Supplier Management and Purchase Orders in CraftOps

Your fabrication shop is only as productive as your material supply. Run out of a critical filament or sheet stock and your machines sit idle, deadlines slip, and customers lose confidence. On the other side, overstocking ties up cash and fills your storage with materials that may go unused for months. CraftOps includes a full supplier management and purchase order system that helps you maintain the right stock levels, buy at the best prices, and keep a clear record of every order you place. This post covers building your vendor database, creating and tracking purchase orders, receiving inventory, comparing prices, and setting up automatic reorder points.

Building Your Vendor Database

The vendor database in CraftOps is where you store information about every supplier you buy materials from. For each vendor, you record the company name, primary contact person, email, phone number, website, shipping terms, and any account numbers or discount codes associated with your shop. You can also note each vendor's typical lead time and minimum order requirements, which CraftOps uses later when suggesting reorder timing.

Each material in your inventory can be linked to one or more vendors. A spool of Hatchbox PLA might be available from Amazon, from a specialty filament distributor, and directly from the manufacturer. For each vendor-material link, you record the vendor's SKU, the unit price at various quantity breaks, and the last date you purchased it. This creates a comprehensive pricing reference that saves you from hunting through old email receipts or browsing multiple websites every time you need to reorder. When you link multiple vendors to the same material, CraftOps can show you a side-by-side price comparison at the moment you need to place an order, so you always know where the best deal is.

Vendor performance is tracked over time as well. CraftOps records the delivery time for each order, whether any items arrived damaged or incorrect, and the overall fulfillment accuracy. After several orders, you can see at a glance which suppliers are reliable and which ones cause problems. This data is invaluable when you are deciding between two vendors with similar prices but different track records for on-time delivery.

Creating and Tracking Purchase Orders

When it is time to restock, CraftOps streamlines the purchase order process. You can create a PO manually by selecting a vendor and adding line items from your material catalog, or you can let CraftOps generate a suggested PO based on materials that have hit their reorder points. The suggested PO pulls in the preferred vendor for each material, the last purchase price, and the quantity needed to bring your stock back to the target level. You review and adjust the suggested order, then submit it.

Each purchase order gets a unique PO number and moves through its own status workflow: Draft, Submitted, Confirmed, Shipped, Partially Received, and Fully Received. When you send the PO to the vendor, you can email it directly from CraftOps as a formatted PDF that includes your shop details, the vendor's information, line items with quantities and agreed prices, and any special instructions. The vendor receives a professional document, and CraftOps keeps the record linked to your material inventory.

Tracking open POs is straightforward. The purchase order dashboard shows all active orders, their current status, expected delivery dates, and total value. If a vendor sends a shipping confirmation with a tracking number, you can add it to the PO record so anyone on your team can check delivery status. Overdue orders are highlighted automatically, prompting you to follow up with the vendor before the delay impacts your production schedule.

Receiving Inventory and Reorder Points

When a shipment arrives, the receiving process in CraftOps is designed to be fast and accurate. You pull up the PO, and CraftOps shows you the expected items and quantities. As you unpack the shipment, you confirm each item and quantity received. If everything matches, you mark the PO as fully received with one click, and CraftOps automatically adds the materials to your inventory with the correct quantities and costs. If items are missing or damaged, you record a partial receipt and note the discrepancy. CraftOps adjusts your inventory for what you actually received and flags the outstanding items for follow-up with the vendor.

The cost of received materials flows directly into your material cost calculations. If you paid a different price than expected, perhaps because the vendor applied a discount or increased their prices, the actual cost is what CraftOps uses for future job cost calculations on those specific units. This means your job costing always reflects what you actually paid, not what you estimated you would pay, keeping your profitability numbers honest.

Reorder points are the automation layer that ties everything together. For each material, you set a minimum stock level and a reorder quantity. When your current stock plus any open PO quantities drop below the minimum, CraftOps triggers a reorder alert. The alert can be a simple notification, or it can automatically generate a draft PO for your review. You can also set reorder points based on projected consumption, using your job schedule to estimate how quickly you will burn through your current stock. This demand-based approach is more accurate than a simple minimum threshold, especially for materials with variable usage patterns.

CraftOps maintains a complete order history for every material and every vendor. You can look back at how your costs have changed over time, identify seasonal price fluctuations, and spot trends like a vendor gradually increasing prices. This historical data puts you in a stronger negotiating position and helps you make informed decisions about switching vendors or bulk purchasing to lock in better rates.

Tip: Set your reorder points to account for your typical vendor lead time plus a safety buffer. If your filament supplier takes five business days to deliver and you use about ten spools per week, set your reorder point at fifteen spools. This gives you a full week of safety stock to absorb any delivery delays without impacting production.

What's Next

Supplier management and purchase orders complete the material supply chain in CraftOps, connecting your inventory tracking to the outside world of vendors and deliveries. With this system in place alongside material tracking, job costing, and machine management, you have a comprehensive picture of your shop's operations and finances. Explore the rest of the CraftOps blog series to dive deeper into specific features, from the customer portal and invoicing to the marketplace that connects your shop with new customers. If you are just getting started, head back to our getting started guide for the complete setup walkthrough.