With any material purchasing decision, there is a tradeoff. Do you keep inventory in anticipation of production, or do you buy only in response to demand. Added to the complexity of purchasing decisions is the fact that most buys must be made weeks or months in advance of production.

To take the guesswork out of your purchasing decisions, our purchasing system is linked directly to the production schedule. Customer releases that are weeks and months into the future are planned by the production system which generates material requirements to be reviewed by a material planner. Day-to-day scheduling changes reflect directly in the planner’s screen which colour-codes material problems depending on the severity of the requirement. Overbuys can also be highlighted indicating material on-order, but no longer required due to customer order changes.

The planning screen allows the planner to add, delete or change quantity and due dates, directly to a purchase order through a consolidated on-screen view, eliminating the need to have the P/O open.

A Receiving System sensitive to coils of steel and the appropriate material specification with capability to automatically reject (and place on hold) those coils that are outside of the required tolerances works together with the Purchasing System.

Features Include:

• Material requirements tied directly to production schedule
• Material specifications tied to purchased items
• Purchase order types for blanket/non-blanket items
• Purchase orders for material or outside processes
• Purchase MRO items
• Fax/Email vendor delivery schedules
• Vendor delivery performance reporting
• P/O receipts are automatically inserted into a pending A/P liability system