Customer-supplied and vendor-supplied material is common in contract manufacturing, and it can quickly turn into planning noise if it is not modeled correctly. You still have to schedule work, reserve components, and avoid shortages, but ownership and invoicing do not behave like normal purchased inventory.

Cetec ERP supports customer supplied and vendor supplied flags so your team can separate ownership while still seeing demand in MRP and on a part’s waterfall. The goal is simple: keep promise dates and planning accurate without pretending you own inventory you do not own.

What “Customer Supplied” and “Vendor Supplied” Mean Operationally

Customer consignment is the more common case. Your customer provides raw components for you to consume only on their orders. That reduces lead time risk, but it also means you need clear visibility when a customer-supplied component is short or late so you can communicate and protect the schedule.

Vendor consignment is different: the vendor stores inventory at your facility, but you do not own it until you consume it. You still need planning visibility so production does not get blocked, and you still need a clean trail to reconcile consumption when the vendor invoices after use.

A part can also be treated as vendor supplied in outsourcing scenarios where a vendor is responsible for a specific raw material tied to your finished build. In those cases you still need to show material cost behavior and maintain BOM-level traceability based on what the job consumed.

Where to Flag Supplied Components in Cetec ERP

In Cetec ERP you can mark components as customer supplied or vendor supplied directly on the BOM, including on a temporary BOM when you need a one-off change for a specific job. The key is to apply the flag where your team actually drives planning and allocation for that build.

How the Flags Show Up in MRP and on the Waterfall

When a component is marked customer supplied, it can still appear as demand in your MRP and on the part’s waterfall. That makes the risk visible. You can see shortages or late supply early, then notify the customer before the job hits the floor and you miss a promise date.

The waterfall view is also useful for day-to-day coordination. Even when you are not purchasing the component, you still need to understand when it will be consumed and how demand stacks across open work.

Including Vendor Supplied Components on the Waterfall

If a part is marked vendor supplied, you may need to enable the configuration setting “Waterfall - Include Vendor Supplied Component” for those components to appear on the waterfall. The intent is planning control: you might not create a purchase order for the item, but you still need to manage supply readiness and coordinate with the vendor so production is not blocked.

How to Decide Which Flag to Use

Use customer supplied when the customer owns the material and you consume it only on that customer’s work. Use vendor supplied when a supplier owns inventory staged at your facility, or when a supplier is responsible for a specific component that still affects your build schedule and reporting.

Key Takeaways

• Supplied inventory needs separate ownership tracking, but it still drives real schedule risk.
• Flag customer supplied and vendor supplied components on the BOM or temporary BOM so planning reflects the correct behavior.
• Customer supplied components can appear in MRP and on the waterfall so shortages are visible early.
• Vendor supplied components can be included on the waterfall via the “Waterfall - Include Vendor Supplied Component” setting.
• The right flag improves planning clarity while keeping cost and responsibility aligned to the real owner.

Conclusion

Consignment and supplied material can reduce lead time risk, but only if your team can still plan and communicate around shortages. When customer supplied and vendor supplied components are flagged correctly in Cetec ERP, MRP and the waterfall give you a realistic view of demand so production stays scheduled and exceptions get addressed early.