The article of the consumable material differs from the Article of the equipment. For Equipment, an article is a unique identification number of a specific material object. For example, you have a position "JBL SRX712 speaker system" in the amount of 12 pieces. So, in the Catalog golova.io you need to create 12 articles for this position. So, you will be able to track the movement and history of each individual object. 

For Consumables, this approach is excessive — you are unlikely to track the movement of each AA battery or work gloves or screws, etc. piece by piece. Therefore, you can create one Article with a variable quantity for Consumables.

Example. 

You have two 200L barrels of glycerin in your warehouse. An article with a barcode is pasted on each barrel. Before the project, you pour 5L from one barrel into a canister. Here's how it will look in the Catalog. An item of the "consumable" type, which is called "Glycerin" with a unit of measurement in liters (l.). Two articles have been created inside this item, one for each barrel. In the menu of the article, the quantity is set to 200. When shipping to the project, specify the number of 5. Upon completion of the project, the total number inside the article in the catalog will change and become 195, because it is assumed that you have used up consumables on the project.

By default, the system will create an article of consumables in the amount of one, in order to avoid errors and confusion. Once again: the article of the consumable is a common number for a group of objects. And the number of objects is set in the consumables menu.