The beginning of everything is the customer order. Therefore it’s vital that they are made available in the system as soon as possible and there are various ways in which this can be achieved.
Where regular and repeat orders are received from your customers, you may choose to set up a timetable (or repeat schedule) in the system that can reflect both frequency and volumes. These schedules will create jobs in the system at the right time which will then allow the planning teams and optimisation tools to ‘do their stuff’.
Some may choose to place their orders via EDI or request that you interface with their Warehouse or SOP systems. Others may call-over their orders via the web, or simply call your customer service team to advise of an ad-hoc or special.
