Most of this trade is consumable. A body shop goes through sanding discs, masking tape and paper every week. A fabrication shop burns through flap discs and cut-off wheels at a pace you can almost set a clock by. A maintenance department uses threadlocker, gasket maker and penetrant steadily. An assembly line uses the same adhesive, the same nozzles and the same tape on every unit it builds. Yet those predictable orders often arrive late, by phone, after the last box was opened.
The app has three tools for repeat business.
Reorder: buy it again in two taps
Reorder lets a customer buy a past order again or pick from saved items. A shop manager who orders the same grits, the same tape widths and a case of cleaner every week opens last week's order, adjusts the quantities and sends it. No searching, no typing, no P240 that should have been P320.
AutoPilot reorder: usual items on a schedule
AutoPilot reorder orders the customer's usual items on a schedule so they never run out. It also works with scanning: one scan orders what the customer actually uses, sized to the number of days of stock they want to keep on hand.
The customer decides how much control to keep, using a dial with three settings:
- Suggest: the app suggests the reorder and the customer places it.
- Ask first: the reorder is prepared and waits for the customer's yes.
- Run on its own: the customer's own schedule releases the order without a check-in, for items they have chosen to trust to it.
Most customers start on Suggest or Ask first. After a few months, a body shop might move discs, masking tape and masking paper to Run on its own, and keep seam sealer and panel bond adhesive on Ask first, because those depend on the repair work coming in. A plant might trust gloves and aerosols to the schedule and keep a costly two-part adhesive on Ask first. The customer sets the dial and the schedule; the app follows them. You can see which customers have AutoPilot turned on from the admin side.
Shelf life is a good reason to use it. Ordering smaller amounts more often keeps adhesives and sealants fresher than buying a big lot to avoid running out.
Blanket orders for OEM production
Manufacturers often buy production adhesives and tapes on an annual agreement: a set price for a set volume, released as production needs it. An appliance builder might commit to a year of foam mounting tape. A trailer manufacturer might commit to structural adhesive and nozzles per unit built. Blanket orders let the customer release against that agreement in the app, so each release is not a new PO.
For you, blankets give visibility. You can plan purchases from your manufacturers around known demand, which matters in a channel with order minimums and freight thresholds. The buyer's desk helps: reorder by vendor with minimums and free freight levels in view, chase late vendor POs and track special orders.
Why steady reorders matter
When discs and tape arrive on time, a body shop does not borrow from the shop down the street or grab whatever the paint jobber has. When line adhesive is on the shelf, a station does not stop. That makes you the supplier who keeps the work moving.
Look for the accounts that buy the same items every week or month. Start them on Reorder, then offer AutoPilot on Suggest, and let them turn the dial when they are ready.
Want to see it with your own adhesives, abrasives and tape accounts? See how it works.