Customer Consignment Inventory Overview
The Customer Consignment Inventory module lets you plan, order, ship, track, and report customer-consigned inventory. The module extends the sales order process by providing transactions to ship inventory and identify it as in-transit or consigned. These transactions also delay the standard accounts receivable (AR) booking process until inventory is consumed. When the customer notifies the supplier of usage, standard invoice transactions occur.
Customer Consignment Inventory lets suppliers continue to track inventory, even after it has been shipped and while it resides at the customer facility. This method requires the customer to notify the supplier that inventory has been used, which completes the transfer of ownership.
Using consigned inventory eliminates the need for the supplier to buy back the excess sent to the customer or remaining at the end of the consignment period. Because the supplier still owns the inventory, any excess is simply returned.
Using key features of Customer Consignment Inventory, you can:
• Create consigned inventory, inventory offset, and in-transit accounts at the system level, for product lines, or for combinations of sites and product lines.
• Retain ownership of consigned inventory by deferring invoice and AR transactions until the inventory is used by the customer.
• Track consigned inventory automatically by defining inventory locations for items that are in-transit and items received by a customer.
• Maintain visibility of consigned inventory from shipment through consumption even while it is in-transit or at a customer facility.
• Set up consignment defaults at the system level for the majority of your sales orders and scheduled orders and tailor defaults for individual ship-to addresses and items.
• Separate shipping and billing functions to accurately determine inventory value.
• Create and ship sales orders that include both non-consigned and consigned items.
• Automatically replenish inventory as it is used by adding a new line to the current release of a scheduled order.
• Manually adjust inventory transfers if needed.
• Include or exclude consigned items during physical inventory or cycle count.
• Import EDI transmissions to generate consumption records automatically, or manually create records as needed.
• Easily reverse transactions when you have excess, rejected, or returned inventory.
• Improve accuracy of consigned inventory information including its location, status, age, and order details.
• Generate reports and inquiries that sort and display details according to your needs:
• Identify unconsumed inventory that exceeds its maximum aging date.
• Compare inventory shipped with inventory consumed.
• Compare inventory shipped and consumed with inventory paid for.