Consignment and Vendor Managed Inventory Module
Consignment Inventory is inventory that is in the possession of the customer, but is still owned by the supplier.
In other words, the supplier places some inventory at the customer’s location. The customer purchases the inventory only after he has resold or consumed it. The liability of loss, damage, obsolescence and theft remains with the supplier.
As a manufacturer you may have consignment inventory at your customers and you may also have to contend with consignments from your Vendors.
Most ERP systems have difficulty with consignment inventory.
With consignment inventory the invoicing is not tied to the shipment or receipt transaction. This requires companies to manage consignment inventory with cumbersome time consuming and error prone processes. Typically both the Customer and Vendor maintaining separate spreadsheets.
There are several trigger points to the actual ownership transfer and billing transaction:
Invoice when product is actually used or sold
Invoice after a pre-defined period
Invoice when used or after a pre-defined period - which ever comes first
Invoice when next consignment order is placed, previous is billed
Consignment Inventory sent to your Customers
Now you can gain complete visibility into your customers’ inventory. The consignment inventory feature is offered as an enhancement to the standard Seradex inventory module. With the Seradex inventory consignment module, you’ll know what is on hand in your customers' inventory and have the ability to easily transfer the inventory to different locations. Consignment inventory is fully integrated into sales, shipping, accounting and scheduling functions within Seradex.
Customer Consignment Inventory lets you plan, order, ship, track and report customer-consigned material, while at the same time deferring invoicing and accounts receivable (AR) transactions.
Ship products to your customer and retain ownership until the product has been consumed
Maintain accurate financial physical inventory records from shipment through consumption
Transfer consignment inventory from warehouse location to Customer Bill to or Customer Ship To (For Dealers or Reps)
Include Serial or Lot Numbers on Packing Slips and Invoices
Create Transfer Packing Slips for all consignments shipped and transfered
Get online view of consignment inventory on hand a for each customer bill to and ship to
Relieve the consignment inventory at invoicing
Obtain consignment reports for valuation, insurance and collateral purposes
Issue RMA's so customers can return consignment inventory
Get automatic notification when pre-defined billing date arrives to submit invoice
Consignment Inventory received from your Vendors
Now you can gain complete visibility into vendor's consignment inventory located on your premises. Vendor consignment inventory is fully integrated into purchasing, receiving, accounting and scheduling functions within Seradex.
Vendor Consignment Inventory lets you plan, order, ship, track and report vendor-consigned material, while at the same time deferring payment and accounts payable (AR) transactions.
Receive products from your supplier and without transferring ownership until the product has been consumed
Maintain accurate financial physical inventory records from receipt through consumption
Include Serial or Lot Numbers on all consigned inventory
Create Receiving Logs for all arriving consignments
Get online view of consignment inventory on hand a for each vendor
Create Payment Authorization when product is consumed
Integrated to Electronic Kanban for re supply triggers
Create Vendor Return to return consignment inventory
Get automatic notification when pre-defined billing date arrives to approve payment
Flexible payment triggers
(1) Transferring items from a consignment inventory location
(2) Sending consignment material for outside processing
(3) An adjustment triggered by a Physical Count
(4) When backflushing product from production
(5) When creating the next reorder
Attach Consignment Terms and Conditions Document
It is important when engaging in Consignment practices to accurately document all terms and conditions. There will likely be thousands or tens of thousands of dollars at risk and disagreements can be expensive to resolve.
Ensure the following issues are covered in the terms and conditions:
Who manages security and access?
Who pays for damage, loss, shrinkage or theft?
What activity triggers the transfer of ownership and invoicing of consigned inventory?
What physical access frequency does the vendor have to inspect inventory on hand?
Who maintains insurance coverage?
Steps vendors will take to protect consigned product from customer’s creditors or bankruptcy
Vendor Managed Inventory programs have the potential to deliver huge benefits to both the supplier and vendor by improving material availability while decreasing overall inventory levels across the supply chain.
Inventory Software designed with you in mind!