A supplier says the bearings will arrive Wednesday instead of Tuesday. The plant has forty units scheduled to start Tuesday. A late PO line is not yet a production decision: there may be stock at another plant, a partial delivery, or another job the line can run first.
Establish the usable quantity
Check the item, revision, lot rules and approved substitutes before counting stock as available. Separate stock on hand from stock already reserved, under quality hold or in transit. Then compare the usable quantity with what each work order needs at its start operation.
If twenty-four bearings are at a second plant, ask when a transfer can arrive at the point of use. An interplant quantity is not a solution if the move misses the production slot.
Show planning the affected jobs
For each affected work order, show the required quantity, planned start, material gap, alternative machine or line, and downstream commitment. Planning can then decide whether to split the job, resequence it or wait. Purchasing confirms the supplier’s latest promise and whether a partial delivery is possible.
Name the owner of each decision. Purchasing can expedite material; planning changes the production sequence. A supplier date becomes confirmed when purchasing has evidence for it.
Close the loop when the material moves
The final check is at the station: did the right lot reach the right job in time, and did the schedule change reach the shift? If a warehouse robot or internal fleet handles the move, the mission should carry the destination, priority and exception status; “mission complete” is not the same as material accepted at point of use.
Start by measuring time from a known shortage to a confirmed production decision. A dashboard that finds shortages earlier helps only if someone can act on the information.
Explore inventory management, production scheduling and AMR fleet management.
Buğra Gündüz
Buğra Gündüz is the co-founder and CEO of Bourne and co-founder of HockeyStack. He built HockeyStack into an eight-figure AI business. At Bourne, he works with entrepreneurs and established companies to create AI products and services.