The Multi Unit of Measurement feature in Ply allows you to manage and order materials in different quantities, for example, by piece, box, or pallet without having to create separate items for each unit type.
Previously, each material in Ply was limited to a single unit of measurement. This often forced users to create multiple versions of the same item or rely on notes to specify bulk quantities.
With Multi UoM, you can now define conversion trees between related units (e.g., 1 pallet = 25 boxes = 250 pieces), making purchasing, transfers, and stock tracking much more flexible and accurate.
⚠️ Note: This is Version 1 of the feature. Bulk edits and template uploads are not yet available, but may be added in a future release.
Where to Find It
- Go to Settings → Units of Measurement.
- Here you’ll see your basic measurement units (e.g., each, box, pallet, foot).
- You can add or edit these base units, they’ll be used later when building your measurement trees.
- Open your Catalog and select any material.
- Click the three-dot menu (⋮) and choose Units of Measurement.
- If the item is synced correctly (no sync errors), you can create a new measurement tree for that material.
How to Create a Unit of Measurement Tree
- Open the material in the Catalog.
- Click Units of Measurement.
- You’ll see your base unit (for example, “each”).
- Click Add Unit to define your hierarchy.
- 1 pallet = 25 boxes
- 1 box = 10 pieces
Example:
→ Ply will automatically calculate that 1 pallet = 250 pieces.
- Click Save changes.
- Video Tutorial:
Each item can have its own measurement tree, including variants (e.g., different colors, sizes, etc.).
How It Works in Purchase Orders
When you create a Purchase Order, you can now:
- Choose from the defined units (e.g., pallet, box, each).
- Ply automatically adjusts the unit cost based on the baseline cost.
- Optionally, override the cost (for example, when buying in bulk with a discount).
This makes purchasing and pricing more accurate and eliminates the need to manually calculate conversions.
Where It’s Supported
✅ Currently supported in:
- Catalog items
- Stock location transfers
- Purchase Orders
⚙️ Coming soon:
- Cycle counts
- Picklists
- Etc
These areas are still being developed for full Multi UoM compatibility.
Bulk Uploads and Templates
At the moment, Ply does not support adding multiple units of measurement through the bulk upload tool.
If you’d like to apply units of measurement to several materials, this needs to be done manually, one by one, from the Catalog page.
Our team may be able to assist with bulk setup in special cases, for example, when onboarding or importing a large catalog. If you’re interested in this, please contact Ply Support, and we’ll review the best way to help you get your materials set up efficiently.
When requesting assistance, please make sure your units of measurement are organized in a format like this before:
Material Name | UoM 1 | Qty 1 | UoM 2 | Qty 2 | UoM 3 | Qty 3 |
PVC 90° Elbow | Pallet | 25 | Box | 10 | Each | 1 |
This structure allows the system to map each relationship properly. Future releases will include this mapping option directly in the bulk upload tool.
Tips & Best Practices
- Start with your most commonly used unit as the base unit (e.g., “each”).
- Avoid duplicate or overlapping names when creating UoM trees.
- If you see a sync error on an item, resolve that before editing its UoM.
- For bulk updates, contact Ply Support, we can assist with backend uploads in special cases.