AssembloERP
Almost every manufacturer we scope in India sends material out for at least one process — plating, powder coating, heat treatment, machining, embroidery, stitching, printing. And almost every one of them tracks it in a register, a WhatsApp thread, or a numbered challan book that only balances if you have the patience of a saint.
This is the most expensive gap in Indian SMB operations, and it is barely written about. So here is the whole thing.
Why it leaks
A job-work cycle has four events, and most shops record one and a half of them.
- Issue: material leaves on a delivery challan. Usually recorded.
- Expectation: what should come back, and by when. Almost never recorded.
- Receipt: finished goods arrive. Recorded — but often as a fresh receipt, unlinked to the issue.
- Reconciliation: issued minus received minus allowed loss. Rarely done, and when it is done, it is at year-end when nobody can explain anything.
Because step 2 is missing, step 4 is impossible. And because step 3 is unlinked, your stock ledger shows material vanishing at the gate and finished parts appearing from nowhere.
The model that closes it
Four fields. That is genuinely all it takes.
| Field | Example | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Expected return quantity | 480 pieces from 500 blanks | Turns a vague hope into a checkable number |
| Allowed loss % | 4% for this process | Separates normal loss from a problem |
| Due date | 12 days | Makes ageing visible before it becomes a dispute |
| Scrap ownership | Returnable / vendor keeps | Decides whether you are owed metal back |
Now every receipt reconciles automatically: received + returnable scrap + allowed loss should equal issued. Anything left over is a variance with a name, on a date, against a vendor.
The three reports that pay for themselves
Stock with vendor, aged
Material out, by vendor, by days outstanding. Anything over 30 days is either a delay you have not chased or material that is not coming back. Print it weekly. It changes conversations.
Loss by vendor, by process
Two platers, same part. One returns 2% loss, the other 7%. Over a year that difference is a line worth negotiating, and you cannot negotiate what you have not measured.
Job-work cost per piece, delivered
Vendor rate plus freight both ways plus the value of the loss. The cheapest quoted rate is regularly the most expensive delivered cost — and this is exactly the line that goes missing from quotations, as we showed in the job costing example.
How to start on Monday, without software
- Take a page. List every job worker you used in the last 90 days.
- For each, write what you believe is lying with them right now.
- Call them and ask the same question.
- Write down the difference.
That number — the gap between what you think is out and what they say is out — is the amount your current system is hiding. We have seen it run into several lakhs at businesses doing under Rs 10 crore.
Once you have seen the number, the case for tracking it properly makes itself. If you want it built around your actual processes and vendor terms, that is what our scoping call is for. Related reading: why stock never matches books.
