“I don’t know how much stock I have.”
“Do I have enough material to run this job? If not, what do I need to get?”
“I don’t know how much stock is left and hence when to re-order as I have long lead-times.”
All stock is tracked and updated in real time on Precision Manufacturing. Stock levels are adjusted as goods are received, production proceeds or deliveries are made. Both material and product stock levels are tracked.
Stock Intentions
In addition, stock “intentions” are also tracked. For example, if a purchase order is placed the system will report ordered quantities for the materials. For a sales order, the material for the product is “allocated” and the product is “ordered” and “allocated”. You can then look at a list and know what needs expediting or ordering.
Stock Transactions
At each key transaction point, material stock quantities are adjusted. For example, receiving material against a purchase order adjusts both the PO received quantity and the stock levels. During production, each work zone can be a transaction point. This means that as a product moves through production, material stock numbers are adjusted as well as product stock numbers. At any point in time, you can then look at your stock figures and know the true story.
Reports
This data also means that you can report on what stock is still to be ordered or expedited before a job can be started. Alternatively, you might have long lead times on a stock item and need notification when stock levels reach a certain limit for re-ordering.
Furthermore, with stock pricing and batch level tracking enabled, you can know the exact cost of the material in your warehouse.