The MRP says one thing. The floor says another.
Your ERP has on-hand, on-order, lead times and open work orders. But MRP output is hard to read, planned lead times drift, and the real picture gets rebuilt in Excel every week. Buyers chase the loudest shortage while excess sits.
- MRP exception messages are too many to act on
- Planned lead times don't match what suppliers actually deliver
- Slow-moving and obsolete stock ties up cash with no owner
What we build
Shortage watch
Checks open work orders against on-hand and on-order stock and flags the shortages that will hit production first, with the reason.
Actual lead time tracking
Compares planned lead times with actual receipt history and flags items where the ERP is wrong.
Excess and obsolete review
Lists slow-moving and obsolete items with value, last usage and where-used, so finance and operations can decide what to do.
Supplier scorecards
Summarizes on-time delivery, quantity accuracy and quality issues by supplier from purchasing and receiving records.
How it works
Step 1: Agree on the questions
We start with the decisions your buyers, planners and controller make every week, and the data behind them.
Step 2: Connect and check the data
We connect read-only and check data quality. If lead times or units of measure are unreliable, we tell you before building on them.
Step 3: Deliver answers where people work
A weekly summary, a dashboard or plain-language answers, with the underlying records a click away.
Systems we connect
- NetSuite and QuickBooks inventory and purchasing
- Other ERPs and MRP modules, scoped during Discovery
- Supplier confirmations and purchasing email in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace
- Monday.com or similar for tracking follow-up actions
Reference
Related work outside manufacturing: for a regional contractor, our fleet and equipment dashboard answers equipment questions straight from the ERP through our Vista MCP server instead of a report request. Inventory and supplier tools use the same ERP query pattern.
Questions buyers and controllers ask
Will the tool place purchase orders automatically?
Not at the start, and not unless you decide it should. We begin with recommendations a buyer reviews. Any automated transaction gets its own approval step.
Is this a forecasting tool?
It can include demand signals, but we usually start with data you already have: open orders, actual lead times and usage history.