Your business relies on parts. If some parts don’t work or if parts are late, it has serious consequences. A multi-million dollar project could be delayed for a month due to one missing part—and how do you explain this to your customer? You’ve done the right things to optimize inventory management but know perfectly well there is more money to be saved if you could better track vendor performance.
One of Bright Software’s customers found themselves in this very predicament. They needed a way to track late and sub-par machinery parts and the effect these delays had on entire projects, including how many human hours it would take to remedy the problem. Off the shelf software wasn’t going to meet their needs so we worked together to build a means of retrieving real-time vendor and inventory analysis reports.
Each of their custom machines requires tens of thousands of parts from multiple vendors. Approved engineered machine designs are sent to the Shipping & Receiving Department who enter the needed parts and prices into the system, including the need for any custom-made parts. Vendor delivery times help employees estimate when all parts will be in inventory. As parts come in, they are entered and placed in appropriate job bins. If a vendor sent a galvanized part by mistake, instead of stainless steel, it’s noted. If a part is off by 2 millimeters and not “to spec,” it’s noted. All late deliveries and/or defective parts are captured in the system.
Management runs reports at any time and can see “red flags” much earlier in the production process. They can also make vendor decisions to try and reduce a project’s production time. Columnar reports and graphs with side by side comparisons help them assess which vendors are consistently reliable and trustworthy. Easy to read color coded reports will also show proof for which vendors, flagged red, should be cut for chronic problems. Managers can negotiate better deals or simply give a vendor warning before more production time is lost. Actions taken are captured in the system for future reference.
This customer saved more than 500,000 thousands of dollars per year and the system paid for itself in less than one month. These types of vendor and inventory system reports are essential, especially in small businesses with complex inventory needs. Barcode scanning could be integrated as well.
If you need help with any reporting or inventory tracking needs, we have the experience and are happy to discuss your project.