Deliveries chased before they are late

• Get the acknowledgement

  Each purchase order is acknowledged, and the supplier's proforma is read against it: a different quantity, price or date is flagged to the buyer before it becomes the delivery.

• Ask ahead of the date, not after it

  Follow-ups are set by the lead time and by how well each supplier has kept its word, so a slip is heard about while it is still a warning.

• Read the reply, whatever form it takes

  A voice note, a photo of a shipping schedule, a line in an email: the date and the quantity are taken from it and written on the order in your ERP.

• Keep the buyer for what needs a buyer

  Price, an alternative supplier, a hard conversation: those come to your buyer with the facts gathered, and the routine asking does not.

A supplier of resin replies on WhatsApp with a voice note in Arabic; the agent takes the new ship date from it and writes it on the purchase order in your ERP; the buyer sees the change on the morning's list; the supplier is thanked and told the date is recorded.

Supplier replies

A voice note on WhatsApp

Agent

Follow-up

• Takes the new date from it
• Writes it on the order
• Sets the next follow-up

Buyer sees the change

On the morning's list

RecordedLogged

Supplier told

The date is on record

• Set each date against the need

  Every promised date is read against the day the goods are needed: the production run, the customer's order, the delivery to site.

• Flag the slip with what it touches

  A date that moves past the need reaches the planner with the run, the customer orders and the stock it affects, not as a bare date.

• Bring the options with the facts

  Another supplier's stock, a part delivery, faster freight and what each would cost, gathered for the planner to choose from.

• Give sales the date to give

  When a slip reaches a customer's order, the salesman hears the new date to promise, not a guess, before the customer asks.

See orders and confirmations→

A maker of motors abroad moves its ship date by a week; the agent sees that the new date falls after the production run that needs the motors and finds the customer orders behind that run; the planner chooses to swap two runs; sales are told which customer dates stand.

Ship date moved

Motors, from a maker abroad

Agent

Risk

• Reads it against the run
• Finds the customer orders behind it
• Prices faster freight

Planner decides

Swaps two runs

Re-plannedLogged

Sales told

Which customer dates stand

• Know what is coming each day

  The supplier's shipping notice and packing list are read ahead, so the store knows what arrives tomorrow and how it is packed.

• Ask for the certificates with the goods

  Mill certificates for steel, analyses for chemicals and food, certificates of origin and conformity: asked for before the truck leaves, checked before the goods go to stock.

• Put rejected goods back on the supplier

  Goods that fail the check are sent back with the photos and the reason, and the replacement goes onto the order with its own date.

• Spread the trucks over the day

  Deliveries are booked into the store's hours, so the bay, the forklift and the people are free when each truck comes.

A truck of steel coil is due at the store in the morning; the agent reads the packing list the evening before and asks the mill for the certificate that is missing; the storekeeper books the bay and the crane; the planner hears when the coil is in stock.

Delivery due tomorrow

Steel coil, by truck

Agent

Inbound

• Reads the packing list
• Asks for the missing certificate
• Books the bay

Storekeeper ready

Bay and crane booked

Certificate inReceived

Planner told

The coil is in stock

• Answer when they will be paid

  A supplier asking about an invoice hears its status and the payment date from your ERP, in the language they wrote in.

• Agree the statement

  The supplier's statement is set against your ledger every month, and each difference is traced to the invoice or credit note behind it.

• Chase the credit note

  A credit note promised for a return or a price difference is followed up until it arrives and is posted.

• Catch the same invoice twice

  An invoice sent again by email after the original came on paper is recognised, and only one is paid.

A packaging supplier asks on WhatsApp when last month's invoices will be paid; the agent reads their status in your ERP and finds one held for a credit note not yet received; the accounts payable clerk confirms the payment run; the supplier is told the date and asked for the credit note.

When will we be paid?

A supplier, on WhatsApp

Agent

Payables

• Reads each invoice's status
• Finds one held for a credit note
• Reads the payment run

Clerk confirms

The payment run

ConfirmedLogged

Supplier told

The date, and the credit note asked for