➡️ What is a Material?
Materials are items you want to track individually as they move through your inventory and jobs.
Use Materials when:
You need to track quantities across warehouses, trucks, and jobs
Items are sold or used on specific jobs
Techs need to move, transfer, or consume the item themselves
You want usage to show up clearly in reports
Key behavior:
Materials can be transferred between locations (warehouse ↔ truck)
Materials can be added to jobs
Materials can be marked as used/consumed through activity
Inventory is always tracked at the location level
➡️ What is a Consumable?
Consumables are a material type in SureStock for managing non-stock inventory, items used in the field that don't need to be tracked at the job level. Think of stuff like wasp spray, shop towels, booties, primers, pipe thread compound.
They're small, often cheap, and used all the time, but you still want to know how much you've got, where it is, and when to restock.
Consumables are:
Ordered to the warehouse
Transferred to trucks
Consumed in the field (not billed to jobs)
Tracked only at the warehouse level
Key behavior:
Consumables are replenished from the warehouse
Techs can request more consumables, but cannot mark them as consumed
Once issued, consumables are not actively tracked at the job level
➡️ Key Differences at a Glance
Feature | Materials | Consumables |
Tracked on jobs? | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Show up on invoices? | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Require consumption tracking? | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Used frequently in the field? | ⚠️ Sometimes | ✅ Absolutely |
Auto-replenishment support? | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Tracking level | Warehouse, truck, and job | Warehouse only |
➡️ Which Should I Use?
If you want techs to track usage per job, move items between locations, or mark items as consumed → Use Materials.
If you only need to restock items regularly and don't need to track usage after issuing → Use Consumables.
If you're unsure which fits your workflow, our Support team is happy to help you decide.
➡️ Where to Manage Consumables
Catalog > Consumables → view all consumables in your system
Stock > Warehouse > Consumables → track consumables in your warehouse
Stock > Fleet > Consumables → see what's been transferred to trucks
Kept separate from Materials so your workflows stay clean and organized.
➡️ How to Create a Consumable
Go to Catalog > Consumables.
Click Add Consumable.
Fill in the details: Name, item number, description, unit of measurement, cost, tags.
Assign it to a location: add it to a warehouse.
Set min/max quantities for auto-replenishment.
Generate a barcode.
Click Save to warehouse.
💡 Setting min/max quantities allows SureStock to automatically add the item to your replenishment list when it's running low.
➡️ Transfer Consumables to Trucks
Once created, you can transfer consumables from a warehouse to a truck. Once on a truck, they're considered consumed, no individual usage tracking needed.
Go to Stock > Warehouse > Consumables.
Select the consumable(s).
Click Transfer.
Choose the truck and enter quantity.
Hit Confirm.
Check Stock > Fleet > Truck > Consumables Tab to see what's onboard.
➡️ Replenishment & Purchase Orders
Replenishment:
Set Min/Max values per warehouse.
When stock falls below min, SureStock adds the item to your Replenishment List.
Replenishment happens at the warehouse level only, not from trucks.
➡️ Creating a PO with Consumables:
Go to Catalog or Stock > Consumables.
Select item(s) → click Create Purchase Order.
Choose a supplier, required date, and ship-to warehouse.
Confirm quantities (based on min/max logic).
Click Create PO.
Your PO will include both materials and consumables in separate sections ✅.
➡️ Other Key Features
Barcodes: print or generate new ones for easy tracking.
Bulk actions: edit, delete, or transfer multiple items at once.
Mobile support: field techs can view + transfer consumables if permissions allow.
Permissions: admins can control who sees or moves consumables.
Reporting: export consumables from Consumables > Export Catalog.
➡️ Switching Between Materials and Consumables
The recommended way to move items between types is the bulk conversion tool (How to Convert Items), which handles Materials, Consumables, Tools, and Equipment all in one flow, in bulk, and pulls existing item details across automatically.
📌 If you only need to move a single item and prefer the older one-by-one flow: expand the material in Catalog, click the three dots, and select Create a consumable. This pulls in the existing material details, but you'll need to manually delete the original material afterward, and it only works one item at a time. For anything more than a handful of items, use the bulk conversion tool instead.
To move a consumable back into a material without the bulk tool: export your consumables as a spreadsheet (Catalog > Consumables > Export catalog), match the column headers to the materials import template, upload as materials via Catalog > Materials > Bulk Upload/Update, then delete the original consumables to avoid duplicates.
➡️ Common Issues
"I converted a Material to a Consumable, but the original material is still showing in my catalog."
If you used the older one-by-one flow (Create a consumable from the three-dot menu), you need to manually delete the original material afterward, it isn't removed automatically. The bulk conversion tool handles this for you as part of the conversion.
"I have a lot of items to switch between types, doing it one at a time will take forever."
Use the bulk conversion tool instead of the one-by-one flow, it's built exactly for this and covers Materials, Consumables, Tools, and Equipment together.
"My consumable isn't showing up on the replenishment list even though it's low."
Replenishment for consumables only triggers at the warehouse level, not from trucks. Confirm min/max is set on the warehouse record, not just the truck.
"When I try to add a consumable to a location, I only see warehouses, no trucks."
That's expected. Consumables can only be initially added to a Warehouse. To get them onto a truck, first add the consumable to a warehouse, then use Transfer (Stock > Warehouse > Consumables > select the item > Transfer > choose the truck and quantity). There's no way to add a consumable directly to a truck.
➡️ FAQs
Can techs mark consumables as used, the way they can with materials?
No. Techs can request more consumables, but consumables aren't tracked as "consumed" at the job level the way materials are.
Do consumables show up on job invoices?
No, that's one of the key differences from materials. Consumables aren't billed to jobs.
What's the fastest way to convert a large batch of materials to consumables (or vice versa)?
Use the bulk conversion tool covered in How to Convert Items