Why a plant WIP number fights
A retailer peg treats inventory as shelf SKUs. A manufacturer holds stages, scrap, and unbilled project work. Inventory in valuation keeps the earnings conversation honest. The working-capital peg must name how WIP is valued: standard cost, actual job cost, or percentage of completion. “Customary” is not a method.
Fed G.17 printed 76.0% manufacturing utilization in July 2026 (Source: Fed G.17). A busy floor can hide stale WIP. Utilization is not a count.
Unbilled project work and customer deposits are cousin fights. A job that is 80 percent complete and 100 percent billed is not the same as a job that is 80 percent complete and unbilled. The exhibit has to say which dollars are inventory and which dollars are a contract asset. Percentage of completion without a method note is how the true-up invents a six-week argument.
Age the WIP. A kit that has not moved in a time band you would not finance should not puff the delivered number. How it works still wants classed inventory — raw, WIP, finished, consigned — before anyone exclusive. The inventory-in-valuation page keeps the earnings conversation honest. This glossary page stays on the unfinished layer. Jason Taken does not certify the count.
What if the metal on the rack is consigned?
Then title may still sit with the customer. Customer-owned tooling is the cousin problem on dies and molds. Census CBP 2023 counted 284,452 manufacturing establishments (Source: Census CBP). Most of them mix owned and consigned lots. The physical must split them.
Billed-and-held finished goods, consigned resin, and customer-owned blanks are cousin problems that sit next to WIP and still need their own title answers. A kit that has not moved in a time band you would not finance should not puff the delivered number. Percentage of completion without a method note is how the true-up invents a six-week argument. Freeze the method at LOI. Use the 223-day median close window to write the exhibit.
How it works still wants classed inventory. FAQ owns the questions. The inventory-and-WIP owner is the process home. Jason Taken does not certify the count.
How the true-up should treat WIP
The signed physical applies the exhibit definition. Heavy WIP that fails an excess-and-obsolete test does not puff the delivered number. BizBuySell’s manufacturing median close was 223 days (Source: BizBuySell). Use the window to freeze the method at LOI.
| Class | Typical peg treatment | Common fight |
|---|---|---|
| Raw | Eligible if owned and usable | Consigned lots |
| WIP | Method named in the exhibit | Percentage of completion |
| Finished | Eligible if saleable | Age and E&O |
Percentage-of-completion WIP on a long job can be honest or it can be hope. The method has to match how the shop actually posts cost. A job-cost roll that ignores scrap will puff the delivered number. A standard-cost roll that has not been updated since the last resin spike will do the same in the other direction. The signed physical applies the exhibit. Heavy WIP that fails an excess-and-obsolete test does not puff the delivered number just because the bay looks full.
Consigned resin, customer-owned blanks, and billed-and-held finished goods are cousin problems. Title first, then eligibility. A retailer leftover that says “inventory minus AP” will invent a six-figure argument after the truck. Freeze the method at LOI. Use the 223-day median close window to write the exhibit, not to argue at the count.
How it works still wants classed inventory before anyone exclusive. FAQ owns the questions. The glossary hands you to the inventory-and-WIP owner, then to a confidential intro call. Jason Taken is a business broker. He does not certify the count.
If the shop cannot produce a WIP aging by job, the peg exhibit is not ready. Age is how you see kits that have not moved. Title is how you see consigned lots. Method is how you value the rest. Freeze all three at LOI so the physical is a count, not a rewrite of the deal.
What this page will not do
It will not certify a count. Jason Taken is a business broker. The glossary sends you to the owner. After the noun is straight, book a confidential intro call.