Manufacturers

Keep a contact list of the companies that make your equipment.

Manufacturers are the companies that build your gear. Recording them lets you attach a maker to each item and keep handy details like a website, contact information, and notes — useful when you need to reorder a part or check a warranty. The Manufacturers screen lists every maker as a card, and from here you can add, edit, or delete them. As with the rest of the inventory module, changes save and send up automatically, including offline.

Overview

The header reads Manufacturers. Each manufacturer appears as a card with four lines of text and two round buttons in the bottom-right corner.

Line on the card	What it shows
Name :	The manufacturer's name, in bold.
Website :	A web address for the company.
Contact Info :	A phone number, email, rep name, or other contact detail.
Notes :	Any free-form notes you want to keep.

Button	Color	What it does
Pencil (Edit)	Blue	Opens Edit Manufacturer with the existing values filled in.
Trash (Delete)	Red	Asks you to confirm, then removes the manufacturer.

The three-dot button at the top right holds a single menu choice: Add Manufacturer.

Getting Here

1. Open the Account tab and tap the Inventory module.
2. On the Inventory landing screen, tap Manufacturers.
3. The screen opens with the header Manufacturers and a card for each one.
4. Tap the Back arrow to return to the Inventory landing screen.

An agency administrator can also reach this screen from Agency Settings → Inventory → Manufacturers.

Adding a Manufacturer

1. Tap the three-dot menu at the top right and choose Add Manufacturer. The New Manufacturer screen opens.
2. Enter a name in the Manufacturer Name field. This is the only required field — leaving it blank brings up "Please enter a manufacturer name." when you try to save.
3. Optionally fill in Website, Contact Info, and Notes.
4. Tap Save. The new manufacturer appears in the list and becomes available to pick when adding items and templates.

Fields on the New Manufacturer form

Field	Type	Required?	Notes
Manufacturer Name	Single-line text	Yes	Spaces at the start and end are trimmed.
Website	Single-line text	No	Enter it however you like — this field is stored as plain text, not opened as a link.
Contact Info	Single-line text	No	One line, so keep it short: a phone number, an email, or a rep's name.
Notes	Multi-line text	No	Room for account numbers, service terms, or anything else worth remembering.

The header reads New Manufacturer when adding and Edit Manufacturer when editing.

note

Manufacturers are the simplest record in Inventory — there is no parent field, no type, and no hierarchy. That also means the only thing that decides whether a save goes straight to the server or into the queue is your connection.

Editing a Manufacturer

1. Find the manufacturer and tap its blue pencil (Edit) button.
2. The Edit Manufacturer screen opens with the existing name, website, contact info, and notes filled in.
3. Change any of the fields you need to update.
4. Tap Save. A brief "Manufacturer updated" message appears and you return to the list.

If you tap Back with unsaved changes, the app asks "Data Updated — Do you want to save changes?":

Choice	What happens
Save	Checks the name, then saves and returns to the list.
Cancel	Discards your edits and returns to the list.

Tapping Back with nothing changed returns to the list without asking.

Deleting a Manufacturer

1. Find the manufacturer and tap its red trash (Delete) button.
2. A confirmation appears titled Delete with the message "Are you sure you want to delete this manufacturer?"
3. Tap Delete to remove it, or Cancel to keep it.
4. The manufacturer disappears from the list. Offline deletions are queued and send when you reconnect.

caution

Deleting a manufacturer does not delete the items or templates that referenced it — but it does leave them without a maker on record. If you are cleaning up duplicates, edit the affected items first so they point at the one you are keeping.

Saving Online and Offline

Situation	What the app does	What you see
Online, save succeeds	Sends the manufacturer to the server and mirrors it into the saved copy on your device.	"Manufacturer added" or "Manufacturer updated", then the list.
Online, save fails	Falls back to the offline queue so your work is not lost.	No error — it appears in the list and sends later.
Offline	Saves on your device and queues it.	It appears in the list immediately.
Editing a manufacturer that has not reached the server yet	Queues the edit rather than sending it, even if you are online.	The edit appears in the list immediately.
Offline delete	Removes it from your device and queues the deletion.	The card disappears.
Online delete fails	Shows the error the server returned and keeps the manufacturer.	An alert with the server's message.

Loading, Empty, and Offline States

Situation	What you see
Opening while online	The saved list paints instantly, then a spinner runs and the list refreshes.
Opening while offline, with saved data	The saved list appears. No error message.
Opening while offline, never synced	An empty screen with no cards. Connect once and reopen.
Server does not answer but you have cards	Your cards stay on screen with no alert.
Server does not answer and the list is empty	An alert shows the error the app received.
Returning from Add or Edit	The list re-paints from saved data and the queue is nudged to send.

A manufacturer with no website, contact info, or notes still shows those lines on its card, blank after the label.

tip

Storing a manufacturer's Website and Contact Info makes it easy to reorder parts or check warranty details later without hunting for the information elsewhere. Put the account number and service terms in Notes so whoever picks up the phone has everything at hand.

How This Connects

• Where the data comes from. Manufacturers live on your agency's server and are kept in a saved copy on your device, which is what lets this list appear instantly and work offline.
• What updates it. Saves on this screen, saves by a teammate, and edits an agency administrator makes in Agency Settings → Inventory → Manufacturers.
• Manufacturers feed two forms. Every maker you add here appears in the Manufacturer dropdown on the Items form and on the Templates form, each with -- None -- at the top of the list.
• They arrive with the item list. The manufacturer list is fetched in the same combined request that loads items, categories, storage locations, templates, and vehicles — which is why the dropdowns on the item form are already filled in when you open it.
• They also show on item details. The Manufacturer Name line on the Item Details page in Browse Items comes from the record you keep here.
• Nothing counts them. Unlike categories and storage locations, manufacturers have no item count on their card, and they do not appear as a grouping on the Inventory Dashboard or in Browse.
• Offline and reconnect. New and edited manufacturers appear in the list straight away and are queued. The queue drains when you reconnect, when you reopen this screen, and right after a save. If you create a manufacturer offline and immediately attach it to a new item, the app holds that item back until the manufacturer has reached the server, so the link comes out right.

Troubleshooting

If this happens	What to do
"Please enter a manufacturer name." appears	The Manufacturer Name field is empty or only spaces. Type a name and save again.
"Missing organization." appears	The app has lost track of your current agency. Close and reopen the app, then try again.
A new manufacturer is not in the Manufacturer dropdown on the item form	The dropdown is filled in when the form opens. Tap Back and open the form again.
Tapping the Website line does nothing	The website is stored as text on this screen, not as a tappable link. Copy it, or use the Agency Profile screen for contact details you want to open directly.
Contact Info will not fit	It is a single-line field. Put the long version in Notes.
A manufacturer you deleted keeps coming back	The deletion may have failed on the server. Go online, reopen this screen so the queue sends, and watch for an error alert.
A teammate's new manufacturer is missing	Go online and reopen the screen. Server changes arrive on refresh.
Items show a blank maker after you deleted one	Deleting a manufacturer leaves items without one. Edit each item on the Items screen to pick a replacement.
You have two entries for the same company	Edit the affected items to point at the one you are keeping, then delete the duplicate.

Related Pages

• Items
• Templates
• Storage Locations
• Categories

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