Why the plant runs on memory
Many small factories run on what the owner and two supervisors remember: which order is urgent, which material is nearly gone, who is waiting for a call. It works until the volume grows or someone is out. Then a request that arrived by voice message stays unanswered and a purchase is made too late.
The remedy is to move that memory to a shared record that shows, at any moment, what is ordered, what is in stock and what is being made. How much detail the factory needs depends on its process, on its sector and on the system it already uses.
Start from the order, not from the machine
Every order should have a customer, the items and quantities, the agreed date and a status that anyone can read: received, waiting for material, in production, ready, delivered. Orders that arrive by message should be entered once, in one place, instead of being copied between chats.
Changes are part of the job. Record each change with its date and who asked for it, so the plant works on the latest version and not on the one somebody printed yesterday.
Know what is in stock before you promise a date
A delivery date is only as good as the stock behind it. Keep a catalog of materials and products with a code, a unit and a minimum level, and record every entry and exit as a movement. A balance that is changed by hand, without a record, cannot be trusted by the next person.
The minimum level is what turns stock into an early warning. When a material drops below it, the purchase starts while there is still time, not on the day the line stops.
- Code, name and unit of each material
- Minimum and maximum level
- Every entry and exit recorded as a movement
- Cost of the last purchases, to know what the stock is worth
- A periodic count to compare with the system
Follow production through the day
Production is easier to manage when the day has a simple rhythm: a short list of what must be made today, the material set aside for it and a quick check at the end. Compare what was planned with what was done, and write the reason when they differ: a missing material, a machine stopped, a rush order that came in.
If the product is made in batches, record the batch of each material used and of each item produced. When a customer reports a problem, the batch tells you what else may be affected.
Keep the customer informed
The buyer wants to know whether the order is on time and what is open in the account. When the conversation, the order and the invoices are in different places, someone has to hunt for the answer while the customer waits on the phone. Put them side by side and the answer takes seconds.
Look at a few numbers every week
Choose a small set of indicators and read them on the same day each week: orders delivered on the agreed date, materials below the minimum, stock value and what is overdue to receive. A few numbers read regularly teach more than a long report read once a year.
How Verbum helps
Verbum works next to the ERP you already have. Orders, production, price lists and product invoices are not part of what this page offers, so talk to the team about them. Some items below are released per customer.
- A product catalog with code, category, unit, minimum and maximum stock, and every entry and exit kept as a movement
- Batches with expiry date, and a summary of what ran out or is below the minimum
- The average cost recalculated at each purchase, and a stock report by period, category and product
- WhatsApp, Instagram and e-mail in one inbox, beside the record of each customer with its finance
- A copy of the ERP database, read only, and questions about it in plain language with Ask Verbum