Forty castings arrived. Thirty six parts shipped. Where are the other four?
The customer sends forty castings to machine. Two were scrapped at first operation because of porosity, one was a setup piece, and one is somewhere. The customer's buyer wants to know why only thirty six came back and where the other castings are. Your office does not know either, because the castings were never counted into anything except the delivery note.
Meanwhile, a length of the customer's special grade bar is on your rack, unlabelled, and someone has just cut it for another job.
Why free issue is so easy to lose
Free issue material does not belong to you, so it is not in your stock system and nobody wants to put it there. It arrives with the customer's paperwork, not a purchase order. The operators treat it the same as any other material.
- Free issue is booked in as a delivery, not as stock held for a customer.
- It shares racks with your own material.
- Scrap and setup pieces are not recorded against the customer's material.
- Customers' own certificates are filed with the delivery note, if at all.
- Returning leftover material is forgotten when the job closes.
What losing it costs you
When free issue material cannot be accounted for, the customer will usually expect you to pay for it, and castings and forgings are not cheap to replace. Worse, the replacements may take weeks to arrive, holding up the order. Using a customer's material on another job, even by accident, is a traceability problem and an awkward conversation. And the arguments about quantities damage a relationship that is otherwise fine.
The free issue tracking we build
- At goods in, free issue is booked in against the customer and their order, with quantity, part or material description, batch or heat number, and the customer's certificate.
- Each item or bundle gets a label showing the customer name and a barcode, and a dedicated rack location.
- The material is reserved to that customer's jobs. Scanning it against another customer's job is refused.
- At the machine, operators record good parts, scrap with a reason, and setup pieces against the job.
- A balance for each customer shows material received, consumed in good parts, scrapped with reasons, and remaining on site.
- When a job closes with material left, the office is prompted to return it or agree with the customer to hold it.
| Customer asks | Where the answer comes from |
|---|---|
| How much of our material do you hold? | Balance by customer and item |
| Why did only thirty six come back? | Scrap and setup records with reasons |
| Which heat number did these parts use? | Batch recorded at goods in and cutting |
| Can you send back what is left? | Remaining balance and location |
| Where is the cert? | Stored with the goods in record |
What changes
Customer questions about their material are answered from a record, with the reasons for any scrap. Your own stock and theirs cannot be confused, because the labels and the reservation rule stop it. Porosity or defects in castings are recorded when they are found, which gives you the evidence to show that a shortfall was the casting and not the machining.
At year end, the list of customer material on site is accurate, which your accountant and your insurer may both ask about.
Is free issue material a grey area in your shop?
- Customer material shares racks with your own stock.
- You have argued with a customer over quantities returned.
- Scrapped castings or forgings are not recorded against the customer.
- Leftover material sits on site long after the job closed.
- You could not quickly say how much customer material you hold.