Overview
The Raw Materials page is the central hub for managing every raw material you work with. It displays your raw materials in a three-column grid of cards, giving you a quick visual overview of your entire library. When any of your raw materials are running low, a Low Stock Alert banner appears at the top of the page showing the count of items that need attention.
Adding a Raw Material
- Click the Add Raw Material button on the Raw Materials page.
- If you want to search the shared master catalog first, open Formuley Database from the same page.
- Use Add to My Raw Materials to prefill the normal add flow from a reference record.
- Fill in the core fields:
- Trade Name -- the supplier or lab name you use most often.
- Common / Plain Name -- a readable fallback for internal use.
- Category -- choose from 15 options (e.g., Oils & Butters, Essential Oils, Surfactants, Preservatives, Colorants, and more).
- INCI Name -- the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients name.
- CAS Number -- the Chemical Abstracts Service registry number.
- Description -- optional notes about the raw material.
- Link a Supplier and enter the supplier's SKU for easy reordering.
- Click Save to add the raw material to your library.
If you are adding something brand new, the shortest safe path is still:
- a display name
- the INCI name
- a default unit
That minimum lets the ingredient connect cleanly to formulas and bench work. Category, verification, source, lot, and document detail can be layered in as the workflow gets more serious.
Chemical and Safety Properties
Formuley can auto-populate chemical properties when you search for a raw material. Data is pulled from industry databases including CosIng, PubChem, and IFRA.
Soap Making Properties
For soap formulations, each raw material can store:
- NaOH SAP Value and KOH SAP Value -- saponification values for cold/hot process and liquid soap.
- INS Value -- indicates hardness contribution.
- Iodine Value -- measures unsaturation level.
Safety and Regulatory
- EU 26 Allergen Flagging -- raw materials that are among the 26 EU-regulated allergens are automatically flagged, helping you stay compliant.
- IFRA Limits -- maximum safe usage rates from the International Fragrance Association are displayed where available.
pH Compatibility
pH compatibility properties help you identify which raw materials work well together and flag potential stability issues in your formulas.
Raw Material Detail Page
Click any raw material card to open its detail page. Here you will find:
- Current Stock -- your live inventory level for this raw material, automatically updated as you record purchases and log batches.
- Purchase History -- a timeline of every purchase, including date, quantity, price, and supplier.
- Cost Tracking -- current cost per unit and historical cost data.
- Readiness -- whether the ingredient is record-ready, formula-ready, batch-ready, source-ready, or GMP-ready.
Managing Inventory
From the raw material detail page, you have several inventory actions:
- Set Starting Inventory -- enter your initial stock level when you first add a raw material.
- Record Purchase -- log a new purchase with amount, price, and supplier. This updates both your stock level and cost calculations.
- Physical Count -- adjust your stock to match a real-world count, useful for periodic inventory audits.
Editing and Deleting
- Click Edit on the raw material detail page to update any field.
- Click Delete to remove the raw material. If the raw material is used in any formulas, Formuley warns you before deletion.
Tips
- Keep INCI names and CAS numbers filled in to take full advantage of automatic regulatory checks and chemical property lookups.
- Draft ingredients are okay for early formulation work. Production and GMP flows are intentionally stricter.
- Use the Low Stock Alert banner as a prompt to reorder before you run out of key raw materials.
- Use Browsing the Formuley Ingredient Database when you want to search the shared master catalog before saving something into your own library.
- For cost-related features, see Tracking Raw Material Costs. For supplier management, see Managing Suppliers.
