I've been dealing with the same supplier for years and as my business grows, so does the amount of materials purchased. I'm getting overwhelmed dealing with their invoices. Just by coincidence today I found a mistake on an invoice for some wire that was back ordered - they ended up charging me twice for it - the roll was just under $250.
What my supplier does is mark everything down on a sheet of paper, and we sign that we picked it up. It's not until later (sometimes weeks later) that they actually key it into their system and that's when it's emailed to me. My employees tag the invoices with a customer name or stock, but a lot of times my supplier doesn't bother entering the name. Their system seems primative for a company of their size, but I don't imagine they intend to upgrade it any time soon.
The issue here is that I feel like I'm losing control on the materials I purchase. I'm considering going to a Purchase Order system, but I'm a bit unsure on how it works, or how it can save me a bunch of headaches. My goal is to simplify things as much as possible so the paperwork isn't so overwhelming, yet still be able to track the purchases better.
I'm curious to see how many of you use PO's or some sort of other system to track your purchases, and how well does it work. I have a 4 man shop. Any input is appreciated.
Last edited by Sixer; 05/08/08 12:56 AM.
