Understanding the Workflow

Forge MRP follows the natural flow of a manufacturing job shop: a customer asks for a price, you source materials, build the parts, and ship them out. Here's how the pieces connect.

The Big Picture

Quote → RFQ → Purchase Order → Job → Work Orders → Production → Fulfillment

Each step feeds into the next. You don't have to use every step for every order — a simple job might skip the RFQ process entirely if you already have materials in stock. But understanding the full chain helps you see where each feature fits.

1. Quote

Everything starts with a quote. A customer asks "how much to make these parts?" and you build a quote in Forge.

A quote contains one or more parts. Each part can have:

  • Materials — the raw material needed (e.g., 6061 Aluminum plate, 1/2" thick)
  • Operations — the manufacturing steps required (e.g., CNC Milling at 1.5 hours, Deburring at 0.25 hours)
  • Purchased items — off-the-shelf components you buy and include (e.g., fasteners, bearings)

Forge calculates the cost of each part based on material prices, operation rates and times, and your markup percentages. You can adjust quantities, add notes, and attach files like drawings or 3D models.

When the quote is ready, send it to your client as a PDF by email directly from Forge.

2. Request for Quotation (RFQ)

If you need to buy materials or services from suppliers, create an RFQ. You select which materials or items you need pricing on, choose one or more suppliers, and send it out.

Suppliers receive an email with a link to a portal where they can enter their prices and lead times — no login or account required on their end. As responses come back, you can compare pricing side by side.

For details on this process, see the Purchasing section of the help docs.

3. Purchase Order

Once you've picked a supplier from the RFQ responses (or you already know your supplier and pricing), create a purchase order (PO).

The PO tracks:

  • What you ordered and from whom
  • Expected delivery dates
  • Receiving — when materials arrive, you record what was received, check quantities, and note any quality issues

Purchase orders keep your procurement organized and give you a paper trail for every material purchase.

4. Job

When your client approves the quote, convert it to a job. This is the production order — it tells your shop "we need to make these parts."

A job inherits the parts, materials, and operations from the quote. It becomes the central record for tracking this order through your shop. Each job has a status (e.g., In Progress, On Hold, Complete) and a target delivery date.

5. Work Orders

A job is broken down into work orders — individual manufacturing steps assigned to specific equipment.

For example, a job with two parts might generate work orders like:

  • CNC Mill part A on the Haas VF-2
  • CNC Mill part B on the Haas VF-2
  • Weld assembly on the TIG station
  • Surface grind both parts on the surface grinder

Work orders can have dependencies — you can specify that welding can't start until both milling operations are complete. This helps you plan the sequence of operations.

6. Production

The production board shows your shop floor at a glance. It's organized by equipment, with columns for each machine showing what's queued, in progress, and complete.

Use it to:

  • See what's running on each machine right now
  • Drag work orders to reorder the queue
  • Move work orders between statuses as operators complete them
  • Spot bottlenecks — if one machine has 20 items queued and another has none, you know where to focus

This is the day-to-day view for shop floor managers and machine operators.

7. Fulfillment

Once all work orders for a job are complete, the parts are ready to ship. Mark the job as complete and arrange delivery to your customer.

How It All Connects

The key insight is that data flows forward through the system:

  • A quote part's materials tell you what to purchase (RFQs and POs)
  • A quote's parts and operations become the job's work orders
  • Work orders drive the production board
  • PO receiving confirms materials are on hand for production

You don't have to enter the same information twice. When you build a thorough quote, the downstream steps — purchasing, job creation, and work order planning — pull from that original data.

Where to Go Next

The best way to learn is to try it. Create a test quote with a couple of parts, add some materials and operations, and follow it through the workflow. You can always delete test data later.

For detailed guidance on each area, explore the other sections of the help docs — Quoting, Purchasing, Production, and more.

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