Purchase Order Lead Times in the Field

What could be worse than one of your field service workers arriving on a customer’s site without the parts they need to complete the task?  Especially if it’s a regularly scheduled, routine task.  With all of this talk about ‘just in time’ inventory as a way to improve cash flow, most don’t realize that without carefully managing the process, you could end up in some pretty embarrassing situations.  Customers can be slow to forgive.

Most talk about MRP leaves us cold. We are not manufacturers, why does this apply to us?  Because MRP is a small part of an overall Master Planning strategy.  Purchase Order lead times are probably one of the few parts of MRP we need for the field.  It does require some management, but it’s one of the simplest parts of MRP.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations (as well as its predecessor AX2012) has solved this in a graphical, user-friendly fashion.

Finally you can satisfy your management’s demand for just in time inventory without sacrificing Customer Service in the field.  Check it out at the link below:

Mid-week Reflections on MRP and Purchase Order Lead Time in Microsoft Dynamics AX