The person who knows a line is about to run out of 1/4-20 serrated flange nuts is usually a line lead or a material handler. The person allowed to spend money is a buyer or a manager. In between sits a chain of emails, a paper requisition or a phone call, and the line runs out while the request waits.
The Fastener App lets the people on the floor order and the managers stay in control.
Managers approve, budgets hold
Each user on an account can be given the right level of control:
- A user can be marked as a manager on the account.
- The account can have a monthly budget, or none if left blank.
- With approval required on, every order goes to the manager first.
- With it off, only orders that push the calendar month past the budget are held.
- Held orders go to the manager by email and text with approve and decline buttons.
So a second-shift lead can scan the bin label and order the flange nuts. If the order fits the month's budget, it goes through. If not, the manager gets a text and approves it from his phone. The line keeps running.
You can also choose what each account does. Quotes-only mode suits a plant where engineering requests prices on new hardware but purchasing places the orders.
Master accounts for multi-plant customers
A manufacturer with plants in three states does not want three setups. A master account holds the price file, the customer's part numbers and the terms for all its locations. No orders are placed on the master. Each location inherits its price file, discount and part-number cross references, and anything set on a location overrides the master.
That suits how manufacturers work. Engineering standardizes on a fastener spec across the company. Set it on the master and every plant follows it. You can block an item on the master and name what they should order instead. The buyer is told at checkout, and every location underneath follows the rule. That is very useful when engineering changes a spec, say from zinc to a zinc-nickel finish, and every plant has to stop ordering the old part.
Bins work the same way. Load every bin on the master with the location's account number in the Location column. Each plant sees only its own bins while corporate purchasing sees everything.
Why it matters to you
Approval chains are often why big accounts keep calling instead of ordering online. Once the customer trusts that budgets and approvals hold, they let more people order, and more of their spend goes through your store. A master account built out across several plants, with their part numbers and bins, is also very hard for a competitor to unpick.
For a big enough account, private label gives them The Fastener App under their own name and logo, while they keep ordering from you. Their people see their company's store; you see the orders.
Contractors with several crews work the same way. Each crew or job can be a location under the contractor's master account, with its own budget for anchors, rod and structural bolts. The office sees every job, and the foreman on site can order without calling the office for a PO.
Set approvals up with the customer, not for them. Sit with the purchasing manager and agree who approves what and at what budget. Once she approves her first held order from a text, the rest of the plant usually follows.
Want to walk through The Fastener App with your own accounts? Book a demo.