Purchasing and Multi-Site Discipline

Buying, scanning, and running more than one location without the wheels coming off.

1. Reorder points: when to buy, not just how muchHow to set a reorder point for each material from your own usage and your supplier's lead time, size the safety stock that covers the variation, and choose between a min/max buffer and just-in-time buying — so you neither stock out nor tie cash up in stock you do not need yet.
2. Purchasing discipline: buy on a PO, match before you payHow to move your buying from ad-hoc orders to purchase orders, set a three-way match so you only pay for what you actually ordered and received, catch price creep before it eats your margin, and keep every supplier on an approved list tied to your food-safety program.
3. Barcodes on the floor: scan the work instead of re-keying itHow to find the manual steps on your floor that a barcode scanner actually pays to replace, what to put a barcode on — items, locations, and lots — and how one scan captures the lot and steers the pick to the right one instead of leaving a person to key it and get it wrong.
4. Running multiple sites and companies without a second source of truthHow to tell a physical location apart from a legal entity, move stock between sites so the lot stays traceable, keep each company's books separate while operators still see across them, decide what data is shared versus walled off, and forecast and buy across more than one location.
5. Co-manufacturing and release chainsHow to keep a trace and a quality release intact when production crosses into a company you do not own — who holds which lot records, who can release or hold product, and how lot data has to pass with every shipment both directions.