unit of Measure (UOM)
Cannot itself have a raw material assignment or a BOM

Manufactured Part

Any part that is not Raw Material class
Represents a part made from a raw material — a machined, formed, or cut component
Can be assigned one raw material
Cannot have both a raw material assignment and a BOM

Assigning a Raw Material

To assign a raw material to a part, open the part in the Part View and click the Raw Material link. On the Raw Material view:

Click LOCKED to unlock the form.
Enter the Raw Material PN — the part number of the raw material stock item. It must already exist in the database with Part Class = Raw Material.
Enter the Qty — the amount of raw material consumed to make one unit of this part, expressed in the raw material's own unit of measure.
Click Assign (or Save Changes if editing an existing assignment).

To remove the assignment, unlock the form and click Remove.

Fields

Field	Description
Raw Mat PN	The part number of the raw material. Must exist in the database with Part Class = Raw Material.
PN Title	The name of the raw material part, shown for reference.
Qty	How much raw material is consumed per unit of this part, in the raw material's UOM (e.g., 2.5 inches of bar stock).
UOM	The unit of measure for the raw material (e.g., IN, FT, LB, M). Comes from the raw material part record.
Cost	The direct material cost for this part, calculated from the raw material's unit cost and the assigned quantity.

Quantity and Units of Measure

Quantities are entered and displayed in the raw material's own unit of measure. Internally, the system stores quantities in base units using the UOM's conversion factor, then converts back to display units when showing the value.

For example, if the raw material uses IN (inches) and you assign a quantity of 3.5, that means 3.5 inches of bar stock per finished part. The cost calculation uses the raw material's per-inch cost multiplied by 3.5.

Tip: Always check the UOM label shown next to the Qty field when editing — it confirms which unit you are entering the quantity in.

Cost Flow

When a raw material is assigned, the part's Direct Material (DM) Cost is calculated automatically:

The raw material part has a DM Cost per unit set on its part record.
The system multiplies that cost by the assigned quantity to get the cost for one finished part.
This cost appears in the Part View on the Cost tab and is included in BOM cost rollups for any assembly that uses this part.

If the raw material's unit cost changes, the cost rolls forward automatically on the next cost calculation.

Rules and Restrictions

The assigned raw material part must have Part Class = Raw Material. Parts of other classes cannot be assigned.
A part cannot have both a BOM and a raw material assignment. Machined parts that are made from stock but also have sub-components should use a BOM instead, with the raw material as a BOM component.
A raw material part cannot be assigned to itself.
A part with Part Class = Raw Material cannot have a raw material assignment — only non-raw-material parts can be assigned a raw material.
Only one raw material can be assigned per part. If a part requires multiple raw materials, use a BOM.

Note: Routing operations (setup and run hours) cannot be added to Raw Material parts. Routing is only available for parts that are manufactured, not purchased stock.

Where Used — Raw Material Mode

The Where Used feature has a Raw Material mode that finds all manufactured parts that reference a given raw material. This is useful for understanding the impact of a raw material change or for tracking which parts depend on a specific stock item.

Open Where Used, select Raw Material mode, and enter the raw material PN. The results show every manufactured part that has that raw material assigned, along with the quantity per part.

Related Help Pages

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