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Electrical and electronics

Inventory software for electrical manufacturers

Know how many 25 A contactors are left before you promise a dealer forty panels, and what the copper wire on the rack is worth after this month's price jump.

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In short

SimpleERP is inventory software for electrical manufacturers. Contactors, relays, MCBs and cold-rolled steel enclosures are counted in pieces, copper wire in metres, and finished starter panels per store, all valued at weighted average cost.

Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.

An inventory day at Valley Pump Controls

The component store at Valley Pump Controls is a wall of bins: contactors in three ratings, overload relays, MCBs, voltmeters, capacitors, and coils of copper wire on a rack. Cold-rolled steel enclosures arrive powder-coated from a sheet metal vendor in Clovis, fifty at a time.

The trouble starts in March, when every pump dealer wants panels at once. The supervisor promises forty star-delta panels for the week and discovers on Wednesday that the store has twenty-two overload relays of the right range. Nobody had a number, only a feeling.

How should I set up components, wire and finished panels?

Each product has its own unit and each store is a warehouse. The store holds bought components, the assembly floor holds what was issued for this week's panels, and finished panels wait in their own store until dispatch.

  • Transfers move a tray of contactors from the store to the assembly floor with a document.
  • Physical counts with a reason when the bin and the screen disagree.
  • CSV import of the parts list with opening stock per store.
Product familyUnitKept inReorder pattern
Contactors 12 A, 25 A, 32 ApcsComponent storeReorder level 60 per rating before the spring rush
Overload relays and MCBspcsComponent storeReorder level 40 per range
cold-rolled steel enclosures, powder-coatedpcsComponent storeOrdered from the vendor 50 at a time
Copper wire 1.5 and 2.5 sq mmMetresComponent storeReorder level 900 m, one coil buffer
Capacitors and meterspcsComponent storeReorder level 30
Finished DOL and star-delta panelspcsFinished panel storeTen of each fast rating kept ready
Units, stores and reorder habits at Valley Pump Controls.

What happens to stock value when copper prices jump?

Each lot of wire comes in at its bill price and SimpleERP blends it into a weighted average. With 1,800 m of 2.5 sq mm wire bought at $0.58 a metre and a new 900 m lot at $0.67, the average becomes $0.61, and every panel built after that is costed at $0.61 a metre.

  • Stock value per store as of today, exported for the bank's monthly stock report.
  • Weighted average cost moves with every distributor bill.
  • Issues at average cost to work orders and invoices.

Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.

Stock on hand per store with quantity and value.

How do I avoid running out of relays in the rush?

Give every component a reorder level. Before the season, the stock list shows what sits at or below its level, and you choose which lines go on a purchase order to your switchgear distributor in Sacramento.

  • Purchase orders grouped by supplier from the rows you pick.
  • A work order flags shortages when it is planned, before the panels are promised.
  • Supplier bills receive the parts into the component store at the bill cost.

One system

What it connects to

Distributor bills bring components in, completed work orders turn them into panels, and invoices take panels out.

Honest limits

What SimpleERP does not do yet

  • No batch, lot, serial or expiry tracking, and no barcode scanning
  • Weighted average cost only; there is no FIFO
  • No automatic reorder suggestions: the reorder level shows what is low, you decide what to buy
  • No coil-by-coil tracking: copper wire is one figure in metres per store

Getting started

Start with inventory

  1. Sign up with your email

    Name, email and a password. No card for the seven-day trial.

  2. Tell us about the business

    Pick your country and, if you are registered, type your tax number. Accounts, tax rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for that country.

  3. Add products and opening stock

    Add contactors, relays, MCBs and enclosures in pcs and copper wire in metres, with opening stock in the component store and finished panels in their own store.

  4. Post a bill and an invoice

    Stock rises on the purchase bill and falls on the invoice, at weighted average cost, with nothing to count by hand.

FAQ

Questions, answered

We buy wire in coils of 90 m but use it by the metre. Which unit do I pick?

Keep the product in metres. On the supplier bill, enter 900 m for ten coils at the per-metre rate. Work orders then consume wire in metres, and the stock report shows the length left on the rack.

The same contactor is sold as a spare and used in our panels. Do I need two products?

No. One product serves both. A spare sale takes it out through an invoice and a panel takes it out through a work order, and both use the same average cost.

Our enclosure vendor punches and paints our sheets. How is that stock recorded?

If the vendor supplies finished enclosures, buy them as a product in pcs. If you send your own cold-rolled steel sheet, transfer the sheets to a warehouse named for the vendor and record the finished enclosures arriving on the vendor's bill, since job work is a purchase and not a work order.

Can the store keeper see stock on a phone at the bins?

Yes. SimpleERP works in the phone's browser, so the store keeper can look up a part, check the quantity in each store and post a transfer from the bin, with a role that limits what else they see.

Related

See how inventory works in SimpleERP for electrical and electronics

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