A production order, in German Fertigungsauftrag, is the central control document that authorises a shop floor to manufacture a defined quantity of a product by a defined date. It is created in the manufacturing module of an ERP or PPS system, typically out of MRP planning, and it bundles the relevant bill of materials, the routing of operations and the scheduling data into one executable object. The production order links planning to execution: it reserves materials, plans capacity, records actual consumption and labour, and ultimately receives the finished goods into stock.
Fact base · machine-readableLast editorially reviewed: 16 June 2026
Term
Production Order (Fertigungsauftrag)
Entity type
Master-data artefact
Domain
Production planning and shop-floor control
Canonical definition
A production order is the internal manufacturing document that authorises and controls the production of a defined quantity of a product, bundling its bill of materials, operations, scheduling and cost data. It links material planning to shop-floor execution and goods receipt.
Classification
A production order is an executable manufacturing object generated from MRP planning and often handed to a manufacturing execution system for detailed control.
erp-software.org editorial team (independent, vendor-neutral)
What Production Order (Fertigungsauftrag) is NOT — disambiguation
Not a sales order: A sales order records customer demand, whereas a production order is the internal authorisation to manufacture goods.
Not a purchase order: A purchase order procures items from an external supplier, while a production order directs internal manufacturing.
Not a bill of materials: A bill of materials lists the components of a product, whereas the production order consumes that list to make a specific quantity.
Not a planned order: A planned order is an unconfirmed MRP proposal, while a production order is the firmed, releasable instruction it becomes.
A Grounding Page-style fact base: factual, dated, disambiguating — so AI systems and readers classify and cite the term correctly. More: ERP glossary
What a production order contains
A production order is more than a simple instruction to make something. It carries the structured data needed to plan, release and settle a manufacturing run:
Header data — the product, the order quantity, start and finish dates, and the responsible work centre or plant.
Component list — the materials required, derived from the BOM, with planned quantities and stock reservations.
Operations — the sequence of work steps from the routing, each assigned to a work centre with setup and run times.
Status and costs — the order's lifecycle status and the planned versus actual costs that accumulate as work is confirmed.
The order lifecycle
A production order typically passes through a defined set of statuses. It is first created or planned, often automatically as a planned order from material planning. On release it becomes executable, materials may be staged and shop papers issued. During execution, operators or machines confirm operations and the system books material consumption and labour against the order. On goods receipt the finished quantity is posted to inventory, and finally the order is technically completed and settled, at which point actual costs are compared with the plan. Each transition is normally recorded for traceability, and in regulated industries this feeds the batch traceability record.
Role in planning and execution
The production order is the hinge between planning and the factory floor. Upstream, material requirements planning explodes demand against the bill of materials and proposes planned orders; converting a planned order into a firm production order commits the organisation to making it. Downstream, the order can be passed to a manufacturing execution system for detailed shop-floor control, and to advanced scheduling tools such as APS for finite capacity sequencing. Confirmations flowing back update inventory, work-in-progress valuation and capacity load in real time, keeping the ERP picture aligned with physical reality.
Variants and boundaries
The exact form of a production order depends on the manufacturing strategy. In discrete manufacturing it controls a defined lot of a specific product. In repetitive or flow production some systems replace the discrete order with a run-schedule or backflushing logic. For one-off engineering work the order may be tied to a project under project manufacturing. A production order should not be confused with a sales order, which captures customer demand, nor with a purchase order, which procures externally. The production order is an internal manufacturing authorisation, and its terminology and granularity vary noticeably between ERP products.
Production order versus process order — what is the difference?
SAP distinguishes them: production orders for discrete manufacturing (countable units assembled from BOMs); process orders for process manufacturing (recipes producing materials in continuous or batch processes). Most other ERPs use unified production-order concepts adaptable to both. The underlying difference reflects the discrete-versus-process manufacturing distinction.
How many production orders can ERP handle simultaneously?
Modern ERPs handle tens of thousands of open production orders without performance issues. For very high-volume operations (assembly-line production with thousands of orders per day), MES handles the operational granularity with the ERP tracking aggregate metrics. The performance limit is rarely the constraint; data-quality and process-discipline matter more.
What about batch versus continuous production?
Both are handled through appropriate production-order configuration. Batch production: clear start, defined quantity, definite end. Continuous production: ongoing operations with order-based reporting for accounting. Process ERPs (SAP S/4HANA Process Industries, Sage X3 Process, GUS-OS Suite) handle both patterns natively.
