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What ION does for you

You buy the parts that the factory consumes, and you do it in the same system the factory builds in. That means real consumption, actual run-by-run usage, not stale snapshots, flows directly into MRP and reorder logic. Receiving feeds inventory, inspection drives supplier scorecards, and the issues raised on the floor against a specific lot are visible to you when you talk to that supplier next. Day-to-day you’ll work POs and receiving, manage inventory locations and transactions, and watch supplier performance signals coming back from production.

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Where to start

  1. Purchasing: purchase orders, approvals, supplier records.
  2. Receiving: receipt against POs, inspection, and turning shipments into part inventory.
  3. Inventory: locations, lots, serials, transactions, and the merging/splitting/transferring you’ll do daily.
  4. Kitting: pulling parts ahead of a run.

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The handful of pages that matter most

PageWhy it matters to you
Purchase Order ApprovalsMulti-step approval flows for higher-value buys
Receiving and InspectionThe handoff from supplier shipment to usable inventory
Inventory MergingCombining like inventory and the constraints
Alternates and SubstitutesLetting the floor consume an approved alternate without a deviation, saves you firefights
Issues and NCRsQuality events on supplier parts: your scorecard input
API referencePulling consumption data into your existing reporting
  • Pre-configure alternates. If two supplier part numbers are interchangeable for an assembly, configure them as alternates on the BOM. Otherwise every “we ran out, used the other one” is a deviation that lands on your desk.
  • Inspect at receiving, not at install. Floor operators discovering bad parts in the middle of a run is the most expensive way to find a quality issue. Catch it at the dock.
  • Use serial-and-lot tracking on the parts that matter. Critical components, traceable parts, and anything subject to recall should be lot-tracked at minimum. Untracked simplifies bookkeeping but kills traceability.
  • Watch the supplier score, not just the PO state. A supplier that ships on time but generates 3× the NCR rate is a problem; ION’s data lets you see both axes.