Products¶
Products are the shared catalog names your team uses when you buy, make, stock, quote, sell, or produce items in Loupe Factory. A product can exist before you have stock on hand. Once stock exists, inventory items, orders, and production jobs can all refer back to that same product.
In day-to-day work, a product answers: what is this item? The related records answer what is happening with it right now, such as where stock is stored, what a customer ordered, or which production job is making it.
What a Product Represents¶
A product gives your team a consistent name to use across the platform. It can include the product name, short name, product type, and the shape or size language your team uses to describe the item.
Use products when you want sales, inventory, and production teams to talk about the same item in the same way. This helps prevent mismatched order details, duplicate stock names, and confusion during production handoffs.
How Products Connect Loupe Factory¶
Products sit at the center of several daily workflows. They keep the commercial name, stock activity, order demand, and production work tied to the same item.
Product relationships
One product connects stock, sales, and production
The product gives every team the same item name. Related records show how that item is stocked, sold, or made.
Products and Inventory Items¶
A product is the catalog identity. An inventory item is the actual stock record. For example, your team may have one product called Round Diamond, with many inventory items for different stones, sizes, weights, locations, and quality details.
Use this distinction when reviewing stock:
| Product | Inventory item |
|---|---|
| The reusable item name your team recognizes | The specific stock record your team can count, move, issue, or sell |
| Helps group related stock together | Stores operational details such as tag ID, weight, quantity, type, location, image, and status |
| Can exist before stock is available | Exists when there is stock or tracked material in Loupe Factory |
Products and Orders¶
Orders use products to describe what a customer wants to buy. When a product is selected on an order item, sales and operations can keep the order tied to the right catalog item from quote through fulfillment.
This is useful when the same product appears across many orders. Teams can recognize demand faster, check whether matching inventory exists, and decide whether production work is needed.
Products and Production Job Items¶
Production job items use product context to describe what the team is making or processing. When a production job is created, selecting the right product helps Loupe Factory narrow the source inventory that can feed the job.
As work moves through production, the product connection helps teams understand which stock was issued, what output was received, and how rejected, scrapped, or wasted material relates back to the same product.
Product Details Page¶
The Product Details page gives users one place to analyze a product without jumping across separate lists. It is designed for managers and operators who need a clear view of product activity, related inventory, and recent stock movement.
From the Product Details page, users can:
- review the product name and product image at the top of the page
- switch between inventory types, such as rough, finished, or materials and supplies
- compare item count, total weight, average weight, and 30-day weight change
- use the weight trend chart to see added and deducted inventory over time
- review the related inventory items table
- search, sort, and export product-specific inventory records
- filter related records by finished type, materials and supplies type, shape, size, color, and location
- move back to the full Inventory page when they need a broader stock view
If AI summaries are enabled for your workspace, the page can also summarize the product's inventory activity so teams can spot important changes faster.
Product visibility depends on role and location access. On Professional, Business, and Enterprise, admins can turn on Managers can use inventory from all locations in Organization Settings > Locations so Manager users can view and select products tied to inventory across every location. Members can only see products and inventory from their assigned location.
Users with the Manager role can choose the product image from existing images on related inventory items. This keeps the product image tied to a real item photo and avoids a separate upload step.
Managing Products¶
Admins can go to Admin Settings > Product Settings to learn how to edit existing products or add new ones in Loupe Factory.
Product setup works best when the catalog uses clear names, consistent product types, and shape or size language your whole team understands.
Next Steps¶
- Inventory Management: Learn how inventory items are added, edited, searched, and categorized.
- Order Management: Learn how products are used in customer orders.
- Production Tracking: Learn how products connect to production jobs and source inventory.